Every WWE And AEW Star Who Kept Their Blue Checkmark On The New Twitter

Twitter has pillaged blue checkmarks worldwide, and the majority of WWE and AEW locker rooms are just fine without them.

April 20 marked the end of an era in social media as Twitter commenced its mass removal of the once-elusive blue checkmarks. Twitter’s blue ticks were originally a status symbol earned by users with notability in their field, free of charge. But following Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the polarizing Bird app, Twitter users must now pay for that notoriety by subscribing to Twitter Blue.

“The fundamental challenge here is that it’s (easy) to create literally 10,000 or 100,000 fake Twitter accounts using just one computer at home and with modern AI (artificial intelligence),” said Musk during a recent Q and A session on Twitter.

“That’s the reason for really pressing hard on verified, where the verified requires a number from a reputable phone carrier and a credit card,” Musk continued. “My prediction is that any so-called social media network that doesn’t do this will fail.”

In February, researcher Travis Brown reported an estimated 300,000 users are paying for subscriptions on Twitter, with 62% of those users coming in the United States. That number represents 0.2% of active users in the United States who are paying for a subscription on Twitter. These monetization efforts are estimated to bring in $2.4 million per month and $7.2 million per quarter.

Musk recently admitted to coming out of pocket to pay for blue checkmarks for LeBron James, Stephen King and WWE Hall of Famer William Shatner. Everybody else is on their own.

WWE And AEW Stars With A Blue Checkmark On Twitter

WWE

• Asuka
• Grayson Waller
• John “Bradshaw” Layfield
• John Cena
• Kofi Kingston
• Liv Morgan
• Logan Paul
• Michael Cole
• Natalya
• Pat McAfee
• Paul Heyman
• Randy Orton
• Ronda Rousey
• Zoey Stark

AEW

• Evil Uno
• Mark Briscoe
• MJF
• Orange Cassidy
• Paul Wight
• Swerve Strickland
• Tony Khan

YouTubeJohn Cena and 14 WWE stars who REFUSE to drop their blue checkmark🐦 #shorts #wwe

Fellow WWE Hall of Famer John Bradshaw Layfield joins a handful of WWE talent that has opted to keep their blue checkmark. WWE Superstars who retained their blue ticks are all doing so through Twitter Blue, which requires a subscription of $8 per month. Those entering the new generation of Twitter, with blue checks intact, include megastars Logan Paul, John Cena, Ronda Rousey and Randy Orton. Non-wrestlers Paul Heyman and Michael Cole retained their verification as well.

All told, 14 WWE personnel have subscribed to Twitter Blue as of this writing, accounting for 5% of WWE personnel (active WWE and NXT Superstars, broadcast team, non-wrestlers and ambassadors). Elon Musk and Twitter are making $112 per month from WWE accounts subscribed to Twitter Blue.

Over in AEW, Evil Uno and Mark Briscoe retained their blue checkmarks as affiliates of AEW Games and Ring of Honor, respectively. Tony Khan—who never met a tweet he didn’t send—MJF, Swerve Strickland, Orange Cassidy and Paul Wight remain verified as well.

Last year, Khan suggested WWE was paying anti-AEW Twitter bots to spread negative narratives about his upstart company. Musk’s push for paid verification—which requires a real phone number—is partly in response to fake Twitter accounts.

Just 4% of the AEW roster is subscribed to Twitter Blue, which represents just $40 per month.