Wrestling's NonCompete Clauses Might Be In Trouble

[Dead2009]

I just came across this on Twitter, and I'm not quite sure if it will affect wrestling as a whole or not whenever it passes

FTC Announces Rule Banning Noncompetes

Today, the Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule to promote competition by banning noncompetes nationwide, protecting the fundamen

www.ftc.gov

 

[VashTheStampede]

I was under the impression that WWE basically gives their talent 90 days notice that they are going to be released and it's not a legit Non-Compete anymore.

I could be wrong though.

 

[Webster]

I was under the impression that WWE basically gives their talent 90 days notice that they are going to be released and it's not a legit Non-Compete anymore.

I could be wrong though.

I could be wrong here but those are part of the exclusivity clauses in WWE talent contracts; basically it says you can't wrestle for virtually any promotion while under contract to WWE and that once released you're on 'gardening leave' for 90 days.

Ironically, this is how Malakai Black was able to show up as soon as he did in AEW after getting his release from them; apparently, when he was signed to work for NXT he got the standard 30-day NCC in his contract but when he was signed to WWE itself they never upgraded the clause to 90 days so when they released him, his contract only had the 30 day NXT clause in it.

TV Tropes explains it thusly,

They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: WWE has wasted countless huge NXT stars on the main roster over the 2010s, but Aleister Black is one of the most blatant cases; after calling the former champion up in 2019 and drafting him to Smackdown in April, they wasted months just having him sit in a dark room and cut rambling promos, waiting for someone to come and challenge him. He was set for a repackage in 2021 with his "Tales of the Dark Father" gimmick, but then they spontaneously released him mid-storyline as part of their "budget cuts". And then it was revealed they'd cared so little about him that they'd never even bothered revising his contract when he was called out from NXT, so he only had the NXT 30 day non-compete clause rather than the standard 90 day main roster one, meaning that as soon as it was up he was able to debut in AEW and immediately get pushed to the moon, becoming one of the most over stars in the company.