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A look into a WWE Booking Contract
By Jack Capri | January 2, 2006
Forgive me for my first installment here at Fight Opinion being so long. I think you might find the subject of what’s really in a WWE Booking Contract interesting.
The goal of every young, aspiring, professional wrestler is to become so successful at what you do, you make a living doing nothing but wrestling. When I went “on the road†my first time in 1993, just a few months out of training, the company, “Labor Ready†was my friend. My good friend. If you don’t know what Labor Ready is, it’s a temp agency that assigns you to one day jobs, and you’re paid that same day. I had aspirations of one day making it to New York. (slang for the WWE) One day in January 1997 I decided to take my shot at something better than the indies and went to the WCW Power Plant. What a meat grinder that was. I did a match at the Center Stage “Saturday Night†tapings that night and had an offer the next morning. Not exactly anything great mind you. Eric Bischoff was in the mode of trying to sign anyone and everyone that may have a slight chance at making Vince McMahon fifty cents. Well he must have thought I might make Vince forty nine cents because the offer wasn’t even enough to quit my day job. Still, aspirations were there on making it to New York.
Like so many other wrestlers who bat about the indies, I never got a good close look by the WWE. Sure, there was a sniff or two my way but nothing really to speak about. Many “old timers†of the eighties boom will tell you that signing with New York is like signing your life away. Not too long ago, The Honky Tonk Man went public about the legends deals that were being thrown around to many stars of that era. His sentiments echoed what I’ve just said. You sign your life away to Vince McMahon when going to work for WWE. Or do you? In my first article here at Fight Opinion I want to take a look at a standard WWE Booking Contract and show readers just what the terms really look like.
First off, keep in mind I am no legal mind. I have no college education. I’m not stupid though and like to think I can understand what I’m reading. Can I understand a WWE contract? At first look the thing reads like a ninth grade C student trying to read a dictionary and be interested. An average WWE contract is about 14-17 pages long. A lot to cover during your employment at WWE.
First off we have the “Premises†section. This is a basic rundown of what you’re expecting and what they expect of you. The first zinger comes in section two, “Works.â€
“2.2 Notwithstanding the termination of this Agreement for any reason, and notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, COMPANY shall have the right to produce, reproduce, reissue, manipulate, reconfigure, license, manufacture, record, perform, exhibit, broadcast, televise by any form of television (including without limitation, free, cable, pay cable, closed circuit and pay-per-view television), transmit, publish, copy, reconfigure, compile, print, reprint, vend, sell, distribute and use via any other medium now known or hereinafter discovered, and to authorize others to do so, the Programs, in perpetuity, in any manner or media and by any art, method or device, now known or hereinafter discovered (including without limitation, by means of videodisc, videocassette, optical, electrical and/or digital compilations, theatrical motion picture and/or non-theatrical motion picture). All gags, costumes or parts of costumes, accessories, crowns, inventions, championship, title or other belts (if applicable), and any other items of tangible property provided to TALENT by COMPANY and/or containing New Intellectual Property as defined in paragraph 3.2 (a) shall be immediately returned to COMPANY upon termination of this Agreement for any reason
2.3 TALENT’s appearance, performance and work product in any or all of the Events and/or Programs shall be deemed work for hire; and notwithstanding the termination of this Agreement, COMPANY shall own, in perpetuity, all Programs and all of the rights, results, products and proceeds in and to, or derived from the Events and Programs (including without limitation, all incidents, dialogue, characters, actions, routines, ideas, gags, costumes or parts of costumes, accessories, crowns, inventions, championship, title or other belts (if applicable), and any other tangible or intangible materials written, composed, submitted, added, improvised, or created by or for TALENT in connection with appearance at the Events and/or in the Programs) and COMPANY may obtain copyright and/or trademark and/or any other legal protection therefor, now known or hereinafter discovered, in the name of COMPANY and/or on behalf of COMPANY’s designee..â€
Now to me this just basically says that if you leave Vince, he still has everything you ever did while working in a WWE ring and it belongs to him. Now I don’t think that’s unfair. Vince put his marketing behind you, even if you do jobs constantly on Heat or Velocity, it’s only fair he gets to keep what he paid for. Again, not completely unfair but I can see how some people might think it is. If you walk into your local Wal-Mart, and buy a DVD, is that DVD yours or should Wal-Mart be able to have you bring back that DVD at anytime to resell it to someone else? Even if they have 20 of the same title on the shelf?
“3.1 The parties agree that as of the date of this Agreement, all service marks, trademarks and any and all other distinctive and identifying indicia under which TALENT claims any rights, including but not limited to TALENT’s legal name, nickname, ring name, likeness, personality, character, caricatures, voice, signature, costumes, props, gimmicks, gestures, routines and themes, which are owned by TALENT or in which TALENT has any rights anywhere in the world (collectively, the “Original Intellectual Property”) are described and identified on Schedule A attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference. During the Term of the Agreement, TALENT hereby assigns in good faith to COMPANY and COMPANY hereby accepts all worldwide right, title and interest in and to TALENT’s Original Intellectual Property, including, but not limited to, the rights to license, reproduce, manipulate, promote, expose, exploit and otherwise use the Original Intellectual Property anywhere in the world in any commercial manner, media, art form, method or device now known or hereinafter discovered. “
Now THIS is what I call signing your life away. “Legal Name?!?!†Or wait a second. Looking a little further down in the above paragraph I see the words, “During the Term of the Agreement.†Again, at first reading I can see why someone would go run screaming into the night. Most wrestlers though would jump at the chance to sign their life away to Vince McMahon, even if the sentence, “During the Term of the Agreement†wasn’t written into the contract. Looking a little further down in the paperwork you’ll find the following:
“ (b) Upon the termination of this Agreement, all rights in and to the Original Intellectual Property shall revert to TALENT, except that COMPANY, its licensees, sublicensees and assigns may continue to exploit any and all materials, goods, merchandise and other items incorporating the Original Intellectual Property made before such termination, until all such materials, goods and merchandise are sold off.â€
So what you’re saying is, whatever merchandise that WWE creates while you’re under contract, they can continue to sell after you’re gone until everything is sold? Again, completely fair in my opinion.
“3.3 It is the intention of the parties that the New Intellectual Property belongs to COMPANY, in perpetuity, even to the exclusion of TALENT, and shall survive the termination of this Agreement for any reason.â€
I’m starting to see some redundancy in the writing of a standard WWE booking contract. Again, to me, this reads like anything you do or say in a WWE ring while the contract you signed is valid, belongs to Vince McMahon. I don’t see the problem in this. You’re working full time for the WWE, you’re traveling the country, you’re seeing the world at WWE’s expense, I think it’s only fair what Vince pays for, is what Vince keeps.
Now to get what people are probably the most interested in, the money. Just how good is the money working for Vince? Most, if not all guys today get what’s called, “Minimum Annual Compensation.†This is also referred to as the downside guarantee. The provision of this reads like this:
“7.1 (a) Provided that TALENT fulfills all obligations and warranties and provided TALENT does not breach any of the terms of this Agreement,PROMOTER guarantees TALENT that the total of the payments made to TALENT shall amount in the aggregate to be no less than WRITTEN OUT DOLLAR AMOUNT US Dollars ($DOLLAR AMOUNT) for each Contract Yearâ€
Now most people know, the above is also known as the downside guarantee. This is a worst case scenario of the amount of money you’ll make. Say it’s a hundred grand a year. If the business goes in the toilet, and your house show payoff’s are pennies, at the end of the year WWE will count up everything you’ve made, and if it doesn’t equal your Minimum Annual Compensation, they’ll pay you one lump sum to bring it to the agreed amount. Not a bad deal. You just have to make sure you get enough to make it worth your while. Remember, a lot of your road expenses are yours. Depending on how business is, everything except your airplane tickets, is yours to pay for. When business is good, than you can expect more of your expenses to be covered. It all depends on the flavor of the company’s travel policy. To be exact, “TALENT shall bear all costs incurred in connection with his transportation to and from any such Events (except those transportation costs which are covered by COMPANY’s then current Travel Policy), as well as the costs of food consumed and hotel lodging utilized by TALENT in connection with his appearance at such Events.â€
Now there was a time, not too long ago that the Minimum Annual Compensation provision had a much different ring to it. To sum that up, for a house show you were guaranteed a minimum of $150. For each day of a TV taping, no matter how many times you worked that day, you were guaranteed a minimum of $50. Do people still get signed to deals with these amounts written in? I have heard the legends deal is similar but without actually seeing the contract, I cant really say. Maybe one day The Honky Tonk Man will do an article like this and break one down for the curious folks.
In light of Jesse Ventura’s much publicized lawsuit against WWE over royalties for his commentating, I find this next clause kinda funny.
“7.7 If COMPANY instructs TALENT to appear and perform in any Events or Programs as a commentator and/or to participate in post-Event production and/or voice-over activities as a commentator, TALENT’s commentating shall be deemed work-for-hire and TALENT hereby assigns to COMPANY and COMPANY shall own all rights, in perpetuity, to all of TALENT’s commentary and TALENT shall not be entitled to receive any royalty payments, or any additional compensation or residual payments whatsoever, as a result of COMPANY’s commercial exploitation of such commentary in any form, whether broadcast programming, cable programming, pay-per-view programming, videotapes, videodiscs, the Internet or other mediums now or hereinafter discovered.â€
Looks to me like Vince doesn’t want to get burned again and had this written in to cover his ass. Pretty smart if you ask me.
I like to call this next clause, “The Bret Hart Clause.†You’ll see why.
“9.6 TALENT shall use best efforts in the ring in the performance of wrestling services for a match or other activity, in order to provide an honest exhibition of TALENT’s wrestling skills and abilities, consistent with the customs of the professional wrestling industry; and TALENT agrees all matches shall be finished in accordance with the COMPANY’s direction. Breach of this paragraph shall cause a forfeiture of any payment due TALENT pursuant to SECTION 7 of this Agreement and all other obligations of COMPANY to TALENT hereunder, shall entitle COMPANY to terminate this Agreement, but such breach shall not terminate COMPANY’s licenses and other rights under this Agreement.â€
In a nutshell this looks like, if you refuse to do a job, you lose your payoff and can be fired. Again, pretty smart for Vince to write this in.
Now the biggest problem people have with wrestling contracts today is that anyone lucky, or unlucky enough to sign one, depends on the situation, is not an employee of the company. You’re an independent contractor. That means, you have to do your own tax with holding, pay your own healthcare expenses if you have a family you want to cover, among a plethora of other things that would be handled by the company if you were an employee.
To close out this article that has now hit it’s fifth page on Word, I’d like to highlight the clause I like to call the Anti-Internet clause. Without transcribing the whole damned thing, it means you’ll keep your mouth shut about;
“…….talent lists, story lines, scripts, story boards or ideas, routines, gags, costumes or parts of costumes, accessories, crowns, inventions, championship, title or other belts (if applicable) and any other tangible or intangible materials written, composed, submitted, added, improvised, or created by or for TALENT in connection with appearances in the Programs, information regarding any contractual relationships maintained by COMPANY and/or the terms thereof, and/or any and all information regarding TALENTs engaged by COMPANY.â€
Also probably covered in that is to not show anyone how a booking contract is written or let some ex-indy guy get a hold of it and show the world what’s in one. In other words, the person who have me a copy of theirs will forever have their identity held quiet.
I don’t think this is a smear piece. I actually think the contract is written very well with concessions to both the talent and the company. For most of the thousands of wrestlers, working the school gyms, guard armories, fairground expo halls, and anywhere else a ring can be set up and admission charged, the WWE booking contract is the holy grail. It means you’ve reached the top of your game. For others, they aspire to be the next Stan Hansen or Bruiser Brody, in terms of star power in Japan. Contracts are a part of the business.
So would you sign one?
Topics: Panama Jack Capri, Pro-Wrestling, WWE | 6 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Has anyone actually taken a serious crack at the legality of the contracts in WWE? At issue for me is that the contract makes the worker an “independent contractor” and leaves all normal workplace regulations and laws up to that contractor to take care of (i.e. taxes, travel expenses, health care and such).
But at the same time the contract crosses it’s wording up by not allowing these so-called “independent contractors” contract themselves out to other places for work like every other independent contractor in every other profession can.
Because of the the exclusivity this contract expects, one can make a plausible argument that the rest of the contract is null and void on the basis that they are assigned independent contractor status but are then prohibited from such with contradictions in the language later on.
I think in these terms also that no-compete clause becomes void because when you hire someone to be an independent contractor and they decide to quit that job and all services that have been paid for have been provided that the named contractor has the right to withdraw his services and offer them to another bidder at any point.
Much smaller example but Newspaper carriers are considered independent contractors. If they quit they are asked to give notice but cannot be penalized if they do not nor is that newspaper going to go after compensation for any inconvenience caused by their choice to leave. Why? Not because of the lack of monetary repayment, but because hiring an independent contractor is essentially the same as a temporary employment gig. All benefits to the job that are offered in regular workplace environment are waived in exchange for immediate work and hassle free disconnect should either the contracted worker, the temp agency, or the hiring company choose to end the assignment.
This is why I truly believe Brock Lesnar, should he get proper, stringent representation, could challenge the no compete clause.
Wrestling doesn’t live under Baseball’s antitrust bubble and better yet is that this country has right to work laws that prohibit someone from being prevented to work in any way. Brock gave notice, has sat time out and was an independent contractor according to the WWE contracts. That alone gives him plenty of wiggle room to opt out of his contract at any time with minimal penalty.
And when Brock’s lawyers deconstruct the validity of these contracts in court, watch Vince and the WWE tremble because every wrestler will have more freedom to make a move and choose what’s best for them.
Such a decision would be a landmark opportunity for a wrestling union to form and level the playing field. A union would be neccesary since the wrestlers would be contracted workers then, employed by the WWE… not these fake independent contractors as the WWE tries to claim.
It also opens to doors to seriously long needed benefits to the wrestlers, benefits Vince has gotten away with not paying for too long.
Vince should be on the hook for all travel expenses for every show (airfare, rental cars, hotels) since the WWE, not the workers gets the gate of the show.
Vince should be on the hook for healthcare expenses. He asks the workers to physically risk themselves and since I have seen a RAW script and know how the road agents meticulously help plan what the wrestlers do in the ring, what they are asked to do is many times choreographed from the writing team down. Thus the wrestlers sometimes don’t even control what they are asked to do out there.
Vince should pay for accumulated retirement benefits. So many of these former wrestlers die off early or are dehabilitated from their years of abuse that they put forth for the company, Vince should reward them with a stable retirement plan based on time served with the company.
The challenge of these contracts opens up a pathway to all of this because I truly believe a team of really good litigators could break these contracts apart in front of a judge.
Rp
Oh, BTW, great article… extremely insightful and I look forward to more of your work… 🙂
Rp
wow they really fix you over on those contracts. explaines what had recently happened to the dudleys.
I wonder if it would be possible to post (a link to) the entire contract. It really looks like an interesting read, and a few paragraphs just isn’t enough.
Thank You.
i love the wwe
well if you don’t like the contract, then you can always not sign it and go else where to work!!!