WWE must make sure that all of their bases are covered when they book a big event. They want to secure a market and ensure that they can drive tickets sales. Now, the company’s wording for their exclusivity agreements have been made public as part of a new documentation release.
There were rumors swirling all over the industry that WWE was outright blocking venues from booking AEW shows, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. This isn’t an outright ban on giving Tony Khan’s company dates, but WWE wants to make sure that they do not have any direct competition in the same venue’s schedule.
WWE is working to secure larger venues for its premium live events. The company filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General to block the release of a bidding contract for the Royal Rumble in 2023. In the lawsuit, WWE claimed that the contract contained proprietary information that warranted exemption under Texas’s public information law. They didn’t want people getting a look at some of the fine print in their agreements.
WWE decided to withdraw that complaint, and Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics shared a copy of the contract between WWE and the state of San Antonio. The initial release of the agreement had three pages missing, as WWE sought to keep them private. These pages outlined the terms of their exclusivity period.
The contract specified that the Alamodome could not host any other wrestling event 90 days prior to and 60 days after the Royal Rumble. This situation highlights the challenges other promotions, such as AEW, may face when booking venues for events and the level of planning required for such arrangements.
We will have to see if WWE responds publicly to this situation, but it seems pretty cut and dry. They don’t want any other pro wrestling competition to dilute a market three months prior to a big show and two months after an event. This does not apply to house shows, and as of this writing, we have only been able to confirm that it applies to major premium live events like the Royal Rumble.
