Pro Wrestling Contract Season

[Mr_Danger]

2 hours ago, SaitoRyo said:

WWE are said to be interested in former TNA star and current free agent Hammerstone. If he shows up looking like he does and isn't soon sent for a 30-day holiday, we'll know certain policies are a sham. 

Are you familiar with the new and improved Randall K. Orton?

[SaitoRyo]

1 hour ago, Mr_Danger said:

Are you familiar with the new and improved Randall K. Orton?

Yes, I'm well aware of The Randy Transformation. 

But I'm also pretty sure there are and always have been different rules for people who are considered 'part-timers', so Orton's recent chicken-and-rice gains likely won't have been subject to any testing. 

Edited March 27, 2025 by SaitoRyo

[LaGoosh]

And I'm sure the 47 year old AJ Styles is only in the best shape of his career because he started eating more vegetables or something.

[Mr_Danger]

It’s incredibly easy to get prescriptions for TRT in America. I’m sure a life time of steroid use would render you with legit reasons for needing extra testosterone and god knows what else so it depends on the exact rules regarding use of the various substances.

[SuperBacon]

9 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

And I'm sure the 47 year old AJ Styles is only in the best shape of his career because he started eating more vegetables or something.

"The petit pois community???"

[SaitoRyo]

24 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

And I'm sure the 47 year old AJ Styles is only in the best shape of his career because he started eating more vegetables or something.

He put it down to lifting differently during a recent interview (and who are YOU to doubt a good ol' Christian boy?). 

18 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

It’s incredibly easy to get prescriptions for TRT in America. I’m sure a life time of steroid use would render you with legit reasons for needing extra testosterone and god knows what else so it depends on the exact rules regarding use of the various substances.

Yup, I'm pretty sure that a lot of vets will need/be able to get TRT due to long-term steroid usage. I'm not sure what the policy is now, but there was a therapeutic use exemption for people in place. Meltzer said/speculated that there were 14 or 15 talents who fell under the exemption around 2017/18.

Not to get too off topic, but I remember it came out after the Benoit tragedy that Benoit was able to get his 'roids prescribed to him under the guise of TRT because his body was fucked after two decades of nonstop use. The Wellness Policy at that time allowed for wrestlers to have a testosterone/epitestosterone ratio of 6:1 when 1:1 is considered normal and 4:1 would be considered a failure in most sports. Benoit's TE to ET ratio at the time of his death was 59:1. 

[GlennCullen]

15 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

Mina Shirikawa is joining AEW full-time (link to wrestlinginc) - she’s a good get for them, she’s good in ring and very charismatic - I’ve been impressed by her various appearances and it’s a nice addition to their stacked women’s division. Saraya out, Mina in is a significant trade up.

On another AEW-related note, Swerve has hinted he’s done after his contract expires (link to wrestlinginc again) - it’s a 5-year contract, but even so, he won’t even be 40 then - I really hope he has a change of heart as I can’t imagine I’ll be ready to say goodbye to him at that point.

Swerve's deal is for 8 figures, so all power to him if he wants to go home afterwards.

[DavidB6937]

If they can and they want to then absolutely make that money and get out and live a decent life before your body gets absolutely wrecked.

[WyattSheepMask]

12 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

If they can and they want to then absolutely make that money and get out and live a decent life before your body gets absolutely wrecked.

Back when I occasionally listened to Jericho’s podcast (it was passable if he had an OK guest on), he interviewed Swerve shortly after he first signed with AEW. He talked at length about his music and it came across that he’d be willing to sack off wrestling entirely if he were offered a decent enough record deal. 
Not that I would’ve blamed him in the slightest if that were the case

[wordsfromlee]

Hasn’t Orton always been treated differently to the other wrestlers when it come to the Wellness Policy?

I’m sure I remember reading something years ago about WWE changing the rules around the strikes so that they now are removed from your record after a certain amount of months/years and you’re back to a clean slate. This was apparently done because Orton had got his third strike but they didn’t want to fire him for it so just changed the rules so it counted as a first violation. 

[Snitsky's back acne]

47 minutes ago, GlennCullen said:

Swerve's deal is for 8 figures, so all power to him if he wants to go home afterwards.

8 figures!? Holy fuck! Tony really did pay over the odds! 

[JLM]

All original still boxed Hasbros too. 

Edited March 27, 2025 by JLM

[tiger_rick]

34 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

8 figures!? Holy fuck! Tony really did pay over the odds! 

That's an absolute steal. It's a disgrace that it isn't the norm.

We're talking an amount across 5 years, that with all their add-ons and endorsements, Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin made in a single year, more than 25 years ago. 

The average salary in NFL, MLB and NBA is around $3.2m, $4.8m and $11m respectively. A top pro-wrestler makes less than half of that MLB number (apparently) and it's "over the odds". 

Still, gotta support those record revenues for the fat cats! 

[wordsfromlee]

Thats basically Brock Lesnar money (albeit working a lot more dates) as I think Lesnar was on about $10-12m when he came back to WWE.

[SaitoRyo]

1 hour ago, wordsfromlee said:

Hasn’t Orton always been treated differently to the other wrestlers when it come to the Wellness Policy?

I’m sure I remember reading something years ago about WWE changing the rules around the strikes so that they now are removed from your record after a certain amount of months/years and you’re back to a clean slate. This was apparently done because Orton had got his third strike but they didn’t want to fire him for it so just changed the rules so it counted as a first violation. 

Yeah, they've made exceptions for him over the years because Triple H always vouched for him, coupled with them being short on credible headliners at various points. Almost every other wrestler would have been canned for doing half the shit Orton did during the first half of his WWE career.