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Post by An Old Villain on Sept 7, 2013 11:03:39 GMT -5
I was recently watching an old SMW show when a familiar face was introduced as Daryl Van Horne. The "Holy crap, James Mitchell was in SMW" moment passed and I realized I didn't know much about the ol' Sinister Minister so I visited his wiki page.
In summary, there was his brief run with Wrath and Mortis...then a failed commentary segment that ran for a few weeks...then WCW sent him home and paid him to do nothing for two years.
Not including the WCW guys who were under contract to Time Warner during the WWF purchase, Im curious to see who else has been paid to do nothing for a company.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2013 11:21:23 GMT -5
WCW was the king of this. The most famous example being Lanny Poffo who was getting paid a couple of hundred thousand for a couple of years. I think that Jericho said in his book that after he told Bischoff that he wasn't going to re-sign they stopped booking him until his contract ran out.
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Post by Gerard Gerard on Sept 7, 2013 11:51:48 GMT -5
Estrada would rate as a more recent, noteworthy example. 'Noteworthy' for no other reason than he was on staff for over of 2 years, from Summer '10 to Summer '12, and no one realized 'til his release came.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2013 12:06:22 GMT -5
According to the Road Warriors, they were paid to sit home for most of 1999 , due to being "bad influences." They took a booking with AJPW, but that was it, I think Rodman Down Under was their first PPV appearance Mania 15.
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Sept 7, 2013 14:03:58 GMT -5
I always figured the Poffo deal was mostly to keep Randy Savage happy and Bischoff never had any intention to use him in the first place.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2013 14:50:44 GMT -5
Estrada would rate as a more recent, noteworthy example. 'Noteworthy' for no other reason than he was on staff for over of 2 years, from Summer '10 to Summer '12, and no one realized 'til his release came. And his release came because Estrada asked someone to mention him to Johnny Ace, and then a day or 2 later Johnny Ace called to release him. According to the Road Warriors, they were paid to sit home for most of 1999 , due to being "bad influences." Interesting. Reports from the time said that they were cut right after WM15, along with the Oddities, Public Enemy and several others. They were rather inactive for a while before that (the WM15 pre-show battle royal seemed like the first time they'd been around in a while), maybe that was what they were referring to? |
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Post by fortknox on Sept 7, 2013 19:44:20 GMT -5
If I remember right Mikey Whipwreck was paid to sit at home for his 1st year in WCW.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2013 7:51:16 GMT -5
I remember reading in a magazine (around the time of WWE's yearly November housecleaning) about how Ernest Miller's sidekick Lamont was in WWE longer than "the Cat" himself. They surmised that by saying "they probably forgot he was still on the roster".
In that case, I think about how I read in Terry Pluto's book "Loose Balls" that some of the ABA players would mention that when coaches were doing cut-downs before the season started and didn't know who to release, if they saw a player hanging around they didn't recognize, he was usually given the walking papers, only because he had the unfortunate timing of showing up at the wrong time.
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Rave
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Post by Rave on Sept 8, 2013 7:54:19 GMT -5
I am pretty sure Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam were paid by TNA to sit at home for a few months.
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mrjl
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Post by mrjl on Sept 8, 2013 8:07:27 GMT -5
I always figured the Poffo deal was mostly to keep Randy Savage happy and Bischoff never had any intention to use him in the first place. which is dumb, seriously there's no reason he couldn't have accompanied Savage to the ring occasionally |
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Brood Lone Wolf Funker
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Post by Brood Lone Wolf Funker on Sept 8, 2013 9:55:00 GMT -5
I think Paul Orndorff was in a similar situation with WCW
WWE did this for a while with Stevie Richards
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Post by Red Impact on Sept 8, 2013 10:05:47 GMT -5
I always figured the Poffo deal was mostly to keep Randy Savage happy and Bischoff never had any intention to use him in the first place. which is dumb, seriously there's no reason he couldn't have accompanied Savage to the ring occasionally I'm not an expert on wrestling contracts, but I think if you appear on TV, you get paid more. If that's the case, then it was probably to minimize the costs. |
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Post by Phil Parent on Sept 8, 2013 23:56:01 GMT -5
WCW with the Iron Sheik.
And then, they forgot to release him when that contract ran out, so the contract was renewed automatically, and Sheik got two more years paid to do nothing.
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Post by Alexander The So-so on Sept 9, 2013 0:30:27 GMT -5
Damn, reading all these WCW examples makes it kind of a shame that they went under. With all the money they spent on old wrestlers who didn't have to work, they could've served a valuable role as the unofficial Social Security Administration of the pro wrestling industry!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2013 12:24:52 GMT -5
WCW with the Iron Sheik. And then, they forgot to release him when that contract ran out, so the contract was renewed automatically, and Sheik got two more years paid to do nothing. When was this? After he was fired in '87, I take it? That certainly explains why it took so long to bring him back... I remember reading in a magazine (around the time of WWE's yearly November housecleaning) about how Ernest Miller's sidekick Lamont was in WWE longer than "the Cat" himself. They surmised that by saying "they probably forgot he was still on the roster". He was one of the later names announced in the fall 2004 roster culling. And I wanna say I saw a video interview with him a few months after his release where he said he did a lot of other behind-the-scenes things with the company too, so I took that as he was moreorless an office firing that was tacked onto the end of the big talent releases of that fall. |
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Sept 9, 2013 12:28:47 GMT -5
I always figured the Poffo deal was mostly to keep Randy Savage happy and Bischoff never had any intention to use him in the first place. which is dumb, seriously there's no reason he couldn't have accompanied Savage to the ring occasionally dude was paid 6 figures to stay at home and have 0 responsibilities. I really have difficulty seeing any negative there. |
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Post by tigermaskxxxvii on Sept 9, 2013 19:14:16 GMT -5
Sure, they were paid to sit at home, but were they also paid for washing their tights? Or at least reimbursed for that? Damn, reading all these WCW examples makes it kind of a shame that they went under. With all the money they spent on old wrestlers who didn't have to work, they could've served a valuable role as the unofficial Social Security Administration of the pro wrestling industry! On that hand being unused while under contract is a great thing. But it has gotta suck if you're a younger guy and thus not that established in dis business. Sure it's nice when the money's coming in and you don't have to deal with the hassles of travel to get to some venue hundreds if not thousands of miles from home to take bumps and risk injury. But if you're at home and not on TV you're out of sight and out of mind. Because if WCW decides they don't need your guaranteed contract on the company ledger (although that require someone to care or be competent enough to notice such expendatures) and "under contract, but never on TV" isn't a great selling point to indie promoters and/or Vince McMahon. |
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Post by rapidfire187 on Sept 12, 2013 16:09:28 GMT -5
I am pretty sure Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam were paid by TNA to sit at home for a few months. I thought RVD had a pay per appearance deal. Or was he just signed for a limited amount of appearances? Either way, if TNA got all their dates out of him, they didn't really waste any money. |
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Sept 12, 2013 19:12:04 GMT -5
I am pretty sure Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam were paid by TNA to sit at home for a few months. I thought RVD had a pay per appearance deal. Or was he just signed for a limited amount of appearances? Either way, if TNA got all their dates out of him, they didn't really waste any money. in that respect, yeah. but letting his dates run out while he still held the world title oon the other hand was beyond f***ing stupid. |
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Post by rapidfire187 on Sept 13, 2013 0:36:11 GMT -5
I thought RVD had a pay per appearance deal. Or was he just signed for a limited amount of appearances? Either way, if TNA got all their dates out of him, they didn't really waste any money. in that respect, yeah. but letting his dates run out while he still held the world title oon the other hand was beyond f***ing stupid. Absolutely. It was all so pointless. |
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