Fans, last year WW"e" contacted The Honky Tonk Man and about using his name and likeness for video games and action figures. HTM directed his representative to negotiate terms with the WW"e" contact agent.
Thereafter the WW"e" provided a proposed "contract" that had absolutely nothing to do with video games or action figures. Instead it was a bait and switch for what the WW"e" termed the "nostalgia" program. A short time later that program evolved into what the WW"e" now calls the "Legends" program. The "contract" was nothing more than a copy of the present day WW"e" pro forma talent contract. It read like slavery and no one in his right mind would sign it.
Sadly, there are those who have.
HTM's representative then contacted the WW"e" agent and asked what happened to video games and action figures, and what all the other BS was doing in there. The reply consisted of ridiculous non-answers. A few days later HTM had the "contract" rewritten to reflect its original purposes and sent to the WW"e." Thereafter, WW"e" vice president Ed Cohen, who never talked to HTM or his representative regarding any of the matters at hand, sent a reply rejecting HTM's terms. Cohen stated on behalf of the WW"e" that it was "unfortunate HTM would not be participating" in the "nostalgia" program.
Unfortunate? Not for HTM. In what was par for the WW"e" pattern of doing business, Cohen's letter said not one word about video games or action figures. "Nostalgia" program? At no time was that ever discussed.
The WWE "contract" was so poorly drafted that a first year law student would have been expelled had he or she produced such garbage.
Fans, the standard WW"e" talent contract is juvenile at best. Vince the non-licensed legal genius constantly amended it as hard knocks came along over the years. One would think a guy with all that cash in his pockets could have afforded some rudimentary legal advice, but that was obviously not the case.
Had HTM signed he would never be able to use his name "Honky Tonk Man" again. The WWE would have owned damn near his very existence for the rest of his life, and all at the price of a few bags of peanuts.
To sum up the sorry tale, when HTM had his representative properly redraft the proposed contract in response to the blatant treachery of the WW"e," as a practical matter he told the WW"e" to get fucked. HTM knew the WW"e" would never go for it, but he decided that since they wanted to waste his time he would waste some of theirs in turn. In hindsight HTM knew a better use of his time would have been to ignore the WW"e." However, HTM was curious to see how the WW"e" would respond to the exposure of their bullshit.
After HTM learned more about the "Legends" nonsense, it took only a few brain cells to understand the motives of the former wrestlers who signed. It is hard to believe so many have nothing going for themselves. And Vince, true to form, included the usual non-competition clauses.
From time to time WW"e" contacts HTM regarding one-time appearances. When HTM indicates that the Greatest Intercontinental Champion of All Time isn't going to job to anyone, especially a pipsqueak like Randy Orton, the conversations end.
