Moderators PowerButchi Posted January 23, 2012 Moderators Share Posted January 23, 2012 Swole $400,000 a year Fucking hell. Â Yeah, during the No Limit Soldiers storyline it seemed as if it was Swoll they were positioning as the future breakout star to come of it. Brad Armstrong must have been absolutely gutted having to carry the three wastes of space as he was probably earning $150,000 or something like that at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gmoney Posted January 23, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 Lanny Poffo was on the books for years without ever appearing as well wasn't he? Also people who were on pay per appearance deals were getting their mates to write down their names on TV taping sheets, so they'd get paid without even being there. There was a similar system in my school involving bunking Home Ec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Anyone know how much Buffer got paid per appearance? Â How did those Stevie Ray and Norton deals end up so high? At no point was Stevie Ray a main eventer, and Norton never really did anything of note in the US. I would love to know the point at which they signed these contracts, as these seem to be the craziest of the lot. I guess it was a case of just knowing the right people, as thats the only thing I can see as to how they got the numbers so high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stylin_and_Profilin Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 The WCW stories never fail to raise a smile. You sometimes hear about "Jobs for the boys" mentality over here - i've seen it at my work - but that blows it out of the water when you here some of the wages attributed to certain people and what little, if any, work they had to do to earn it. Â Wasn't there also stories of them flying in 100+ bodies every week and maybe using about 30% of them absolute maximum between Nitro & Thunder and then sending them home with pay and travelling / hotel expenses just for turning up? Like all the luchas would fly in and maybe four of them would get a wee squash match and then they'd all fly back to Mexico for weekend bookings and get another couple of pay days on the weekend before repeating the cycle. Â Some gig if you could get it ! Â As for Austin in his peak i remember Headbanger Mosh saying he got a five-figure royalties check out of the blue for their first figure which he didn't even realise was out, if you put them in context to them in terms of their position compared to Austin in terms of both a) popularity and b) sheer amount of items that would have been related to Austin then $12m all in doesn't sound all that unfathomable IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted January 23, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 23, 2012 Anyone know how much Buffer got paid per appearance? Around the $100,000 mark. Buffer's made, like, $400 million doing that cheesy bullshit act he does. And it cant all be from that PJ and Duncan song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shovanist Pig Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Some of those WCW figures are insane. I mean The Rock's downside guarantee in the late 90's was only $500,000. Â WCW were truly wasting money like water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Screen Up Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 The fact that Austin could have been on $12 million a year in 1998 brings a tear to my eye. The greatest character that this industry ever created earned a mere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gmoney Posted January 24, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 Wasn't there also stories of them flying in 100+ bodies every week and maybe using about 30% of them absolute maximum between Nitro & Thunder and then sending them home with pay and travelling / hotel expenses just for turning up? Like all the luchas would fly in and maybe four of them would get a wee squash match and then they'd all fly back to Mexico for weekend bookings and get another couple of pay days on the weekend before repeating the cycle. Â It was better than that, up until about 2000 they were booking plane tickets for everyone on the roster, regardless of whether or not they were told to come in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra1000 Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Wasn't there also stories of them flying in 100+ bodies every week and maybe using about 30% of them absolute maximum between Nitro & Thunder and then sending them home with pay and travelling / hotel expenses just for turning up? Like all the luchas would fly in and maybe four of them would get a wee squash match and then they'd all fly back to Mexico for weekend bookings and get another couple of pay days on the weekend before repeating the cycle. Â It was better than that, up until about 2000 they were booking plane tickets for everyone on the roster, regardless of whether or not they were told to come in. Â professionally prob not the best as Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit have talked about, but for collecting a rather steady and handsome paycheck you couldn't lose! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Halitosis Romantic Posted January 24, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 That Swoll figure is a shocker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted January 24, 2012 Moderators Share Posted January 24, 2012 Anyone know how much Buffer got paid per appearance? How did those Stevie Ray and Norton deals end up so high?  Stevie Ray?  Because WCW DEFINITELY wasn't racist. And his pushes and contracts didn't improve when they were accused of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnum Milano Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 These figures were taken from Powerslam magazine a few years back. Don't know how legit they are but I'll post them anyway. Marcus ''Buff'' Bagwell was paid $600,000 per year by WCW in 1999-2000. Then in March 2000 he signed a three year deal that would pay him $2.4 million over the three years ($700,000 first year, $800,000 second year, $900,000 final year)  How did those Stevie Ray and Norton deals end up so high? At no point was Stevie Ray a main eventer, and Norton never really did anything of note in the US. I would love to know the point at which they signed these contracts, as these seem to be the craziest of the lot. I guess it was a case of just knowing the right people, as thats the only thing I can see as to how they got the numbers so high. The only things I can think of with Norton is that he was buddies with Bischoff (they were both in the AWA together in the late 80s) and 'The Bisch' was just looking after one of his friends or they felt that as he was a star with New Japan they had to pay him that much to give up his Japan tours (it's also worth noting that the $800,000 a year he was getting was more than Flair's $750,000 at the same time). I'd favour the former myself, and come to think of it, he did tend to look after his old AWA crew; Norton, John Nord, Kevin Wacholz, Mike Enos was around for years and they even had Wayne Bloom under contract at one point. Regarding Stevie Ray, I think Butch is spot on from what I remember, and that his pay and pushes were to show that the company wasn't a rascist organization (incidentally Booker T was on the same $750,000 a year, and their contracts were certainly worth more than the Steiner Brothers).  The WCW stories never fail to raise a smile. You sometimes hear about "Jobs for the boys" mentality over here - i've seen it at my work - but that blows it out of the water when you here some of the wages attributed to certain people and what little, if any, work they had to do to earn it. Wasn't there also stories of them flying in 100+ bodies every week and maybe using about 30% of them absolute maximum between Nitro & Thunder and then sending them home with pay and travelling / hotel expenses just for turning up? Like all the luchas would fly in and maybe four of them would get a wee squash match and then they'd all fly back to Mexico for weekend bookings and get another couple of pay days on the weekend before repeating the cycle. There is a whole bunch of stories about WCW just wasting money left, right and centre:  - The whole Mike Awesome situation when he jumped from ECW to WCW cost them an additional $750,000 on top of whatever Awesome's contract was (the Observer just reported 'high' six figures and a three year deal). They paid Awesome a $250,000 signing on bonus, then they had to pay Heyman $250,000 but Heyman wanted some things made clear on TV in that Awesome wouldn't appear on TV with the ECW belt, that Awesome would go to Indianapolis to defend the title (ie drop it) and that WCW would advertise this on their show. When they didn't adhere to those rules, Heyman took them to court and they settled for another $250,000.  - In 1999 there was a very short lived idea for a WCW Latino TV show. They spent in excess of $300,000 on a lavish set and opening then canned the idea after one TV taping.  - The Hardcore Battle Royal at Bash at the Beach 1999 which resulted in a number of the wrestlers getting injured and came off badly on TV cost over $100,000 to produce.  - On June 15th 2000 (which was a Thursday) in the International version of USA Today, there was a full page advertisement with a photo of Goldberg which read 'He's Back - Monday Nitro - Watch it Tonight on TNT'. That was $50,000 down the drain there.  - On the 7th June 1999 Nitro there was a pointless angle where a limo got trashed. That cost them another $50,000.  A few additional contracts from the time:  Scott Hall $1.6 million a year  Sting $1.6 million a year  DDP $1.3 million a year  Bam Bam Bigelow $450,000 a year  Vampiro $350,000 a year  Tank Abbott $300,000 a year  Bobby Duncum averaged $200,000 a year for three years ($175,000 first year, $200,00 second, $225,000 third)  Sonny Onno $160,000 a year (for being an onscreen 'talent'. He earned more backstage as some sort of foreign liaison) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Then in March 2000 he signed a three year deal that would pay him $2.4 million over the three years ($700,000 first year, $800,000 second year, $900,000 final year) Â What were Turner buying out the contracts for after WCW shut down? 50 cents to the dollar? Knowing what we know now, looks like Buff deciding to go to WWE cost him a lot of money. Cant see why Buff would think it was a good idea to walk away from $15k per week to not wrestle for a few years. Â Depending on the length of DDPs contract, and if my buy-out figure is correct, then his decision to join WWE probably cost him more potential money than any wrestler in history. Â Â Around the $100,000 mark. Buffer's made, like, $400 million doing that cheesy bullshit act he does. And it cant all be from that PJ and Duncan song. Â That much, even for Nitro's? Seems crazy. Must have cost WCW $10 mill+ over the years. Â Â Two other points: Â - Raven needed to suck up more to Bischoff. - Would have assumed Tank Abbott would have been on alot more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted January 24, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 That much, even for Nitro's? Seems crazy. Must have cost WCW $10 mill+ over the years. He was rarely on Nitro, though. He wasn't actually on the shows as many times as you would think. They'd stopped using him by early 2000 and Russo stopped using him altogether in 1999. It was usually Penzer. Still though, he was far from worth it, and they should have just used him for Starrcade and the War Games events. I remember he did a main event featuring Vito and Johnny the Bull once. What a waste of $100,000 that was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnum Milano Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Then in March 2000 he signed a three year deal that would pay him $2.4 million over the three years ($700,000 first year, $800,000 second year, $900,000 final year) Â What were Turner buying out the contracts for after WCW shut down? 50 cents to the dollar? Knowing what we know now, looks like Buff deciding to go to WWE cost him a lot of money. Cant see why Buff would think it was a good idea to walk away from $15k per week to not wrestle for a few years. Â Depending on the length of DDPs contract, and if my buy-out figure is correct, then his decision to join WWE probably cost him more potential money than any wrestler in history. I am sure that Bagwell had one of those contracts where he could be cut. Page absolutely took the buy out option from Turner, and lost out on a lot of money that he could have got for doing nothing (the April 2 2001 Observer reported that a buy out could cost him in the region of $750,000). I imagine that at his age and the promise of a top level feud with the Undertaker convinced him to give it a go. Little did he realise how it would turn out... Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.