Due to all the talk about an internal memo being sent out to WWE wrestlers from Vince McMahon about how there is a ban on them making third party deals, AEW President Tony Khan was asked about during the post-All Out conference call.
The letter stated that wrestlers should stop using various platforms by next month. Things have yet to be clarified but the belief is that WWE stars can no longer use Twitch and Cameo.
He started out by stating, “For our people, I don’t want people to be concerned that I’m going to stop them from trying to monetize their Twitch or even appearance money and things of that nature. I think there are gray areas.”
Khan stated that there are different answers on different platforms, but thinks there is a gray area when it comes to sponsorship. He gave an example of how if one of their big stars was to go try and get a Pepsi sponsorship under their Twitch account then it may seem like the wrestler is trying to “circumvent the company.”
“For the most part, I support people going out and trying to go out on Twitch and monetizing that platform. I’m okay with people monetizing their YouTube, which I think is very clear here because a lot of people have YouTube shows and famously, Being The Elite. The Young Bucks’ show is not on the AEW channel.”
He stated that AEW supports the show and their wrestlers are all over it, but it’s not an AEW show. He added that their wrestlers have various vlogs and other shows on social media platforms.
Khan brought up Kip Sabian being big on Twitch and how he wouldn’t stop him from using the platform. In fact, during All Out, Sabian and Penelope Ford plugged Sabian’s Twitch page.
“I think it’s different, depending on what platform you’re talking about and how you’re addressing it. I definitely think I wouldn’t tell people they can’t do anything outside the company though that seems too unfair and pretty strong policy.”
Khan did make sure to note that he’s not saying anyone else has that policy but does think it would be a strong policy to have if they did.
You can listen to the entire call by clicking on the player below (quotes can be found around the 23-minute mark):
