Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter
As reported late last night here on the website, many WWE officials are apparently unhappy with Figure Toy Company and Ring Of Honor putting out a new Kevin Steen action figure.
WWE is reportedly upset because a non-WWE company is the first to enter the marketplace with an action figure of WWE’s hottest new star. They were also upset at the fact that the look and character of ROH’s Kevin Steen and WWE’s Kevin Owens are essentially the same.
WWE is putting pressure on Triple H and his department to avoid this happening again, as they want to get non-WWE talents with great potential signed to NXT with merchandising deals before they make it to a company like ROH or TNA that has their own merchandise and cable television deals.
Furthermore, WWE is looking to create a pipeline to find the talents with potential before ROH or TNA does. The idea is not to sign talent from ROH or TNA for the main WWE roster and to get the word out to younger talents that if they have WWE aspirations, they shouldn’t sign with ROH or TNA, however there will always be exceptions to the rule for exceptional talent.
One of the worst parts about the Steen action figure situation is that most independent talent has signed five-year deals with Figure Toy Company, which in this case means ROH has the right to market Kevin Steen action figures for nearly five more years while WWE pushes him as one of their top new stars.
UPDATE: The ROH/Figures Toy Company deal was a factor in WWE’s reported talks with WWN. WWE “took notice” when the Kevin Steen figure was announced, and WWE does not want to get into a situation where if they sign someone from the indies, they’re locked into a five year deal (as FTC is signing talents to) which means they have to go through a third party to license the merchandise.
Figures was the company that sued them a while back for allegedly screwing them over on the production and sale of title replica belts, which was eventually settled between the two companies.
A source notes that if an indy talent has signed a third party merchandising deal that has any sort of exclusivity, WWE isn’t interested in signing them. There will always be exceptions to the rule but that is the general idea.
