5 times WWE superstars had to be convinced to extend their contract

Thanks to the multitude of employment options in wrestling today, WWE isn't the monopoly in the wrestling industry that it used to be. In different situations, WWE has to convince superstars to re-sign their contract. Whether it's due to a good offer from a different promotion, or superstars simply wanting to leave, WWE has had to break out their checkbook to convince superstars to re-sign and extend their contract. Here are five relatively recent examples:

#5. The Good Brothers - How Triple H convinced them to re-sign with WWE

The Good Brothers jumped to Impact Wrestling in 2020

The Good Brothers have a home at Impact Wrestling now, and they're thriving with a lot more creative freedom. It's not far-fetched to say that their 4-year run with WWE was underwhelming.

There was a lot more expected, but WWE never gave them the push or the opportunity to showcase what they became famous for. Eventually, their contracts were expiring and they told Ryan Satin, formerly of Pro Wrestling Sheet, that Triple H had approached them while in Japan and asked them what it would take for them to re-sign with WWE.

Being as honest as possible, The Good Brothers admitted that it was likely to be their last WWE contract before going into free agency. In a rather surprising response, Triple H said:

"I look and you and I see your kids, and what if AEW doesn't last? I promise you WWE will always be here."

Speaking separately to Chris Van Vliet, Doc Gallows stated that when there was interest from AEW, WWE "backed up the bank truck" to their house and gave them an offer that was hard to refuse. While he admitted in hindsight that it wasn't the right call, he said that it ultimately worked out fine:

"[I now know] that it wasn't the right decision, but now I can honestly say, everything does happen for a reason because we're happy with how things turned out," he added. "But it sucked that we were that close to leaving and we didn't, and we didn't bet on ourselves, and we stuck around, and we took their money, and we saw what happened when the pandemic occurred."

AJ Styles also had a large role to play in convincing the duo to stay in WWE. Gallows stated that the reason why AJ Styles felt terrible about their release was that he was influential in them staying.

However, Gallows said that at the end of the day, they're adults and the decision to stay was on the two of them. They may not have liked the run, but they were released from WWE during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This also seemingly caused high levels of tension between AJ Styles and then-RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman.

#4. Randy Orton - How The Viper teased a move to get a better offer from WWE

Randy Orton's WWE contract was originally set to expire in the summer of 2020, and while he knew he was going to get a renewal, he decided to have a little fun to his benefit.

In late 2019, Randy Orton posted a picture on Instagram teasing interest in a move to AEW:

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that Randy Orton was deservedly playing both sides in hope of getting one last major contract:

"Maybe his contract’s up and he’s playing the game. And he should. I mean, he’s fixing to able to get a lot and lot of money if his contract’s up. And what is he, 38 years old? 39? So this is the time. This is the time to get that last big contract. He’s probably one of those guys who will want to work a minimal schedule and WWE is giving him a minimal schedule, he’s not out there killing himself."

Randy Orton eventually re-signed with WWE for five years after officials were quick to convince him when he teased interest in AEW. In November 2019, Randy Orton revealed that he signed a 5-year contract with WWE:

The 3 most dangerous letters in sports entertainment- #RKOjust re-signed with the 3 most dominant letters in sports entertainment- #WWE Looking forward to pi$$ing off the #WWEUNIVERSE for at least 5 more years #WWEBACKSTAGE @FS1 @WWE
— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) November 6, 2019

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Triple H commented on it as well, stating that he was glad to put the rumors to rest:

"I'm glad to put the rumors to rest. For almost two decades, Randy Orton has been a cornerstone of WWE...and Randy Orton will remain a cornerstone of WWE for a long time!"

Randy Orton never had any intention of leaving. He knew that at the time, WWE was offering big contracts to those who were thinking about making the jump to AEW. He simply played his cards right, but he knew that WWE would have to "convince" him to re-sign.

#3. The Revival/FTR - WWE's attempts to convince the duo failed

The Revival had to be convinced on multiple occasions to re-sign with WWE. For The Revival, it was a mixed ride since they joined WWE's main roster in 2017. While they had moderate success, it seemed to come at times when WWE had to convince them to stay.

In an interview with Digital Spy the move was described by The Revival as WWE "throwing a bone" and stated that it never went anywhere.

In early 2020, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reported that WWE was ready for a massive offer to The Revival:

"Sapp is also reporting that the deals offered to Dawson and Wilder “approached and perhaps exceeded” the figures that were offered to Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson when they re-signed in 2019, while they have also been offered reduced dates as part of their new contracts."

Ultimately, The Revival opted not to re-sign with WWE and were released from their contracts during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. It worked out for the best. Despite getting big six-figure contracts, Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler were more concerned about their legacies and tag team wrestling than a paycheck. They're now happy at AEW.

#2. Rey Mysterio - The WWE contract negotiations went down to the last minute

There was a lot of scrambling within WWE in 2020 to get Rey Mysterio re-signed. He wasn't on a long-term contract and it coincided with Dominik Mysterio's WWE debut.

WWE had a few things to address with regards to Rey Mysterio. Firstly, Rey Mysterio reportedly had a big offer from AEW that he could have taken when his contract had expired.

Secondly, Rey Mysterio wanted his WWE contract for 18 months, while WWE wanted it for five years. Then there was the issue of Dominik Mysterio, meaning that WWE had to push him well upon his debut as a way to convince Rey Mysterio that his son will be in safe hands.

It went to the point where Vince McMahon was directly in charge of the negotiations with Rey Mysterio. However, it was always highly likely that he was going to re-sign, and WWE did all they could to convince him, finally settling on a 3-year contract.

#1. AJ Styles - A well-leveraged way to re-sign with WWE

AJ Styles has made it clear on multiple occasions that he wants WWE to be his final destination. In the first half of 2019, AJ Styles told Newsweek that the WWE contract he had recently signed at the time would be his last:

"I can tell you that this contract that I've signed is my last. This is the perfect place for me to be. It's family-oriented, I have no problem taking my family to the shows. It's a PG product, which I enjoy. I'm in the best place I can be for my career."

However, we're jumping a bit ahead of ourselves. There were definite talks about AJ Styles moving to AEW and it had started well before Dynamite premiered in October 2019. AJ Styles confirmed that there were talks, but it was all business:

"Yeah, there were talks. Look, it's a business. My contract in WWE was going to expire, and there were talks happening. The Bucks are my buddies. We never discussed money or anything, but there were talks about coming in. Again, it's all business."

The Young Bucks' Matt Jackson even revealed on the Talk N' Shop podcast that the original plans for the Dynamite debut episode was to have Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, and AJ Styles appear and reunite as The Bullet Club.

Ultimately, AJ Styles was convinced by WWE to re-sign, although we imagine that he didn't need much convincing. Matt Jackson stated that AJ Styles messaged him later, thanking him for the offer. AJ Styles said that had it not been for the offer from AEW, he wouldn't have gotten the incredible deal he did from WWE.

Edited by James Sullivan