When Non-Compete Clause For Released WWE Talent Expires
Fans shouldn’t expect to see any of the wrestlers released from WWE on September 21st inside another promotion’s ring in the immediate future.
As of this writing, twenty wrestlers have confirmed their WWE releases, including Mustafa Ali, Dolph Ziggler, and Shelton Benjamin.
Given the variety in age, star power, and reputation in those released on Thursday, it’s expected that some of them will turn up in other promotions.
However, none of these twenty now-former superstars will be able to sign with any other promotion right away as all of them are bound by the no-compete clause WWE enforces in all of its talent contracts.
With these clauses in effect, some have wondered how long it will be before these wrestlers will become fully available. According to Sean Ross Sapp on Twitter, these twenty men and women are still bound by the same standard 90-day compete clause.
90 day non competes for most of the releases, per usual.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) September 21, 2023
This means that the no-compete clause is in effect from September 21st until December 20th of this year, with the latter date confirmed by one of the released wrestlers, Mansoor.
Both developmental wrestlers and former champions released from WWE
The list of wrestlers released on September 21st includes those from both NXT and the main roster. Included in the latter category are former World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler, 3-time tag team champion Shelton Benjamin, and 2922 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner Riddick Moss.
This wasn’t the only newsworthy item to affect WWE this week as the stock for WWE’s new parent company TKO took a major hit earlier on the 21st when it was announced that SmackDown could be moved to a new broadcaster.