As 2020 comes to a close a good number of pro-wrestler’s talent contracts are set to expire, leaving them as free agents for the following year.
According to Fightful Select (subscription required), this year’s “contract season” is expected to extend passed its normal timeframe. The report notes that contracts for Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling typically cut off by the end of the year, whereas WWE typically structures deals around WrestleMania time (April). However, WWE’s deals with talent are more spread out than usual, most likely do to the number of alternative options wrestlers have to go and their attempt to keep them from getting signed elsewhere.
Meanwhile AEW has talent contracts ending in the front half of 2021, although which talents remains unknown. IMPACT Wrestling has had several “multi-year” deals dating back to 2019, with the report mentioning how many of those deals were announced well after talent put pen to paper.