WWE Reportedly Made Big Money Offers For Some Of The Elite, More On WWE Trying To Sign Bandido
Three members of The Elite (Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page) have reportedly turned down major money deals from WWE.
It was noted in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that "three of the four" Elite members turned down "main event money" from WWE, reported to be multi-year deals that were worth more than seven figures annually.
While it wasn't specified which Elite members received seven figure deals, Cody stated in a Q&A that he recently turned down a WWE offer. There was also a skit on the recent "Being The Elite" episode where Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson turned down a WWE offer, also taking a shot at the WWE tag team division. It was reported back in October that Page was offered a WWE deal but he turned them down.
The futures of Cody, Page and The Bucks is up in the air as we go into 2019. The group recently left Ring of Honor and they are expected to leave New Japan Pro Wrestling after the Wrestle Kingdom 13 event on January 4. They have been rumored to be involved with a new promotion, tentatively called All Elite Wrestling, but none of the AEW rumors have been confirmed either.
Kenny Omega's contract is up in January, while Marty Scurll is reportedly under contract to NJPW/ROH for the near future. ROH COO Joe Koff recently told us here at Wrestling Inc. that he sees Scurll being one of the top ROH stars in 2019.
On a related note, ROH's offer to Bandido was said to be much higher than the deal that WWE offered the lucha star. WWE came back with a second offer that was "dramatically higher" when they realized he had better offers on the table, and that he wasn't going to sign for low money just because it was WWE. As noted, Bandido recently signed an exclusive ROH contract and will start with the promotion in 2019. The Observer reports that Bandido will still be allowed to work outside of the United States and Ontario, mainly Mexico, Australia and Europe on his off days from ROH. He also reportedly chose ROH over WWE because ROH will give him the entry to NJPW.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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