The streamer Saraya-Jade Bevis (28) works for the wrestling organization WWE under the name Paige: In a stream, she complained to the fans about her plight. She has to stop streaming on Twitch because the WWE wants it that way. She has already given so much to the wrestling company: She has broken her neck twice for WWE.
How hard the ban hits a streamer: The Englishwoman Saraya-Jade Bevis (28) was a professional wrestler in WWE as “Paige”. However, she can no longer work actively in the ring. She suffered severe neck injuries during matches in 2016 and 2017, leading her to retire from her wrestling career in her mid-20s. Consequently, she took on other roles within WWE.
On her Twitch channel SarayaOfficial, she has 150,000 followers and mostly streams in Just Chatting.
In an emotional speech on Twitch, the streamer explains:
- Her dream of being a wrestler has been shattered by her injury – she lived and breathed wrestling.
- She used Twitch as an outlet to fill this void – Twitch has been a wonderful place for her. This place is now being taken from her.
- She is an injured wrestler. Twitch is the only thing that keeps her sane: She now has to give that up.
- People say she should be glad to have a job at all. She is glad, but that doesn’t mean she can be treated like dirt. After all, she broke her neck twice for the company.
Those streaming as wrestlers on Twitch can be fired
Why does she have to stop streaming? As reported by the site “Heelsbynature“, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon called the wrestlers for a conference call and later issued new rules via email. The wrestlers are not to work with their names and “likeness” with “third parties” anymore. This is part of a “New Era of WWE”: The wrestling company aims to become even bigger and continue to grow.
The new directive seems to clearly target wrestlers who are active on Cameo or Twitch. Anyone violating the new rule and continuing to appear as a ring person on these platforms risks fines, suspensions, and even contract termination.
McMahon writes that this ban is intended to “protect the WWE brand.” Activity on other platforms is against WWE’s interests.
The ban was announced on October 2. Wrestlers had 30 days to prepare for it. Hence, the goodbyes are now coming in the last days.
Wrestlers like Cesaro recently said goodbye to their fans on Twitch:
This is the result: In direct response to this directive, the major wrestling stars have ended their activities on Twitch.
Among them, the popular AJ Styles and the Swiss wrestler Cesaro. They reached out to their fans on Discord or Twitter, thanking their viewers: But their time on Twitch is now over.
It seems that wrestlers are hoping to return to Twitch “someday,” but when and how that will happen is currently unknown.
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WWE wants more control over the brand
What this is about: WWE often seeks connections with video games like World of Tanks: Wrestlers appeared as tanks there. In Japanese wrestling, one even appeared as a character from Destiny in the ring. It’s not as if WWE doesn’t want to be on the gaming platform Twitch, but it seems they want more control over their brand.
For wrestlers, Twitch was the opportunity to appear “outside their ring persona.” Some may have even earned extra money. Wrestlers like Cesaro are apparently attractive influencers for LoL, the wrestler The Big Show is known as a Destiny fan.
It seems that WWE now wants to exert even more control and prohibits wrestlers from appearing on these platforms on their own account. Someone like Paige is particularly hard hit by this. She probably needed Twitch as therapy to cope with no longer being able to work in the ring.
Paige says: WWE cannot take this away from me
Update 11/6: In a new stream, Paige stated that she wants to continue on Twitch (via sportzwiki).
The support from fans has been wonderful and made her so happy. She feels comfortable. She will continue doing what she’s doing because not much else is happening for her.
Paige says she has done a lot of “stupid stuff” and has gone through a crazy time for several years, but now she is done with that and feels better. She wants to continue trying to be a role model for people.
It remains to be seen whether and in what form WWE will take action against Paige’s streams.
Wrestling and gaming share some parallels and frequently seek proximity to each other. The streamer Dr Disrespect is essentially a wrestling figure himself and recently clashed with the Undertaker:
WWE star Undertaker meets Twitch streamer DrDisrespect, goes for his throat
