WWE Has Had A “Hiring Freeze” Since Vince McMahon’s Return
There are some talented wrestlers that WWE wants to sign, but in 2023 that hasn’t happened in part due to Vince McMahon and the company being sold.
When Triple H took over the WWE creative team in July 2022 when Vince McMahon “retired” and John Laurinaitis was fired as Head of Talent Relations, it also meant that Triple H had a major say in who got hired.
That led to a lot of former WWE stars returning to the company in the second half of 2022 like Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Dakota Kai, Johnny Gargano, Karrion Kross with Scarlett, Bronson Reed, Hit Row (Top Dolla, Ashante “Thee” Adonis & B-Fab), Mia Yim, Chelsea Green and others. Some of them were previously released by WWE under the McMahon regime while some like Gargano were a free agent since December 2021. Meanwhile, the NXT brand signed the electrifying Dragon Lee as well.
Since the start of 2023, there have not been many hirings in terms of talent. That’s because Vince McMahon returned to the company as the Executive Chairman in January and made it clear that he wanted to sell the company.
The sale of WWE became official this past Monday when Endeavor acquired WWE leading to a $21 billion deal to merge WWE and UFC into one powerful sports organization. That deal values WWE at around $9 billion with the UFC at $12 billion and both companies should grow after this deal.
In an update on WWE’s transactions, Fightful Select reports that several talents claimed there was a “hiring freeze” due to the return of Vince McMahon as well as the sale process. Fightful added that while it’s not officially a hiring freeze, it’s a term that has been used constantly.
Some of the wrestlers that WWE had an interest in signing include Tama Tonga, “Switchblade” Jay White (now in AEW), AEW’s Brian Cage and the Authors of Pain tag team that used to work for WWE as former Tag Team Champions. Fightful adds that Cage has “well-respected supporters” pushing for WWE to sign him.
Another name mentioned was Nick Aldis, who we wrote about previously as somebody that Triple H really wanted to sign, but he’s still a free agent since Vince McMahon returned and all potential hires were put on hold.
As the report continued, Fightful noted that they have heard from wrestlers/talents that were contacted by WWE to come into the company, but it didn’t happen due to the impending sale, which has now been announced.
It’s not known if there will be WWE hires soon now that the sale has been announced or if the company will just stick with the talent on the roster already.