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Post by oxbaker on May 3, 2022 10:39:56 GMT -5
Why? Because the WWE pays a lot more and if they really make it, it pays exponentially more — the kind of huge bucks that most aspiring wrestlers hope to make. Worst case, you sign with WWE and it doesn’t work out and you go back to the indies … and probably get to charge more if you’ve had some TV exposure. That's...not exactly true about WWE pay. Many a tale has been told of PC talent getting paid less than they'd make at any other entry-level job. And the last ten to fifteen years has made it quite clear that it is possible for talents to make more on the indies than in WWE. Hence, the effort by WWE to grab those talents by having to shell out far more. The Cameo/OnlyFans/Twitch issue arose because it was often the case that talent was making far more from those revenue streams than from their work with WWE. An "independent contractor" should be able to make additional income from non-wrestling content if they so chose, right? WWE saw differently, however, and basically forced its talent to sign over their rights to those projects to WWE in exchange for a smaller bump in WWE pay and/or not getting released and made to sit out their 90 days and/or being sued over their own likeness rights. Once that came out, however, that slammed the door for WWE to access to a very great many outside talents who are and have been making significant sums from their projects as well as their work in wrestling. Moreover, among its own contracted talent are those who will either not re-sign or who will bend WWE over a barrel for more and more control over those revenues knowing that WWE's appeal to the IWC (you know, the younger set) depends on that more mainstream exposure. Again, it's not necessarily unreasonable for WWE to flip-flop on the independent wrestlers question, but it is unreasonable to expect to do so without accepting, or at least understanding, that independent wrestlers aren't going to rush back to WWE just on WWE's say-so. WWE has embarked on a longterm initiative that was intended to separate itself from the pro wrestling industry as a whole. There is little incentive for the industry to protect WWE from WWE's own, potentially-fatal error. “Independent wrestlers” is a big pool. And WWE compensation varies. I guarantee you Theory is making more money in WWE than he did in the indies. Same for Ciampa and Riddle and even backstage talent like Quinn McKay to name a few. And there have been people on the indies who made more than the lower-end, developmental, early-on signees. An Ospreay or Jay White, if we want to consider them indie guys (they’re really NJPW with outside bookings) might make more (I say might because White has been stuck in the U.S. and unable to maximize on his earnings due to the pandemic) but the vast majority of indie workers — pretty much anyone but the very top — are just trying to make ends meet. But the reason an indie worker would go to WWE would be the chance to move up the roster like some of those (and others like Zayn and Owens, etc.) where they absolutely make many times what top indie workers make. I’m not saying every indie worker in the world would take any offer from WWE, but most of them would — look how many took low-end NXT UK jobs because the pay on the indies in the UK was hotdog-and-handshake level. Bottom line, if WWE decides to target specific indie talents I don’t see them having a problem getting them. Will they get every single one the want? Maybe, depending on just how much money they’re willing to spend (AJ was the top indie guy in the world for instance, and he did; you get the impression that Omega was listening seriously and would have probably made the jump if AEW didn’t come into being). I don’t think WWE is saying ‘no more indie signings.’ I think they’re saying ‘we’re going to have a program to develop college/Olympic type athletes and we’ll be very selective in hiring from the indie circuit.’ I don’t think they envision stocking developmental with ‘super-indie’ guys like they once did … and they didn’t have any problem signing a ton of those talents like UE and Viking Raiders and Gargano, etc., when they had that approach.
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Post by Raw is Doodie101 on May 3, 2022 10:48:46 GMT -5
It's been claimed that most people on the main roster make at least $250,000 yearly while if you have a dedicated NXT contract(not just the tryout offer but an actual developmental deal) that you make 50-150K.
If you can make more than that on the indies then you are either a top indy guy, a super hot chick using only fans, or working 320 days a year and grinding.
Making money in the indies isn't as easy as people think.
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Post by CeilingFan on May 5, 2022 7:27:20 GMT -5
The Investor's call is today, right?
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Post by Feyrhausen on May 5, 2022 7:32:27 GMT -5
It's been claimed that most people on the main roster make at least $250,000 yearly while if you have a dedicated NXT contract(not just the tryout offer but an actual developmental deal) that you make 50-150K. If you can make more than that on the indies then you are either a top indy guy, a super hot chick using only fans, or working 320 days a year and grinding. Making money in the indies isn't as easy as people think. 250 may sound good but you are paying for hotel,rental cars, meals, etc. That adds up to be quite a bit.
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Post by CeilingFan on May 5, 2022 8:31:07 GMT -5
THIS WAS FIVE MONTHS AGO. Since then: *The two wrestlers in the match being hyped left at the end of their contracts and are back to being aligned with each other in AEW *The boss of the brand got let go *The entire brand itself got a colourful reboot that has gotten mixed reviews *The entire squadron of security guards are TV regulars *One of those security guards is now the NXT Champion FIVE. MONTHS. Second from the left, isn't that Parker Boudreaux?
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on May 5, 2022 8:32:35 GMT -5
THIS WAS FIVE MONTHS AGO. Since then: *The two wrestlers in the match being hyped left at the end of their contracts and are back to being aligned with each other in AEW *The boss of the brand got let go *The entire brand itself got a colourful reboot that has gotten mixed reviews *The entire squadron of security guards are TV regulars *One of those security guards is now the NXT Champion FIVE. MONTHS. Second from the left, isn't that Parker Boudreaux? Yeah, it is, before they decided he needed to do time in the Shine-O Ball-O and then cut him when they couldn’t see their reflection in his head like in the cartoon.
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markymark
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 18,370
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Post by markymark on May 5, 2022 11:09:41 GMT -5
Well here we go again....
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Mecca
Wade Wilson
Posts: 25,097
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Post by Mecca on May 5, 2022 11:14:25 GMT -5
Well here we go again....
Is anyone surprised?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2022 11:18:07 GMT -5
Well here we go again....
How WWE just views their own roster now like they are working the conveyor belt at a warehouse.
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knsffa
Team Rocket
Missed This Place and People
Posts: 796
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Post by knsffa on May 5, 2022 11:18:25 GMT -5
Well here we go again....
Observer did mention main roster cuts recently so this is no surprise. Sad always to see people lose jobs nonetheless.
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Post by Hypnosis on May 5, 2022 11:18:59 GMT -5
Well here we go again....
Is anyone surprised? I find myself wondering what the limit to this is, since eventually there won't be much of a "budget" to cut anymore.
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knsffa
Team Rocket
Missed This Place and People
Posts: 796
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Post by knsffa on May 5, 2022 11:22:21 GMT -5
I find myself wondering what the limit to this is, since eventually there won't be much of a "budget" to cut anymore. The budget that needs cutting is that big sum of 'pocket change' they unload on Nick, Vince, Bruce, etc at the end of the year due to budget cuts.
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Post by sfvega on May 5, 2022 11:51:10 GMT -5
It's so weird that the question boils down to 'how many employees do we have to let go in order to misrepresent our profits as being better than they are?' Not only is it dumb and disgusting, and a false pretense, but it's also resulted in them burning actual dollars of star power down the line.
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Post by Fade is a CodyCryBaby on May 5, 2022 12:29:50 GMT -5
I find myself wondering what the limit to this is, since eventually there won't be much of a "budget" to cut anymore.
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on May 5, 2022 13:04:42 GMT -5
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Mecca
Wade Wilson
Posts: 25,097
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Post by Mecca on May 5, 2022 13:11:34 GMT -5
It's so weird that the question boils down to 'how many employees do we have to let go in order to misrepresent our profits as being better than they are?' Not only is it dumb and disgusting, and a false pretense, but it's also resulted in them burning actual dollars of star power down the line. They're doing the exact same shit basically every other publicly traded company does. Moving numbers around to make their numbers look better because showing infinite growth is impossible. They're Walmart, the next step is to train the new NXT generation good enough to take over spots cheaper. If you can get the same job for 100k that you were previously paying 250k, as a company that's a win, and that's where we're headed.
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knsffa
Team Rocket
Missed This Place and People
Posts: 796
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Post by knsffa on May 5, 2022 13:14:50 GMT -5
Going to logically assume this means everyone is safe for now. Sadly it also means some people are on borrowed time.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2022 13:18:57 GMT -5
Well that just makes it worse now. it is the new normal that we are just gonna fire you when we need to save a few nickles no matter your position in the company....unless you are Roman Reigns.
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on May 5, 2022 13:22:20 GMT -5
Well that just makes it worse now. it is the new normal that we are just gonna fire you when we need to save a few nickles no matter your position in the company....unless you are Roman Reigns. Even Reigns will never be 100% safe. At some point, he might become too much of an expense…
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Mecca
Wade Wilson
Posts: 25,097
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Post by Mecca on May 5, 2022 13:24:14 GMT -5
Well that just makes it worse now. it is the new normal that we are just gonna fire you when we need to save a few nickles no matter your position in the company....unless you are Roman Reigns. Even Reigns will never be 100% safe. At some point, he might become too much of an expense… This is a company that let the Rocks contract expire without even having a negotiation with him, why? Because they thought he would fail as an actor and they could low ball him when he came back...the exact same shit they tried to pull with Batista. This company gives no shits about performers, never have, it's just more in your face now because they decided to operate like the wrestlers are employees in retail.
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