Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

According to reports, a number of top WWE officials were not very happy about Ring of Honor and Figure Toy Company releasing a Kevin Steen action figure recently.

They are upset because Owens is WWE’s hottest new star, and a non-WWE company was the first to release an action figure, and the Kevin Steen and Kevin Owens characters largely look the same. 

It’s being said that officials are now trying to prevent something like this from happening in the future by getting non-WWE talent to sign merchandising deals before they get to ROH, TNA or another similar company. The idea going forward is that WWE wants to create a ‘pipeline’ to unsigned talent with potential, to get them to not sign with TNA or ROH if they have WWE aspirations down the line. 

It was reported that a number of indy wrestlers have signed five-year contracts with Figure Toy Company, which means the company still can market Kevin Steen merchandise for much longer. The first series of Ring Of Honor action figures features Steen, Adam Cole and The Briscoes.

So they're no longer using the best developmental promotion they had?

UPDATE: PWInsider is also reporting this news from their own source, noting that the ROH/Figures Toy Company deal was a factor in WWE’s reported talks with WWN. The site notes that WWE “took notice” when the Kevin Steen figure was announced, and that WWE does not want to get into a situation where if they sign someone from the indies, they’re locked into a five year deal (as FTC is signing talents to) which means they have to go through a third party to license the merchandise.

The site notes that Figures was the company that sued them a while back for allegedly screwing them over on the production and sale of title replica belts, which was eventually settled between the two companies.

The source have the site the implication that if an indy talent has signed a third party merchandising deal that has any sort of exclusivity, that WWE isn’t interested in signing them. There will always be exceptions to the rule but that is the general idea.