cjh
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 6,583
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Post by cjh on May 18, 2022 15:49:20 GMT -5
On a recent episode of his "Snake Pit" podcast with DDP and Conrad Thompson, Jake Roberts mentioned that at WWF TV tapings, the WWF talent who would wrestle squash matches would get paid a mere $50 those nights while the job guys would be paid $500 for the night. Roddy Piper, according to Roberts, would sometimes give the $50 to the guy who put him over.
Anyone know what the mentality was behind this pay structure?
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Post by Celexa Bliss 54 on May 18, 2022 16:00:15 GMT -5
Considering the jobbers would often take a beating from these guys, they deserved that $500. Although the name talent only getting $50 is very strange.
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Post by XaviersSS2015hair on May 18, 2022 16:40:13 GMT -5
Bruce has explained it numerous times on his Podcast. Although I believe Bruce said they only got $25 for TV.
Bruce said the reason was the guys made the money back at the house shows and the merchandise. TV was basically an infomercial for both.
So basically they'd wrestle a 2 minute squash, hype up the house show feuds with something like a Brother Love show interview and an Event Center segment and then they would get a portion of the house that they drew.
This was standard in wrestling before guaranteed contracts became the norm due to all the talent jumping back and forth in the 90's.
The reason the job guys got $500 is because with very rare exceptions they weren't booked on house shows. Fans weren't paying money to see them. They had no merchandise. So TV tapings were their livelihoods.
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thecrusherwi
El Dandy
the Financially Responsible Man
Brawl For All
Posts: 7,656
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Post by thecrusherwi on May 18, 2022 16:48:31 GMT -5
Bruce has explained it numerous times on his Podcast. Although I believe Bruce said they only got $25 for TV. Bruce said the reason was the guys made the money back at the house shows and the merchandise. TV was basically an infomercial for both. So basically they'd wrestle a 2 minute squash, hype up the house show feuds with something like a Brother Love show interview and an Event Center segment and then they would get a portion of the house that they drew. This was standard in wrestling before guaranteed contracts became the norm due to all the talent jumping back and forth in the 90's. The reason the job guys got $500 is because with very rare exceptions they weren't booked on house shows. Fans weren't paying money to see them. They had no merchandise. So TV tapings were their livelihoods. And those guys were making bank on the house shows in the boom years. It wasn't uncommon for the main event guys to be making over $1000 a night if the house was good. I thought Honky Tonk Man (dubious source I know) claimed that some nights working with Savage at MSG or in Boston his share would be like $5000. |
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J. Hova
Don Corleone
Emotionally exhausted and morally bankrupt
Posts: 1,990 
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Post by J. Hova on May 18, 2022 22:24:48 GMT -5
It was a completely different business then. TV was a way to draw for the house shows, hence the reason we used to have event centers and local promos. I just listened to Cornette breaking down some of the financials of Memphis and some of SMW and when he'd talk about how some of the babyfaces would clear 1k a week 30 to 40 years ago in two of the smaller territories on merch, just imagine what they'd clear in the WWF and then add the house on top of that.
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