Update on New Title, Former WWE Star Retiring Young? and More! – WrestleCorp News (Updated)

NXT Debuting New Title – For the four of you who don’t know by now, WWE’s NXT brand will be unveiling a new championship for the brand. It’ll be called the NXT North American Championship and will feature a six man ladder match to crown the first champion. New stars EC3 and Ricochet will participate with four NXT upstarts like Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan, Adam Cole and The Velveteen Dream.

Also, we have the first rumored look of the WWE Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship.

@BeltFanDan, a pro wrestling title belt enthusiast posted late last year about NXT getting a single’s belt for the under card, and since that came to fruition we can accept that he is either in the know or just super lucky at guessing. Whether that’s the actual image or not is anyone’s guess at the moment, but he does have some clout after correctly posting about the NXT championship.

Rich Swann Retiring? – Rich Swann has had a rough year so far in 2018. First he was suspended because his wife, Su Yung, sprinted away from him while their car was stopped at a red light. She later claims he gets angry and she got scared. He was since released from the WWE after charges against him were dropped. However, he’s finding it difficult finding work on the indy’s right now. He tweeted about CZW wreslter Nick Gage, who spent five years in prison for robbing a bank, getting booked but he couldn’t find work.

Gage responded to him, essentially telling him to say it to Gage’s face and not on Twitter. Swann declined, saying he brought up Gage to show the fickleness of promoters. Su Yung tried to stem the aggression against Swann, as he mounted a series of unique tweets that incurred the ire of fans, but he cryptically just left a “….” in reply.

Swann than stated that he’d be retiring after the bookings he has taken. He had a few late night tweets that were a little erratic. It’s possible that Swann may not be in a healthy head space.

Two Big Acts Not Wrestling at ‘Mania? – Both Braun Strowman and The Bar are currently not penciled in for a match at WrestleMania. Strowman is expected to be part of some ‘strength showcase’ as of right now, while The Bar don’t have plans yet. That isn’t in stone though, as Strowman is being held off in case Reigns can’t go, or if the news that comes out about him is bad. This seems to indicate they know he’s guilty but they’re waiting to see if they have to admit it or not. If Reigns takes a hit from this independent expose on his alleged steroid use, then expect Strowman in the Universal Title match. The Bar though have released a second tweet, demanding a team show up at WrestleMania to face them. They seem really hard at hinting at a major team challenging them; possibly the Authors of Pain.

UFC Fighter Walks Back Comments – I’ve mentioned yesterday that Fabricio Werdum wasn’t WWE bound to a variety of reasons. Today, he’s agreeing. He posted that he isn’t meeting with the WWE, and he meant ‘WWE style’ (pro wrestling). Apparently he’s talking to a Lucha Libre company in Mexico. He also claimed that he is 100% committed to the UFC as of right now.

WWE Execs Pay Revealed – While I don’t post about wrestlers and their pay, I don’t have the same trepidation about exes in a publicly traded company. Thanks to PWInsider for the quoted section;

WWE Chairman of the Board and CEO Vince McMahon – $1.4 million in 2017. That number is expected to remain the same in 2018.

WWE Co-President George Barrios – $783,510 in 2017. His salary for 2018 post-promotion will be $870,000.

WWE Co-President Michelle D. Wilson – $791,044 in 2017. Her salary for 2018 post-promotion will be $870,000.

WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul “Triple H” Levesque – $650,000 in 2017. His salary will raise to $684,000 in 2018.

WWE Executive Vice President, Production Kevin Dunn – $909,560 in 2017. His salary will rise to $925,000 in 2018.

These salaries do not include what those who perform on camera are paid, nor would they include what execs make via WWE stock dividend payouts.

In the case of those related to Vince McMahon, their performance salaries were also listed in the filing:

Stephanie McMahon was paid $2.2 million total between her role as Chief Brand Ambassador and her on camera role.

Triple H was paid an additional $1.5 million for his on camera role, which means he was paid almost double to be “Triple H” vs. what he made as Paul Levesque, WWE Executive.

Shane McMahon, who is not an executive for the company, was paid $1.3 million last year for his on camera role as Smackdown Commissioner.

At no point reading this, was I surprised by anything. Kevin Dunn is the most overpaid asshole in the history of this business though. Dude’s a millionaire multiple times over.

Updated: Major NXT Star Released – For whatever reason, Abbey Laith, aka Kimber Lee, has been released from her NXT Contract today. No reason has been given and Laith/Lee never really made her debut with the company on t.v., except for appearing in the Mae Young Classic. We’ll update this story as more becomes available.

Quick Hits – Drew McIntyre has been training as the WWE Performance Center recently as he preps to get ready for his in ring return in April. NJPW has announced that due to a torn ACL to Hikuleo and a concussion to Katsuya Kitamura, both have been removed from the New Japan Cup. Sami Zay and Kevin Owens are expected to be part of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.