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Amazing SummerSlam 91 payoff article


IANdrewDiceClay

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One clarification -- when the sheets mention people "getting a draw", that's not actually a bonus or anything to do with it being on PPV. It's an optional cash advance which you were able to get from road agents at shows (usually at the start of a house show loop) that was then deducted when you eventually got the payoff for that run of shows.

 

It was more important back in the days before guaranteed contracts when your cashflow was much more variable and you might need money up front to cover your road expenses.

 

It became a particularly big deal in later 1995 when house shows were doing so badly that payoffs dropped to the point that people who'd taken a draw wound up not even getting a paycheck for the relevant run of shows.

 

So on this sheet, how much people got as a "draw" was nothing to do with their stature or position on the card, it was purely how much they chose to take on the night. (Of course, in theory, a main eventer might be able to ask for a bigger draw then somebody at the bottom of the card simply because they knew the eventual payoffs would be bigger.)

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How bad were payoffs getting in the mid 90s downturn?

 

The draw is something I'd never heard of till I read Foley's first book (not that I was at all knowledgeable at that time), and he talks about thinking an agent in one of the regional promotions wanted to sit down and draw some pictures with him.

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Looking back in the Torch at the time, supposedly a "main eventer" who was taking a $200 draw on each show he worked was winding up with barely anything in the paycheck. In other words, he was earning only a little over 200 bucks a show. (It may have worked out a bit more as he may have been taking $200 on days they were in the middle of a run but there wasn't a show that night.)

 

To put that into context, a couple of years back JTG was getting $500 for house shows that bombed (and complained when he got that payoff for a Brazil house show that did really well.) Van Dam was getting $500 or $750 for main eventing ECW brand shows.

 

I think there's an unofficial rule now that everyone who works a house show gets a minimum $500 no matter how badly it draws or their position on the show.

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Quick bit of looking up online and the Warrior / Hogan salary works out around $135,000 in todays money with inflation.

 

Interesting as well Paul Bearer got the same payoff at Hebner who, you could make a strong case for, had much more responsibility.

 

Also, how much did Warrior hold up Vince for with the threat of no-showing?

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Quick bit of looking up online and the Warrior / Hogan salary works out around $135,000 in todays money with inflation.

 

Interesting as well Paul Bearer got the same payoff at Hebner who, you could make a strong case for, had much more responsibility.

 

Also, how much did Warrior hold up Vince for with the threat of no-showing?

 

Wasn't it around $100,000 which Warrior said was money still owed to him from his Wrestlemania payoff? From how he tells it he wanted what he was owed rather than holding Vince for extra

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Wasn't Flair on the payroll by that point?

 

It's pretty crazy how they could put on such a fantastic show, yet still afford to have so much talent sitting it out or used in other roles. Theoretically they could've ran other cracker of a PPV just with those who never had a wrestling match on the night for whatever reason.

 

The roster was absolutely amazing at that point. Good times.

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Wasn't Flair on the payroll by that point?

 

It's pretty crazy how they could put on such a fantastic show, yet still afford to have so much talent sitting it out or used in other roles. Theoretically they could've ran other cracker of a PPV just with those who never had a wrestling match on the night for whatever reason.

 

The roster was absolutely amazing at that point. Good times.

 

Flair was fired by Jim Herd at the start of July and signed with WWF in August but I'm not sure when abouts in the August and debuted on TV in the September. It could have been a case of they had signed him but they had the plans for Summerslam 91 in place and didn't want to deviate from them for the sake of shoehorning Flair into the proceedings

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