Wrestlers Want WWE/TKO To Pay For Hotel Security Following WrestleMania 42 Weekend Issues

The overall sentiment amongst WWE wrestlers is that TKO and WWE need to spend the money required to protect talent or provide funds for the talent to source their own independent security, Fightful Select has reported. The view was almost unanimously that WWE and TKO should be providing on-site security for major events when wrestlers are staying at a centralised location.

This comes after there were several instances of altercations with fans over WrestleMania 42 weekend at the hotel in Las Vegas where wrestlers were staying. As early as Wednesday, April 15, there was concern amongst talent about the lack of security at the company hotel as, due to it being a major casino, there was no way to restrict fan access and it resulted in fans waiting in the hotel lobby or camping out at elevators. They would then mob anyone from WWE to try and secure photos or autographs.

The issues continued for the remainder of the weekend, with footage having emerged of Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton being mobbed by fans, while CM Punk was filmed slapping away a fan's phone after they closely filmed his wife AJ Lee and Bayley. Royce Keys also had a confrontation with a fan, while reports have noted Damian Priest had to help a female talent escape a group of fans trying to surround her for photos and autographs. A WWE referee was also reportedly almost knocked over by a group of fans, and Booker T has revealed he was followed into the bathroom by a fan at the company hotel at one point.

A prominent women's talent told Fightful about the lack of security at the company hotel: "It's Vegas, we were f*cked from the beginning. WWE never actually pre-arranges good security. It's like they wait until sh*t happens, then they do damage control or add security. We love the personal security teams, and they did as much as they could but hotel security was busy taking care of the problems you already have in Las Vegas."

On the CM Punk incident, WWE talents spoken to by Fightful almost unanimously said that the fan had it coming, although one WWE wrestler admitted they thought Punk should have handled things differently because of his past physical incidents.

These weren't the only issues, though, and it was noted that talents were approached for hugs at scheduled meet-and-greet events even though fans were encouraged not to initiate physical contact with WWE wrestlers.

One wrestler noted they think fans wanting photos and autographs has worsened, though, because of skyrocketing prices for WWE meet-and-greets under TKO and Fanatics. "They charge inaccessible prices," the talent said.