As the business has changed over the last 20-30 years, I was wondering what insight you had on a breakdown of how an average wrestler is paid. In the 80's when the NWA was running 350 shows a year, it made sense for Flair to wrestle every night because I assume that 90% of his salary was made from live gate revenue. However, in today's era it seems like there's a slew of factors that are involved, from merchandise to PPV/Network revenue cut, etc, to where the equation isn't simple any more.
So what is the breakdown (estimated of course) for an average wrestler in terms of percentages from house shows, TV, PPV, merchandise and any other factors I didn't list, and is there still a downside guarantee for them to be paid no matter what (I assume Yoshi Tatsu doesn't work for bits of string).
Dude, even the WRESTLERS don't know how they're getting paid anymore. That's why CM Punk left! Basically they get a downside guarantee and a cut of merch, but the rest is entirely at the whim of Vince McMahon and bears no relation to position on the card or drawing power or anything like that.
I'm not in love with that idea, but if they wanted two world champs again, that's an easy way to do it.
ReplyDelete"That's why CM Punk left!"
ReplyDeleteWell I'll be god damned, Keith was the 4th person in that room with Punk, Vince, and HHH!
Why didn't you give us the scoop a long time ago?
I thought if one wins a match, they get more money at the pay window (or da pay windah if you wheel)
ReplyDeleteIf WWE really wanted to unified the titles, just let the champs carry only ONE of them. Having two titles made it seems like they planned to separate them in the future.
ReplyDeleteI hope we don't get two world champions again. It makes a joke out of the product. If they want to do a true brand split, fine, but they won't and one of the titles ends up greatly devalued.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this is the one area in wrestling where there should be rigid structure.
ReplyDeleteOne of two things would make laugh over the next month:
ReplyDelete#1: If the questioner is correct and Bryan does forfeit the World Heavyweight title (keeps WWE title) and Stephanie gives it to Triple H, thereby giving him TWO instances of having a championship handed to him.
#2: If Bryan still can't come back by MITB, so we get the HISTORIC feature of Stephanie vs. Brie for the WWE unified title. I've harped on this much of the past week, but that would be so much like the company giving the middle finger to people that have the Network that I'd laugh for a good week.
We all know that they hot shotted the title unified to begin with (and it seemed to flop on pay-per-view in terms of buyrate IIRC), so I wouldn't be shocked if they go back to two world champions. Problem is, their list of credible people to hold those titles is dwindling. People have had their fair share of Orton for a while. Triple H is part-time as a wrestler. CM Punk isn't around. I guess there's John Cena, but we've had enough of that. ADR has no more credibility. Sheamus? Eh. Only interesting possibility would be Bray Wyatt.
I dunno, not that ridiculous. Bryan holding onto one of the titles as collateral so to guarantee a re-unification match when he comes back from injury.
ReplyDeleteI know it sounds crazy, but I say put it on Lesnar and have him only defend it three or four times between now and Mania. That basically forces them to make WWE title matches the most important thing ever and rebuild the IC title.
ReplyDeleteYoshi Tatsu should be paying the WWE...
ReplyDeleteSo Vince has gone with the Dana White model as far as paying his talent.
ReplyDeleteOr they'd rather sell replica belts for two world titles.
ReplyDeleteI really doubt there's any other reason for the two belt thing.
They obviously need a third belt, the "WWE International Heavyweight Title".
ReplyDeleteYeah, got to be the replica selling.
ReplyDeleteOne World Champion is enough. WWE just need to treat the other secondary titles (IC and US) like they used to be. Here's what I'll think:
ReplyDelete1. WWE WHC = WWE title
2. IC = WHC
3. US = IC
4. Tag = US
5. Bring Cruiserweight title back and treat it like the US title
That's true.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the BoD!
ReplyDeleteHave Bryan clobber Steph in the head with HHH's vanity belt and remind her/the audience of said belt's narcissistic origins as far as repudiating it as Bryan dumps it onto Steph's unconscious body. Then have Steph/HHH get yelled at by their lawyers, who bring up all of the bad shit they have done and that any attempt to fire Bryan's wife would get the company sued for wrongful termination as far as the twin having a case to basically take Steph/HHH for every dime they have in terms of having an airtight case that she was fired for no good reason as part of their vendetta against their husband.
ReplyDeleteIt's so ripe for the taking. Some money mark "Mark Cuban" type to swoop in and be a "players(wrestler's) coach (owner)." Amenities, insurance, benefits, offseasons.....maybe It's eutopian...but It's the best shot we have.
ReplyDeleteAnd it makes the champion look like a cunt. When Liger had 42 titles around his waist, that was cool. Let him keep the gimmick tho.
ReplyDeleteI started reading but didn't scroll up to see the name. After the first sentence I thought to myself "all this needs is a rape and this could get me BAKED!!!"
ReplyDeleteYeah but rich people like rich people things, like horse racing and snuff films and such.
ReplyDeleteHA! You just described my exact reaction!!!
ReplyDeleteAs much as it sucked for the viewers, How depressing that night must have been for the live crowd. If I am correct, the last time they were at the Georgia Dome was when Goldberg beat Hogan for the title. This Nitro, the Home Town Boy (played football at Un. of Georgia and for the Atlanta Falcons) returns after being screwed royally at Starrcade and everyone at the Dome I am sure expected to cheer loudly at the end of the evening when Goldberg regains the title and go home very happy.
ReplyDeleteInstead, he is accused of (something bad - could be construed as really bad). Not only does he not wrestle at all, he gets beat up like crazy and spray painted and left for dead at the end of the show.
I can't even imagine what the drive home was like for all the Goldberg fans that night.
..........................Because WCW.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It just like before when IC title was RAW exclusive and US was SmackDown exclusive. I might add that Tag (and possibly CW) also float between shows like the World Title.
ReplyDeleteBut how/why is Brock Lesnar a lazy fuck
ReplyDeleteI recall reading in Bischoff's book (could be horseshit) that NBC wanted to replicate a Saturday Night's Main Event with WCW (WCW had done quite a few spots on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno), and Bischoff stated that they NEEDED Hogan to have the belt to launch the franchise. Could be fruitful...could be garbage. You make the call!
ReplyDeleteBut now he has to deal with the slide of WCW in '99. That's bigger than the slide at the local water park!
ReplyDeleteThanks for answering. Like I said just something I picked up on. Not the worst idea but who knows with them.
ReplyDeleteI remember this show so vividly.
ReplyDeleteBischoff on commentary was hilarious because he didn't do jack shit.
The entire Goldberg arrested thing was pretty obvious to be a scheme, but I wasn't sure what it was for.
Hogan announcing his retirement was obviously not going to happen, but I wasn't sure what the plan was.
Nash taking the fingerpoke of doom was ridiculous. I thought it was awesome the nWo got back together again, and it was cool that Goldberg just killed all of them when he got back. When Luger turned on Goldberg, I marked out. I still didn't see the point of the fingerpoke. I thought Hogan running the show with Nash as his "champion" (like a king's champion) was fine.
And the final thing I recall was Thunder that week had the nWo Elite showing up (which they never did anymore) and cleaning house on the lWo.
Ok....I hate to say it because it's the skeleton in my wrestling fan's closet....but I chose Hogan/Nash over Foley/Rock. I know it sounds insane. I gotta break it down because it's a regret. This will be therapeutic.
ReplyDelete1) I jumped back-and-forth from Raw to Nitro but was primarily a Raw guy. So much so, that despite keeping tabs on what was developing on Nitro with Hogan/Nash, I never caught Tony's spoilers. Must have been watching Raw during those.
2) Foley and Rock had just had two PPV title matches that had screwjob endings and while I'm don't remember if it was booked yet, they were certain to wrestle at the Royal Rumble for the title. Since I didn't read online spoilers, and missed Tony's "butts in the seats" stuff, I had no reason to believe there'd be anything special about this Foley/Rock match. Figured it'd be a no-contest "Sports Entertainment Finish" just meant to hype the upcoming PPV. When I flipped over during Buffer's intros, I noticed Rock wasn't even wearing his wrestling gear.
3) Hogan/Nash was a match we'd never seen before. Hogan was coming back from hiatus and Nash had just had the biggest win of his career. Certainly it wouldn't be technically "better" than Foley/Rock as Hogan and Nash were beyond lazy and washed-up at this point. But it was certainly more intriguing. Frankly, it could have been PPV match.
4) So I chose Nitro's main-event that night. I watched the nWo circle-jerk to end all nWo circle-jerks while most of you were watching one of the best wrestling segments of all time (the whole match is good, but Austin's intro through Foley's celebration is the must-see moment). WCW got to fuck me one last time. It's fitting actually. They tried to send me where I belonged (RAW....with Tony's spoilers) but I missed the opportunity. Nash and people like him downplay the fingerpoke like it wasn't hurtful to the company but it truly was the last time I ever watched Nitro (until the Raw simulcast) and I'm probably not the only one.