Backstage Details On WWE Asking Talent To Take Pay Cuts, New Day's Departure

The wrestling world was shocked over the weekend when it was revealed The New Day's Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston would be leaving WWE, after 16 and 20 years in the company, respectively. At the time, it was reported both men refused to restructure the contracts they had just signed in 2025, and new reports this week have revealed that multiple talents were also reportedly asked to take pay cuts.

In a new report from Fightful Select, the outlet said it was told the company was tasked with eliminating millions of dollars from its payroll, during a month that saw WWE WrestleMania 42 with its costly tickets, leading to the cuts seen the Friday after the big event, as well as this weekend's four departures, which also included JC Matteo and Tonga Loa. Those Fightful spoke to said they knew releases would be a part of WWE's plan moving forward, and other industry sources, including those on the agency side of things, told the outlet the reported contract restructurings could lead to big changes in how talent negotiate moving forward.

According to Fightful, on April 24, the Friday after WrestleMania, in addition to the many main roster and developmental releases, the company also approached "numerous" talent to ask them to take pay cuts, and they were only given two days to decide what to do. The outlet was not given names as to just who accepted those cuts, but reportedly, even some company veterans, including some currently on the shelf with injury, were asked to take a pay cut. The percentages of those cuts were also not confirmed, or if they vary from talent to talent.

Though Woods and Kingston made the decision to leave WWE rather than take the pay cut, Fightful reported that the pair still left "millions" on the table over the next few years. Talent were also reportedly frustrated as New Day, as well as Santos Escobar, had just signed new deals, with Escobar re-signing as recently as October after briefly becoming a free agent. According to Fightful, some stars had not spoken with AEW or other companies while negotiating, which could now reduce their leverage.

As for recent reports that Woods could return to WWE under a "Tyler Breeze deal," or a digital-only deal, Fightful had not heard anything. The deal would likely keep Woods with his WWE-owned UpUpDownDown YouTube channel, as seen with Breeze in 2022, but would keep him from signing with AEW. After the news of the New Day's departure broke on Saturday, multiple AEW talent, including former AEW World Champion MJF, took to social media to express their desires for New Day to be hired, and Fightful reported names have also pushed for that internally.

A WWE source told the outlet that a joint statement was expected to be released by the company about New Day's departure before word got out, but that source didn't know why that did not happen. WWE has not released a statement about any releases, wishing talent "the best in their future endeavors" in years. Both Woods and Kingston took to their respective Instagram accounts ahead of "WWE Raw" on Monday to issue statements about their time in WWE, giving thanks to the locker room, backstage workers, and fans.