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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe and All Elite Wrestling.
Jeff Hardy’s AEW Contract Expiring Soon
Matt Hardy said this week that his brother, Jeff Hardy, will see his AEW contract expire in the near future unless he reaches a new deal with the company.
Matt also gave an update on what Jeff has been doing during his time away from AEW, as he hasn’t had a match since February when he suffered a broken nose against Sammy Guevara:
“He’s been cleared. He’s just sitting at home, waiting on the call. Unlike me, he’s not someone who really gets out and makes things happen, he just kind of waits on someone to call him. He’s sitting at home just waiting on that phone call, jumping on the trampoline up and down with the dumbbells.”
Matt had been with AEW since 2020, but his contract expired in April, and he began making appearance in TNA shortly thereafter.
It stands to reason that Jeff could potentially follow Matt to TNA, especially if they have interest in continuing to team together, which is something they did for a time in AEW.
Jeff made his AEW debut to plenty of fanfare in 2022, but just three months after that, he was arrested on a DUI charge, leading to AEW suspending him indefinitely.
After 10 months away, Jeff returned to AEW last year, but he never regained the momentum he had prior to his suspension.
Given that they are reaching the end of their respective careers, it seems likely that Matt and Jeff will want to stick together moving forward regardless of where they end up.
One last run in WWE has to be considered a possibility if WWE is interested, or Matt and Jeff could link back up in TNA, which is a promotion in which they enjoyed enormous success previously.
Lesnar Reportedly Needs WWE Legal Clearance in Order to Return
Brock Lesnar has not been on WWE programming since losing to Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam last August, and he reportedly has to clear a significant hurdle before returning.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), WWE legal must clear Lesnar before he can return to WWE programming, and that hasn’t happened yet.
There were rumors and speculation that Lesnar was going to come back during the build toward WrestleMania 40, and potentially face then-intercontinental champion Gunther at the event, but that didn’t happen.
While WWE hasn’t gone on record about the reason for Lesnar’s absence, it is likely tied to the belief that Lesnar was mentioned in a lawsuit filed by former WWE staffer Janel Grant against Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis and WWE in January.
In addition to alleging that McMahon and Laurinaitis sexually assaulted her while she was with the company, Grant mentioned an unidentified wrestler in the suit, and Khadeeja Safdar of the Wall Street Journal reported that Lesnar was the wrestler.
Grant alleged that McMahon sent Lesnar explicit videos of her during contract negotiations, and that McMahon told her to have sex with Lesnar.
Per Safdar, the suit stated that Lesnar asked Grant to send him videos of her urinating and that he told her he wanted to “set a play date,” but plans were canceled due to a December 2021 snowstorm.
It remains unclear if there are any plans to bring Lesnar back into the fold even if he is cleared by WWE legal, but the 46-year-old remains one of the biggest names and draws in wrestling.
WWE doesn’t necessarily need him based on the star power it already has and how hot the product has been in terms of attendance and ratings, but it never hurts to have a 10-time world champion like Lesnar available.
Info on Reported WWE Main Roster Minimum Salary
WWE typically keeps its talent salary information under wraps, but a new report puts a specific dollar amount on the minimum yearly salary for a main roster Superstar.
According to Meltzer (h/t Nikunj Walia of Ringside News), a main roster wrestler makes at least $350,000 per year.
That figure is likely what recent NXT call-ups and lower-card wrestlers make, while top stars such as Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins and Charlotte Flair all likely have multi-million dollar deals.
Little is known about the current WWE pay structure since things have changed significantly compared to the past.
Wrestlers in WWE used to have a “downside guarantee,” which was the lowest amount they were guaranteed to take home in a year. On top of that, they could earn more through pay-per-view buys and merchandise sales.
Since pay-per-view is no longer a significant part of WWE’s strategy due to its streaming partnership with Peacock, it eliminates a revenue source for the wrestlers.
Back in 2021, Meltzer (h/t Aidan Gibbons of Cultaholic) reported that downside guarantees were a thing of the past and that most WWE Superstars simply earned a salary with no extra payments for merchandise or other sales.
However, Meltzer added that guaranteed salaries were higher than ever in WWE, which took away some of the sting of not being able to earn additional money.
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