Top 10 Stories Of 2020: WWE Controls Third-Party Accounts

Throughout December, Neal Wagner will count down the top 10 stories of 2020 as voted on by The Wrestling Estate staff. Here is No. 6: WWE controls third-party accounts

In early September, Vince McMahon called a meeting with talent to discuss the use of third-party social media platforms, specifically Twitch and Cameo. The belief was that WWE was looking into starting their own contracts with those platforms to allow fans to interact in a new way with their favorite superstars. However, McMahon announced that anyone with a current account on these platforms would be forced to shut them down within a specified timeframe.

WWE would release a statement that it owns the rights to the names of its characters and has “control and exploitation of those properties that allow WWE to drive revenue.” This would lead to names like AJ Styles, Paige, Adam Cole, Zelina Vega, among others to change their names on their accounts, thinking that was end of the saga. It wasn’t.

Dave Meltzer reported that talent would meet with McMahon during a TV taping in an effort to change his mind and let them keep their accounts. Their efforts didn’t work, as WWE maintained control of third-party accounts. This would lead to Cole and Styles both signing off of their accounts, saying that this wasn’t a “goodbye,” but more a “see you again very soon.” As for Paige, she would give an emotional address on her Twitch channel in regards to it all.

Talks of wrestlers being classified as independent contractors rather than employees would spark during this time, as many fans and wrestlers believed that WWE had no right to tell their talent what to do on this matter. These reports struck the interest of former Democratic presidential candidate and longtime wrestling fan Andrew Yang.

If I’m not the Secretary of Labor I’m pretty confident I’ll have his or her number to talk about the ridiculous classification of WWE wrestlers as independent contractors while controlling their name and likeness for years, even for something as benign as Cameo.
— Andrew Yang🧢🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) September 5, 2020

Yang would appear on Talk Is Jericho to discuss how things run within WWE. Yang said that “someone sent me the WWE contract…the amount of control that the WWE has is incredibly high. It has made them or saved them tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the company and that money came directly from the pockets of their performers.” Yang vowed that should Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election, he would do everything in his power to look into any actions that could be taken against WWE and Vince. “You don’t have real bargaining power particularly if you’re just trying to make a living in the business and so this is really a failure of our government to look out for the talent on this side,” Yang added.

Adding to the discussion, Maria Kanellis Bennett, who along with her husband Michael Bennett were released from WWE during the “Black Wednesday” budget cuts, responded to someone on Twitter who asked if WWE talent received insurance.

No. No benefits, no vacation time, no unemployment, no union, no childcare, no retirement, and we pay for our own rental car, food, tolls, etc… all expenses are paid by us and not reimbursed by WWE. https://t.co/XkEnGUkssO
— MariaKanellisBennett (@MariaLKanellis) November 2, 2020

When asked if she was considered an independent contractor, she responded with “Considered yes. In our contracts that is what it says. But it also says, we cannot work anywhere else in entertainment without the approval from WWE which makes us in actuality employees.”

On November 13, this story took another turn. WWE posted the following on its website: “WWE has come to terms with the release of Zelina Vega. We wish her the best in her future endeavors.” This would come out roughly 10 minutes after Vega tweeted “I support unionization.” Her release sparked much outrage from wrestling fans while WWE talent stayed away from commenting outside of “Goodbye.”

Meltzer reported that Vega’s release came as a result of her not disengaging her Twitch channel as asked by the company and she was likely made an example of. What went against her, too, was that she had just launched an OnlyFans account. It was reported that some wrestlers, mostly female, were making more money through their third-party platforms than their actual WWE contracts and Vega was one of those talents.

Hours after Vega’s release, Yang would again address the situation: “I haven’t forgotten about you Vince McMahon.”

This will likely be one of the biggest stories to keep an eye on in 2021. If anything serious comes down, it’ll likely shake the foundation of professional wrestling.