WWE‘s ongoing effort to take control of its contracted wrestlers’ third-party work, including services like Twitch and Cameo, is taking a massive step forward. Friday, October 2, was the deadline for WWE talent to hand over their accounts to WWE or to end those business relationships. WWE’s threatened to fine, suspend, or outright fire employees who do not do so. The deadline has prompted responses from many WWE talent, but Paige in particular is sharing her frustrations publically.
Paige has been a surprising focus in the ongoing controversy. Paige runs a popular Twitch stream with over 140,000 followers. After WWE announced it was going to take over talent’s accounts, she changed her Twitch channel’s name from OfficialPaigeWWE to SarayaOfficial. The thought being that WWE could only claim ownership of accounts using WWE-owned branding. However, it’s now being reported that WWE wants all third-party accounts, including those with wrestlers’ real names.
To say that Paige is unhappy with the situation would be an understatement. “Twitch is MY place that I build with my wonderful fans,” reads a post on her official Twitter account. The Twitter account’s name remains RealPageWWE, but her nickname has been changed to SARAYA. She later adds, “I’m proud of what I built with my fanbase.” The statement touches on the idea of ownership, an important legal issue, but doesn’t go so far as outright rejection or rebellion against WWE’s plans to take her Twitch account.
A second tweet responds to a fan who claims that Paige’s fanbase is dependent on the fame she got from WWE. Paige responds that the, “difference is I grinded for 15 years for my fan base that I brought over to twitch.” Her message being that she built her fanbase well before ever coming to WWE, and perhaps also that WWE is just a platform on which she continued to build her fame. Again, ownership is at the heart of the message, but Paige never broaches into outright rejecting WWE’s plans.
Current reporting is that WWE will take over its talent’s Twitch streams in four weeks. It’s unclear how the four-week deadline jives with the October 2, but the conflict among WWE wrestlers is already apparent. While Paige and other wrestlers may be frustrated with the situation, none of them have said they won’t accept WWE’s demands.
It’s possible that some wrestlers have rejected WWE’s control already, but that the situation is being dealt with behind the scenes or through lawyers. It’s also possible that conflicts won’t appear for another four weeks. But for all appearances, it seems like WWE wrestlers are giving in without a fight. Given WWE‘s past history of union-busting and reprisal, that may be the safest option for wrestlers’ careers. Then again, All Elite Wrestling is now a genuine competitor and fully allows its wrestlers to have Cameos and stream on Twitch as they please.
Source: Wrestling Inc
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