Where did Vince get the money to take over?

[ridge]

Me and some friends were watching the Legacy of the AWA dvd earlier today, and during the part where they were talking about all the wrestlers Vince bought out, my friend asked "Where did Vince get all the money from?"

Seriously, to buy out all the top talent from all over the US, buy out all the promotions he did, and buy out all the competitions television would take a whole hell of a lot of money. Hell, in most cases he was losing money because he had to pay the TV companies to air his show.

Where did Vince get all the money from? He probably didn't get it from his father, because he was paying his dad for the WWF. I kind of doubt that he made the kind of money he needed by working for his father before he took over. His global monopoly wasn't established yet so he wasn't making the kind of money he does now a days. Seriously, does anybody know where he got so much money from? This is driving me nuts.

[Sajoa Moe]

I'd tell you, but some guy just came up behind me and stuck a gun to my head...

[KLRA]

Probably a lot of deals with the bank who saw that Vince was becoming huge. That's my only non-educated guess.

[whothoughtofthis]

mortgaged everything he had. advertised the hell out of hogan being there and not in the awa, when hogan was a hair away from being a household name.

[Hassan bin Sober]

The Irish Mafia.

[Byakugan]

[Cousin Judge]

I know about as much about this as an ass knows about the titanium steel industry, but WWF (or WWWF as it was before) was always a fairly large if not the largest territory going so in comparison to all the other organisations they were probably always in a financially superior position to their opposition so they were probably in a position to be able to out-bid everyone even then. But things were different, the guys they pinched from AWA probably didn't cost that much because as then the industry hadn't taken off yet to the extent that it was soon to do. Also, Hogan was a big factor.

The politics of AWA meant that Hogan who by then was becoming a big star in his own right, was not getting the spotlight that he felt that he deserved after being held down by someone close to the boss (boy doesn't that sound familiar?) so he left and went to Japan. Vince didn't sign Hogan from AWA he signed him from NJPW. Now I'm sure Hulk enjoyed life in Japan very much but we all get homesick and with the promise of being turned into a big star in his home country it probably didn't take that much convincing to sign with Vince jnr.

After Hogan signed on, everyone else probably voluntarily jumped. So I don't know if signing all those names from AWA around 1983/84 time really cost that much at all.

[HRH The KING]

He sold his soul to Satan to get the money.

[Teddy Awesome- Back in Style]

thegame243 said:

Winner right here.

[Byakugan]

tinroofted said:

thegame243 said:

Winner right here.

Everybodys got a price

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Speaking of Ted, I remember reading somewhere Vince gave Ted an actual million dollars to use as Million Dollar Man when he started the gimmick and Ted made it last thru his whole run, is this true?

[Baixo Astral]

Let's just say that if WMI had've tanked, the WWF was dead... Vince put a lot into that, what with setting up the event and bringing in the talent.

[Byakugan]

cdr said:

Speaking of Ted, I remember reading somewhere Vince gave Ted an actual million dollars to use as Million Dollar Man when he started the gimmick and Ted made it last thru his whole run, is this true?

He gave Ted a lot of money but don't believe it was a million up front

[-Lithium-]

thegame243 said:

I know everyones gonna kill me for this, and that its off topic. But seriously, I think that belt looks like crap, hangover black crap dont really look that good...

[Cousin Judge]

thegoldenspike said:

Let's just say that if WMI had've tanked, the WWF was dead... Vince put a lot into that, what with setting up the event and bringing in the talent.

That's true, but Vince already had most of the acquired talent a year or more before the first Wrestlemania, so if the talent itself was such a gamble i.e required a quick pay-off as it were, wouldn't they have tried to make the big bucks sooner? As I said we all know that WM would have bankrupted him if it would have failed but I really don't think buying acquiring the talent that he did at the time burned that big a hole in his wallet.

[gimmieabreakbrain]

you also gotta think back in the early 80's no worker was making millions a year. A lot were getting paid maybe a couple grand a week, if that. House shows never paid more than a $100 or so a night from what I heard. After merchandise started selling is where most made their cash. They had no guarantee contracts back then.

[KLRA]

gimmieabreakbrain said:

you also gotta think back in the early 80's no worker was making millions a year. A lot were getting paid maybe a couple grand a week, if that. House shows never paid more than a $100 or so a night from what I heard. After merchandise started selling is where most made their cash. They had no guarantee contracts back then.

And truely garunteed contracts didn't start until WCW started offering them in the mid 90s.

[Baixo Astral]

I think it was probably a financial pileup - he must've been paying guys like JYD and Savage quite a bit more than they'd been earning down south, to make them exclusive.

[seanwalsh]

It would be this guy.....



People think it's the flesh and blood Bible Devil, but they'd be wrong.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I believe most guys would get paid out of the house, so basically, Vince spent the money he earned that, that night. Any other money Vince previously had could go into promotion and bringing a few guys in. Also, Vince paid for the WWF in installments, he didn't pay for the whole thing up front, which also freed up some money.