Report: Stokely Hathaway turned down a $250,000 WWE contract
As seen at the 2022 AEW Double or Nothing PPV event, former WWE NXT manager Malcolm Bivens made his debut under his real name Stokely Hathaway. Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com wrote the following in regards to Hathaway joining AEW…
“It should be noted Hathaway was offered a WWE main roster contract a few months ago at $250,000 and turned it down, so for him to turn it down, he almost had to be knowing he had a strong deal elsewhere.”
Hathaway’s WWE non-compete ended the day before the PPV. AEW President Tony Khan stated he never spoke with Hathaway until that point and the timing ended up working out for the PPV debut. Khan also mentioned that he wanted Hathaway in AEW since the beginning of the company.
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I cant stop laughing. The guy brings absoulte nothing.. the “E” was gonna pay him 250k, but lwt go qrwsltwr cuz if budgwt cuts its too damm funny. If nany Khan is paying the same or more is even funnier, the dude bring zero.. i repeat zero to the table. Guess its true a sucker is born every minute
Dude is easily one of the best promos in the business currently. I understand him taking the safer bet elsewhere because that 250k might not have been guaranteed money, but we don’t know the details I guess. So maybe he felt he had more job security at slightly less money in the immediate period elsewhere. I would always be hesitant leaving a company thats been around through the worst of times for a very young company, but he’s also seen their track record of resigning people and dropping them fast.
“…but he’s also seen their track record of resigning people and dropping them fast.”
I think this plays a big part. It also seems like a lot of people liked having HHH run NXT and are not thrilled with who’s running it now or how they’re running it. At least Tony Kahn has been keeping talent until their contracts expire and not using ‘budget cuts’ as an excuse to cut people.