WWE Rumors: Details on WWE contract offer rejected by the Young Bucks
What's the story?
When free agency season was at a high over the last few weeks, rumors ran rampant about where the Young Bucks and the rest of the Elite would sign.
They were all offered contracts by WWE but chose to put all of their time and effort into building up All Elite Wrestling.
Bodyslam.net reported some news from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter regarding what was offered to the Bucks in the WWE contract, including the status of 'Being the Elite' as well as other contract clauses.
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As the Elite finished up their dates with Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, the Young Bucks had a countdown up on their twitter feed that ended with New Year's Eve turning to 2019.
On an episode of 'Being the Elite', they revealed that they would be going ahead with the creation and booking of their rumored promotion, All Elite Wrestling.
WWE had offered contracts to the all members of the Elite, but each member turned their offers down in one form or fashion, instead electing to move forward with the plans for AEW.
The heart of the matter
Since WWE was trying its hardest to secure some of the top non-WWE wrestlers in the world, they apparently offered some special things to the Young Bucks that might have helped or hurt the chances of the brothers signing with the company.
Bodyslam.net reports via the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that 'Triple H offered the Bucks roughly the same amount of money as WWE Champion AJ Styles'.
It also noted a clause related to 'Being the Elite', mentioning that 'WWE planned on making Being The Elite a weekly show on the WWE Network'. WWE also gave The Young Bucks an interesting option in the deal that was noted as something 'WWE never conceded on before'.
Bodyslam.net mentions that interesting option involved a short-term fix for the Bucks, as 'WWE offered Nick and Matt Jackson a six-month window at the beginning of their contracts'.
Involved in that stipulation was that 'during that time, they could pull out from the contracts if they didn’t like how they were being used'.
Also noted was that because of all of these contractual provisions, WWE might have had big plans for The Young Bucks if they had signed with the company.
What's next?
For WWE, moving forward is the next step. They cannot always win but they will obviously be keeping extremely close tabs on AEW and all it does.
Since there is a new kid on the block, WWE will want to gauge if it is a serious threat (it is), how serious that threat might be to it's business practices, and how to move forward with adjusting its business practices.
As much as they may hate the competition of another wrestling promotion, competition often brings out the best in opponents, especially in pro wrestling.
If WCW wasn't a threat to WWF/WWE during the Monday Night Wars, then WWE might have just continued to operate as usual.
Because of the constant threat of losing to WCW on live television, if forced both promotions to up their respective games and create new and exciting superstars, storylines and matches.