Cody And The Young Bucks Discuss Possibility Of AEW Providing Health Insurance To Talent
One of the hot topics in wrestling since, essentially, the beginning of wrestling has been health insurance for those in the ring. Promotions view their wrestlers as independent contractors rather than employees, and thus, they don't offer health insurance for one of the most dangerous jobs in sports entertainment.
All Elite Wrestling is trying to do something different in the wrestling world in more ways than one and that includes health insurance. Some AEW employees will receive health insurance and other benefits as Matt Jackson and Cody Rhodes explained at their launch rally.
"I don't know if it's something that [AEW President] Tony [Khan] would want to talk about further, but the big thing for All Elite is that we want to take care of the boys," stated Matt Jackson.
"So many times you hear stories from wrestlers past or legends where they don't have anything left and there's nothing to show for it. One thing that we've always wanted to do is, if we started a wrestling organization, we wanted to take care of the guys. So, that's one thing we're working on.
"The executives are gonna have benefits and stuff. They're gonna get taken care of. We're in the day one process of that and we're still working on it. But that's the plan."
The executives include The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes who are all EVPs as well as Brandi Rhodes who is Chief Brand Officer. Matt was asked if AEW talent might receive benefits one day.
"Maybe one day. Never say never," said Matt. "We're early on. We're creeping up with that door barely open, so hopefully one day we can swing it wide open."
Cody was also asked about talent receiving health insurance and benefits and he said that AEW will be similar to WWE in that they will take care of anyone that gets hurt in their ring.
"A lot of concerns that guys will have is what happens if I get hurt in the ring? Because that's the one thing WWE covers and we can confirm anyone that gets hurt in an AEW ring will be 100 percent taken care of by AEW," revealed Cody.
Cody then made a comparison between wrestling and Hollywood which insures its actors and actresses through labor unions such as SAG-AFTRA.
"I'd like to see wrestling just like the television industry," said Cody. "I've done a few bit roles here and there but that treatment and that care you get for your time on-screen, you have a comparable influence as a pro wrestler. You're just as recognizable and you should be just as taken care of."