Do WWE wrestlers get paid too much?

[britishwrestlinglegends]

A former WWE employee who is definately in the know said "John Cena makes $25,000,000 per year" Which i thought was very much on the high side? Not that he had any reason to lie? I thought the top earners got between 1 to 3 million dollars?

Fuck me! Where did you hear that, shite? There's not a chance he makes $25 million a year for wrestling and a few endorcements.

 

The last I read, Cena's best year was $5 million.

Dont really want to grass on the person to be honest. It was at a seminar that was really good & he is a top bloke/wrestler. To give you a clue, He has a little mate under the ring & Loves to "Foight"

 

You start the post claiming you don't want to grass on the mystery man, because he's a nice guy. A couple of sentences later and you're giving the most obvious clue imaginable.

That was an attempt at humour? Sorry if it confused you?

[Stone Cold Jane Austen]

I have it on good authority from a current low tier guy in the WWE that he's on 6 figures a year.

 

You can't say that and not tell us who it is, newztease.

 

A certain Mr Kidd.

 

What would Johnny Kidd know about how much WWE employees are paid?

[King Pitcos]

Do most talent still have to pay for their own travel and the like, I'm sure they did at one time which was a gripe for some guys on top of the travel who weren't making the top end in interviews and such.

The top talent and selected legends have written in their contract that the WWE pay for their travel. For instance, Big Show gets driven around on a bus and Kane gets first class flights. The wrestlers lower down pay for all their own stuff though. I remember reading an interview with Chuck Palumbo, in Powerslam, and he said after road expenses he was only making a mid-to-low five figure number.

Not strictly true. WWE pays for all the wrestlers' flights, they only have to cover their own road travel and hotels. Big Show (and Orton, and possibly Cena and Punk) bought their own tour buses. Company might cover at least some of their expenses though, and that bullshit "these are the wrestler wages" list reckoned Cena's hotels are paid for.

[Trevor]

 

Great clip that, shame about the majority of the rather disappointing 8th series.

 

Britishwrestlinglegends, not sure why you couldn't mention who he was in the first post but nevermind, I apologise for my comment.

[britishwrestlinglegends]

 

Great clip that, shame about the majority of the rather disappointing 8th series.

 

Britishwrestlinglegends, not sure why you couldn't mention who he was in the first post but nevermind, I apologise for my comment.

No problem, Like i said i was only joking

[Truth]

No, WWE wrestlers don't make too much money. When the WWE make big profits every year, why should the talents be paid less than they do?

 

If we go back to the 1990s and early-2000s, WCW wrestlers made too much money as WCW were losing millions of dollars every year.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Here's some nots from the late 90s:

"WCW's guarenteed contracts in all cases are believed to be far more lucrative than WWF and in all cases, the WCW schedule works out to be working far less dates." "You can earn substantially more than your contract in WWF if business keeps up at the current level while that isn't the case in WCW unless you renegotiate in the middle of the term, which with the exception of someone like Bill Goldberg who caught fire, is something WCW usually doesn't do. A very important point among guys who work very hard in a dangerous profession is the fact the WCW deals garentee the money while out of action due to an injury, while WWF performers are only garenteed the downside figure, which is pro-rated at least in most cases on an annual basis (there may be exceptions to this and I believe there are). For example, if a wrestler's downside is $300,000, if they miss four months due to an injury but based on their gate percentage as a headliner they earn $350,000 for that year, they earn $350,000, not $350,000 they earned on the road plus $6,000 per week for the four months recieving only base pay while injured." - Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer on Devember 7th 1998

 

"Based on the old wrestling standards of talent getting 25% of the gross (in real sports the figures are in some cases 55% which I guess explains why pro wrestling is a lot more profitable a business these days then an NBA franchise and probably also explains the value and lack thereof in a multi-million dollar industry the isn't unionized), the average WWF salary this year should be $1.25 million per year and WCW (with more wrestlers) should be about $800,000 per year. Even though everyone is making more money than ever before, and in many cases working a lot less to do so, by major league sports and entertainment standards, these are not overpaid performers." - Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer on Devember 12th 1998

 

"In most of the WCW contracts there is a 90-day non-compete clause which means after the contract ends if it isn't renewed, the talent can't work for WWF for three more months. Whether that is legal is speculative, and in the case of Steve Regal, it was taken to court and before a ruling was made, WCW simply dropped its claim of keeping Regal from appearing, which ended up being a moot point due to Regal's various injuries and illnewss this (98) year." - Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer on November 23rd 1998.

 

There is a potential more than ever for labor issues. While wrestlers are earning more than ever, pro wrestlers pay is ridiculously below the loevel of athletes on terms that don't generate anywhere near as much money. While the idea that Sting or Scott Hall earned in excess of $1 million last year on the surface sounds like they are overpaid, and by the traditional standards of wrestlers' earnings, they were, by the standards of athletes and entertainers, it is doubtful there is an overpaid performer in this business (although if there were, those two would top that list). Most NFL teams, that this includes their huge TV contracts, gross between $60 and $100 million. Total payrolls for talent range from $35 to $70 million, depending on the team. WWF and WCW will gross probably $200 million last year (98), and more likely than not, more this coming year. WCW payroll for talent is said to be $35 million, while WWF's is considerably lower, probably under $20 million. The perception that WCW overpays talent is ignorant is you look at the big picture, but looks to be the case because WWF has so successfully kept their salary structure under control (aka screwed talent during this boom period). WWF and WCW talent still, unlike NFL talent, largely pay for their own road expenses (some stars get limos as part of their deal, but not a lot, and some get their hotel tabs paid, but they are in the distinct minority). The diference? Partially promoters have talent by the balls in wrestling because of the belief that they can create a star out of cloth in wrestling, which sometimes is true but isn't always, whereas in football, or any sport, there is real competition and you have to be able to play. The lack of unionization in wrestling may become a big issue if revenues continue to grow, but salaries fail to keep pace as has been the case. In addition, a pro wrestler earning $500,000 per year for the most part mentally feels that is incredible amount to be paid for a job that nearly all went into with the mind set they'd never earn anywhere close to that and most spent years early on making $50 per night. While fans of basketball have no sympathy for the stars, figuring they're already making 50 to 100 times what they'd be making if they had a "real job," basketball players for the most part all grew up with stars in their eyes fed by agents, sycophants and hangers on from the age of 14, and believe the kind of money they make is due to them. Wrestlers are begining to get that mentality, but it is still somewhat new.

 

Actually there is one difference for the worst between the mentality of wrestlers, particulary in WCW, as compared to other athletes and major entertainment performers. Baseball players may very well resent having to go on the road all summer and play 162 games, but they know it's their job and at this point there doesn't seem to be a situation where guys create their own fake angles to avoid going to the games. Because of the atmosphere in WCW, the most powerful wrestlers either don't go on the road (Hogan) or do so in limited form, which leaves the next level of wrestlers continually trying to find ways of avoiding the road, and leaves tremendous resentment among the rest of the performers who are making far less money, and going on the road. It would almost be like the Bulls signing Michael Jordan for another year and Jordan demanding in his contract that he only works 25 games, and once that pandora's box is open, then Grant Hill, or Hakeem, or Scottie Pippin will then want their schedules cut down and you can imagine what that would do to the NBA if, say, the stars would mainly perform on national prime time but not the games that only air on the local market, not that this year hasn't screwed it up enough." Dave Meltzer - Wrestling Observer

[LaGoosh]

I think they probably make a comfortable living. When Zack Ryder was a jobber who could barely get on Superstars he still managed to afford a nice apartment on the beach and Dolph Ziggler has a sweet jacuzzi/hot tube and kickass fountain in his back garden.

 

I remember reading an interview with CM Punk where he said (this was before his big run as a main event babyface) that he had made enough money from WWE that he never had to work for the rest of his life if he didn't want to.

[King Pitcos]

Ryder and Ziggler are good examples of the living even the lower wrestlers can make, but Punk isn't. Though his defenders pretend he never got a chance until last summer, he'd main-evented plenty of pay-per-views, TV shows and house shows (and had loads of merchandise) before that. He's been in the higher bracket of WWE earners for the last three years at least.

 

No, WWE wrestlers don't make too much money. When the WWE make big profits every year, why should the talents be paid less than they do?

Because all they do is kick a ball around pretend to fight once a week, and there's nurses and factory workers doing fifty hours a week and getting paid less than them.

[Truth]

Ryder and Ziggler are good examples of the living even the lower wrestlers can make, but Punk isn't. Though his defenders pretend he never got a chance until last summer, he'd main-evented plenty of pay-per-views, TV shows and house shows (and had loads of merchandise) before that. He's been in the higher bracket of WWE earners for the last three years at least.

 

No, WWE wrestlers don't make too much money. When the WWE make big profits every year, why should the talents be paid less than they do?

Because all they do is kick a ball around pretend to fight once a week, and there's nurses and factory workers doing fifty hours a week and getting paid less than them.

Fair point but when comparing WWE wrestlers to the American entertainment and sports industries, the WWE wrestlers deserve all the dollars they get. Did Johnny Depp deserve $100 millions in 2010? He probably did or was in position to do so due to his success movies, but did he work more than 20 times harder than the best paid WWE wrestlers?

 

By the way, WWE wrestlers don't pretend to fight once a week.

, and although the schedule is lighter than in the 1980s, they still travel and live on the road more than most people. Their careers don't last for ever. Mr Future Endeavor or injuries can quickly put an end to a WWE career.

 

Maybe Zack Ryder has a nice apartment and Dolph Ziggler has a jacuzzi, but that does not mean that they get paid too much There are other people who have nice apartments and jacuzzis without being overpaid wrestlers....

 

Many wrestlers work for years in the indies earning less than they probably would at McDonald's, living in the hope that they will make it sooner or later. Most of them fail. It is not like the wrestling business is an easy business to make money in. Why envy the few that actually make it in this tough business? They are few and far between.

[fugaziuk]

They get paid jack all compared with all the other major american sports. Last season's MLB MVP Albert Pujols just signed a 10 year contract worth $240 million guaranteed and thats before all the endoresments etc.