The former three times World Wrestling Federation champion the Hardcore legend revealed the secret behind not signing a new legend’s deal with World Wrestling Entertainment. In his facebook page he wrote the following;
“To deal….. or not to deal – that is the question. As some of you may have heard, at this point, I am opting not to sign my Legends Marketing Deal, which gives #WWE the right to market my likeness on video games and action figures. I’ll be writing in more detail about this in the next week or so, but it would be fair to say that, despite strong sales, I have found the payoffs for the past two video games to be extremely weak – in the 25% range of what most talent was expecting.
Last year, the explanation had something to do with the video game company going bankrupt – a real shame for me, since I was heavily featured as three characters from the “Attitude” era, complete with voice work. I haven’t heard this year’s explanation yet, but, personally. I think the #WWE just wants to see if the talent will accept a far lower percentage than had previously been given. If so, it would proably be a good business move for #WWE, since very few current wrestlers are going to jeapordize their standing with the company by offering resistance – and most legends will probably come to feel like anything they get from merchandise is better than nothing.
As for me: until I hear a valid reason, I’m opting out.”
WWE catches the former World Tag team champion Trevor Murdoch in wwe.com’s ‘Where are they now’ section. Murdoch who remained active on the independent circuit and on the professional wrestling promotion of Japan expressed his happiness after WWE reached him. Here is what he said in delight;
“I’m grateful. WWE gave me an opportunity to do a number of things, to fulfill career goals and dreams, but also the opportunity to get in front of a national audience. I have nothing but good things to say about WWE and a lot of fond memories of being a champion, wrestling overseas and learning about the business from a different perspective.”
Daniel Bryan’s father passed away on April 21. WWE announced the following on the same day;
“WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan’s (Bryan Danielson’s) father has unexpectedly passed away. Bryan was made aware of his father’s passing after returning from his honeymoon with Brie Bella. Despite the news, Bryan has insisted on performing for the WWE Universe tonight (April 21) and will be on Raw. WWE extends our deepest condolences to Bryan and his family.”