WWE won’t be landing the services of The Young Bucks and barring a surprise, Kenny Omega won’t be there, either. But WWE coming up short wasn’t for lack of effort.
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According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, both the Bucks and Omega turned down massive offers from WWE. Per the report, The Bucks rejected a three-year deal for money comparable AJ Styles’ contract—which falls somewhere between 2-3 million. But not only were the Bucks set to make great money, Triple H apparently promised that their deal would include their web series, Being the Elite, getting a weekly installment on the WWE Network. Even more, the Bucks were reportedly offered an opt-out clause if they were unhappy after six months.
For Omega, there are fewer details available, however, The Observer notes that he did turn down WWE’s offer. If you buy the Observers story on WWE’s offer to the Bucks, then it’s not hard to imagine Omega’s prospective deal being lucrative. While the Bucks are popular, they’re a tag team — a brand of wrestling WWE loves to neglect. However, Omega is a singles star and the most coveted free agent in recent memory. So while we don’t know what his contract looked like, our imagination says that it had many, many zeros.
So where does this leave us? What does it mean for WWE now that The Buck, Cody Rhodes, Adam “Hangman” Page, and Kenny Omega all reportedly turned down lucrative offers? Well, for one it means that the people who created AEW have their heart and souls behind it. Clearly, the autonomy behind starting their own promotion has a better payoff than a fat WWE contract for these guys. As much as some would like to see them in WWE, it’s going to be more fun watching them build AEW.
While Omega has yet to officially sign with AEW, his arrival may be a foregone conclusion. His contract with New Japan expires at the end of January and expectations have him inking a deal with AEW on February 1.
