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Major Contracts Offered To The Elite
The WWE worked hard attempting to sign Cody, Hangman Page, and The Young Bucks to deals prior to them inking a deal with All Elite Wrestling.
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Paul Levesque(Triple H) was behind trying to acquire members of The Elite.
Hangman Page was reportedly offered main roster money to work for the NXT brand, where he would have been pushed as one of the top stars.
Cody and The Young Bucks were were offered strong deals according to Meltzer. Cody was public in stating he turned down a deal from the WWE in December. The amount of money offered was reportedly seven figures, which is top money in the WWE.
The Young Bucks deal was roughly the same as AJ Styles, and included Being The Elite made into a regular weekly show on the WWE Network. They also were offered something that is unheard of with a WWE deal, which was a six-month window where they could have left their three-year deal if they were not happy with their position in the company.
The WWE was fully aware of Tony Khan’s plans to start All Elite Wrestling. The WWE began working hard locking in talent over the last few months.
The WWE was under the impression that Khan would not go forward with the promotion without The Young Bucks and Cody, and signing the three would keep AEW from being opposition.
Those within the WWE with knowledge of the dealings felt The Elite were not going to turn down Triple H’s offer. They had plans to debut them at the Royal Rumble, and had a Rumble-to-Mania significant storyline according to Meltzer. Many within the company were surprised that they would turn down an offer at that level.
The total dealings The Elite had with Levesque was 12 hours, and they praised how he handled everything, including the comedy skit they did where they super kicked a Triple H imposter on Being The Elite.