Mustafa Ali still hasn't been released.

[CeilingFan]

is WWE really planning to hold him hostage for 2 years?

[eJm]

Yes.

Either that, or he'll accidentally be released in a group and nobody will realize until it's too late.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

They'll finally give him his release at the end of next year then ask him again to appear in the Rumble during his 90 day no-compete period just to throw salt in the wounds.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Honestly, I figure he’s gone post WrestleMania in the next round of cuts. WWE is flexing their contract muscle and basically saying “you can leave when we say you can leave”

[Deleted]

This reeks of the Brodie Lee situation all over again.

You'd think they'd learn their lesson after his passing but it appears not.

[Dub H]

Mar 5, 2022 15:13:04 GMT -5 @negan said:

This reeks of the Brodie Lee situation all over again.

You'd think they'd learn their lesson after his passing but it appears not.

You assume they care about the Brodie Lee situation.

[Deleted]

Mar 5, 2022 15:13:46 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Mar 5, 2022 15:13:04 GMT -5 @negan said:

This reeks of the Brodie Lee situation all over again.

You'd think they'd learn their lesson after his passing but it appears not.

You assume they care about the Brodie Lee situation.

I just don't see what value Ali sitting at home is adding to the company.

If they're gonna force him to stay, at least get your moneys worth.

It's petty as f*** and as we saw with Brodie, you never know what's around the corner. They took 2 years off his career. And he could only do what he loved for around 8 months in AEW.

It's sickening honestly. But hey, I guess they don't think about these things.

[Lizuka #BLM]

I think WWE genuinely thinks sitting on him forever will stall his momentum when they do finally let him go even though it didn't work for Mysterio or PAC or Brodie or...

[mrtuesday]

Mar 5, 2022 16:07:58 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I think WWE genuinely thinks sitting on him forever will stall his momentum when they do finally let him go even though it didn't work for Mysterio or PAC or Brodie or...

This. WWE hasn't, and never will, learn their lesson on this.

They made Rey stay home. They made PAC stay home. They made Brodie stay home. And WWE thought it would make those men less desirable to anyone else.

They were wrong. When they all were finally free, they were the hottest free agents at their respective times.

If Ali plays his cards right, he can also be the hottest free agent when his time comes. I just hope he makes the most of it when it happens.

[thegatewaydrug]

So do talent not currently being booked [TV or house shows] only earn the "downside guarantee" portion of their contract? Roughly, what percentage of the usual deal is the downside figure?

[Perd]

WWE: Where the only sure way not to get fired, is to want to get fired.

[Mozenrath]

Mar 5, 2022 17:28:37 GMT -5 thegatewaydrug said:

So do talent not currently being booked [TV or house shows] only earn the "downside guarantee" portion of their contract? Roughly, what percentage of the usual deal is the downside figure?

It depends. For some people, it's basically 100 percent because they don't get booked for more than their downside covers and they have little to no merch.

[lildude8218]

Mar 5, 2022 17:28:37 GMT -5 thegatewaydrug said:

So do talent not currently being booked [TV or house shows] only earn the "downside guarantee" portion of their contract? Roughly, what percentage of the usual deal is the downside figure?

The downside guarantee refers to the bare minimum you make for a year of your contract. To make things simple let's say someone is signed to a one year contract for $52,000 ($1000 a week.) The absolute minimum you make on that deal is $1000 a week. But you may work 2 house shows and a TV taping and wind up making $2000 that week. If you continue at that pace without injury at the end of the year you'll have made $104,000. You can either take that money up front or have them only pay you the $1000 a week and you receive a balloon payment at the end of the year for the additional amount. Jim Ross said when he was head of Talent Relations he suggested this type of payment so guys had money to pay taxes at the end of the year.

Now let's say business is down and you work 2 house shows and aren't on TV. You may only get $500 for the week. Continue that pace and at the end of the year you only made $26,000. The company then cuts you another check for $26,000 to make up for the money you didn't make. One of the cons of this type of contract is if you do well, let's say you get that $2000 a week for 8 months and then get injured. WWE legally doesn't have to pay you another dime while you sit at home because you've already made your downside guarantee. But if you get injured and haven't reached your downside you get paid your $1000 a week for doing nothing. This is a million times better than not working and not getting paid like they used to do. This is also the reason guys like FTR and Braun Strowman were not getting paid while sitting at home, because they had already made their downsides.

However there's been word that since COVID they've decided to change to straight guaranteed money since there weren't house shows for so long. Up until very recently it was reported that $1,000,000 per year as a downside guarantee was still considered the pinnacle. Jim Ross was quoted as saying that Steve Austin was on that deal and wound up taking home $13,000,000 because he was in so many main events on house shows, TV, and PPVs. But now they're signing guys for multi-million dollar contracts and that's it. So reports of AJ Styles signing for $3,000,000 plus means that's ALL he will make for the year regardless of how many matches or type of matches he works. So that guy making $52,000 in our example scenario is getting $1000 a week whether he works 3 matches, 6 matches, or no matches, and whether he's injured or not.

[polarbearpete]

Mar 6, 2022 3:08:16 GMT -5 lildude8218 said:

Mar 5, 2022 17:28:37 GMT -5 thegatewaydrug said:

So do talent not currently being booked [TV or house shows] only earn the "downside guarantee" portion of their contract? Roughly, what percentage of the usual deal is the downside figure?

The downside guarantee refers to the bare minimum you make for a year of your contract. To make things simple let's say someone is signed to a one year contract for $52,000 ($1000 a week.) The absolute minimum you make on that deal is $1000 a week. But you may work 2 house shows and a TV taping and wind up making $2000 that week. If you continue at that pace without injury at the end of the year you'll have made $104,000. You can either take that money up front or have them only pay you the $1000 a week and you receive a balloon payment at the end of the year for the additional amount. Jim Ross said when he was head of Talent Relations he suggested this type of payment so guys had money to pay taxes at the end of the year.

Now let's say business is down and you work 2 house shows and aren't on TV. You may only get $500 for the week. Continue that pace and at the end of the year you only made $26,000. The company then cuts you another check for $26,000 to make up for the money you didn't make. One of the cons of this type of contract is if you do well, let's say you get that $2000 a week for 8 months and then get injured. WWE legally doesn't have to pay you another dime while you sit at home because you've already made your downside guarantee. But if you get injured and haven't reached your downside you get paid your $1000 a week for doing nothing. This is a million times better than not working and not getting paid like they used to do. This is also the reason guys like FTR and Braun Strowman were not getting paid while sitting at home, because they had already made their downsides.

However there's been word that since COVID they've decided to change to straight guaranteed money since there weren't house shows for so long. Up until very recently it was reported that $1,000,000 per year as a downside guarantee was still considered the pinnacle. Jim Ross was quoted as saying that Steve Austin was on that deal and wound up taking home $13,000,000 because he was in so many main events on house shows, TV, and PPVs. But now they're signing guys for multi-million dollar contracts and that's it. So reports of AJ Styles signing for $3,000,000 plus means that's ALL he will make for the year regardless of how many matches or type of matches he works. So that guy making $52,000 in our example scenario is getting $1000 a week whether he works 3 matches, 6 matches, or no matches, and whether he's injured or not.

Yeah it seems they’ve essentially switched to higher, fully guaranteed contracts, and don’t do payouts per show. I believe merch is still additional.

[Spider2024]

#ReleaseTheMustafaAli

[This Player Hating Mothman]

The higher guaranteed money has been the state of contracts of late, but it depends on when Mustafa signed. It could even be that the entire reason they're holding him down instead of cutting him loose is because he has a low-downside contact that makes smothering him not prohibitively expensive, and which could easily make this entire contract sit-out a lot more damaging for him.

[joeiscool]

my guess is also they don't want to set an example of leaving the contracts as easy.

[Johnny B. Decent]

Honestly, I would at least try to have some fun with it, if nothing else. Like, I'd go take shits in Vince's private toilets, do the newLegacy Lemmy noise when I see Triple H, leap out of corners and scare Nick Khan.

[aguileraszn]

Tough, serves him right for being a whiny little bitch.

[Lizuka #BLM]

Mar 6, 2022 16:19:06 GMT -5 aguileraszn said:

Tough, serves him right for being a whiny little bitch.

How dare he take issue with being removed from TV because he refused to play a harmful stereotype.