It has been a wild month for Billy Corgan and the NWA. Haus of Wrestling was the first to report last month that Corgan had inked a pair of TV deals with The CW, one for their weekly Powerrr series and the other for a yet-to-be-named reality show. Those plans were thrown into disarray following a controversial segment on their NWA Samhain PPV that featured Father James Mitchell doing cocaine with various extras and members of the roster.
The backlash to the segment on social media caused The CW to reconsider airing the NWA on its actual television airwaves. It will now likely make the content available on its app. Shortly after our initial reporting about The CW reconsidering airing Corgan’s NWA content, it was announced WWE had signed a multi-year deal with The CW to air NXT starting in October 2024.
Haus of Wrestling has learned that the NWA is expected to make cuts to its roster and various production areas soon. One source we spoke with told us that Corgan will make cuts “at every corner.” One example we were given on the production side is that the hair and make-up department’s budget will be cut roughly in half.
We are also told that this weekend’s NWA Powerrr tapings will primarily only have contracted talent appearing and what was described to us as “a bare-bones crew.” Exceptions to the rule regarding non-contracted talent appearing are Violent J and Mike Knox. Concerning J, we are told he flies himself in and works for free. Current NWA Tag Team Champion Kratos is also not under contract but holds a title. The two wrestlers playing a masked tag team are also not under contract but are working an NWA-owned gimmick.
The January tapings have already been booked with primarily contracted talent. The talent cuts will likely occur following those tapings in early 2024, when Corgan expects to start contract negotiations. As we previously reported, several NWA talents’ contracts come up in June 2024. We were not given an idea of how many talents would be cut or not re-signed, but it was stressed that all contracted talent was under review and their benefits to the company were being weighed. Talent without contracts cannot be let go, so some of those working without formal deals will likely not be called regarding future bookings.
Another cost-cutting measure that Haus of Wrestling learned about is that most NWA talent can no longer fly in the day before shows. By doing so, the NWA no longer has to pay extra hotel costs, which they have been footing the bill for up to now. The NWA has been paying for flights and hotels for talent, which is different than a standard WWE deal, which usually only covers flights. Paying for hotels has been considered an incentive for talent to work for the NWA to compensate for their lower pay compared to more prominent companies. From what we are told, AEW also pays for their talents’ hotel rooms.
NWA talent will continue to have their hotels paid for on the night of tapings. If the tapings go for more than one day, they will have their hotel paid for on the night of each taping before they fly out the day after the final day. The January tapings are tentatively scheduled for two nights, so the talent will get their hotel rooms paid for on both nights if that is the case.
We are told that the cuts are because Corgan has been funding everything out of pocket for the NWA for years. There has been “little to no sponsorship money coming in,” and he has spent millions on Powerrr and the NWA reality series. If the promotion wants to keep operating at a level they are comfortable with, cuts will have to be made.