Former WWE Star Details Lack Of Benefits From The Company

It’s a rough job. Wrestlers have a rough job. Not only are they expected to have their matches, but they also have to go from town to town, find time to work out, eat, and find some kind of time for a personal life. That is hardly the easiest balancing act to pull off, not to mention being very expensive in the process. It turns out that it might be even harder than realized.

One of the more interesting stories taking place over the last few weeks has been WWE’s takeover of its wrestlers’ Twitch accounts. The company has decided to crack down on the wrestlers appearing on the site and making money in the process. This has led to a nasty battle between WWE and its wrestlers, many of which are not happy with what is going on. At the same time, it has brought up the issue of independent contractors, and a former star is revealing some details.

Earlier this week, Maria Kanellis was asked whether WWE provided its wrestlers with insurance. Kanellis responded by listing off all of the things that WWE did not pay or reimburse its talent for while on the road. This included rental cars, food tolls and more, along with almost no traditional benefits. Kanellis and her husband Mike Kanellis were released from WWE in April along with dozens of other wrestlers.

No. No benefits, no vacation time, no unemployment, no union, no childcare, no retirement, and we pay for our own rental car, food, tolls, etc… all expenses are paid by us and not reimbursed by WWE. https://t.co/XkEnGUkssO

— MariaKanellisBennett (@MariaLKanellis) November 2, 2020

It was nice while it lasted. Check out Kanellis’ time with the company:

Opinion: This is one of those situations where fans know most of the details already, but there is a difference between hearing about it piece by piece and then seeing it listed in front of you all in one place. WWE wrestlers are independent contractors, but when you throw in the amount of things that they are required to do while factoring in everything WWE asks of them, it is kind of a hard image to present.

How does this make WWE look? What will come of the Twitch situation? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!