Xavier Woods and other content creators for WWE’s UpUpDownDown YouTube gaming channel are currently in a dispute with WWE over low pay issues, according to Fightful Select.
It was reported that these issues revolve around the low monetary pay Woods receives from WWE for his work on UpUpDownDown and has been the main reason why there has been a lack of new content for the channel in recent months.
It was also reported that all of UpUpDownDown’s content creators are currently holding out in solidarity over producing new content for WWE for the channel until Woods is given a substantial pay raise for his work. While Woods does not actually own the channel, it was reported that the current feeling by those spoken to stated that they feel he has been primarily responsible for the growth and popularity of the channel over the years. It was also reported that despite the issues, UpUpDownDown was stated by their sources to not be done as a brand and production of regular content would be restarted once the “situation was rectified.”
In a separate report from Fightful Select, it was reported that Woods currently is paid “little to no additional money” for his work on the channel based on those spoken to close to the situation. Woods’ pay for his work reportedly is counted against his WWE contract’s downside guarantee and was stated by one source that he likely has “not seen an extra dime” for it. This reportedly is stated to be the case with other WWE talent who have appeared and work on the channel as well.
It was also reported that it took a long time for WWE officials to green light the idea from Woods to have a gaming channel associated with the company. Several sources spoken to within the company stated that the members of UpUpDownDown all feel a sense of loyalty to Woods for his hard work on the channel and pushing for their presence on the platform.
In an interesting note, WWE recently announced that they were reviving their Superstar Gaming Series channel this week after over ten months of being on hiatus. This is a separate gaming channel associated with the company. The first episode since returning from hiatus will be airing at 7PM EST today and will feature Woods and Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez as co-hosts.