WWE legends do not receive a check from the company due to their footage on the WWE network. A new court ruling could set a very interesting precedent for making that happen.
Bill Nye filed a lawsuit against Disney after they started streaming his program on Disney +. The Science Guy believed that he owed 50% of the royalties from the streams. Disney argued that they should only give 20% and said that it is streaming and not being broadcast. Streaming has been said to be the natural evolution of home videos.
Disney won the case, but in the ruling, the judge made a very interesting decision. He ruled that streaming content is the advancement of VHS and DVD. It could eventually occur on WWE if some legends, who have clauses in their home video royalties contracts, want to push for it.
This is a new situation, and nothing has been done about it. It does open the door to possibly revisit the idea that WWE legends pay for the footage they stream. The WWE billion-dollar PWE agreement could help them pay people who have not seen a penny since the launch of the WWE network.