How are the wrestlers paid?

[sexualvanilla]

The Sandman broke it down in pretty good detail on a recent shoot interview. The guarantee he got was something like $1928 a week, with the bigger paychecks coming in for Pay Per Views and other things. The interesting thing is that when you divide up how much transportation costs are, it cuts into your income severely, and you can actually end up owing the company money that's taken out of the guarantee.

My understanding is that you get the guarantees, but also a cut of the merchandise (so Austin would be pulling in 7 figures easily) and your extra income depends on where you are on the heirarchy. Main eventers get main event money while cruiserweights might get $500 a night

[Mister Yummy]

Well, you get paid to wrestle, but you get paid more to win. Usually, the winner gets 60% of the "purse" and the loser 40%. The amount of the purse is determined by how much the gate was, among other things.

</kayfabe>

[Sparvid]

pathogen said:

Likeness rights for t-shirts, video games etc must be quite lucrative, and I would assume that the more entertainment you provide, the more you get paid.

IIRC, Lance Storm said in one of his Q&A's that technically a wrestler can refuse to okay the use of his likeness in toys and video games, but no one in their right mind does that since the royalties for those are a LOT.

[Back to being Cenanuff]

I've seen a couple of people's contract breakdowns, and from what I understand, it's complicated. Where you are on the card at the time of the contract will determine what your contract will look like. IIRC, Kurt Angle used to have a hefty travel allowance, as does HHH, Cena made over a million with his likeness royalties, and your guaranteed money is determined by where you are as well. Long story short, it's complicated.

[Moonwalkin' Capt. Crow]

bigblu89 said:

For the most part, most wrestlers have a "downside guarantee", which is an amount they get paid regardless of how many times they were used per show and/or ppv. And then they get a certain percentage of the gate, merchandise, dvd sales, etc. based off where they are on the card (literally). The closer to the main event you are, the higer the percentage.

Then, of course there are the guaranteed contracts, but since WCW folded, I don't know how many of those there still are.

This is how RD explained the WWE pay scale in Death of WCW. It can also be upset easily, if someone wants a higher price or there has to be a contract buyout.

[Go 2 Sleeeeeeeeeep!]

I think most of the OVW guys are paid in ski ball tickets.

[CrazySting]

I think they also get dvd residules. I remember Lance Storm says how happy he was when he found out he was on the Hogan dvd because of the money he stood to make.

[diamond]

lol @ this thread

Pretty much sums up the IWC when they bitch and moan about everything backstage yet they don't even know how the wrestlers get paid

[infrared]

With a cheque.

[jcdenton]

diamond said:

lol @ this thread

Pretty much sums up the IWC when they bitch and moan about everything backstage yet they don't even know how the wrestlers get paid

um... what? I dont think that was the question

[Spankymac is sick of the swiss]

decodedfromspace said:

I think most of the OVW guys are paid in ski ball tickets.

So THAT's where Colt Cabana got that bitchin' glowstick necklace.

[Deleted]

jcdenton said:

diamond said:

lol @ this thread

Pretty much sums up the IWC when they bitch and moan about everything backstage yet they don't even know how the wrestlers get paid

um... what? I dont think that was the question

Oh no, it's a WWE wrestler here to troll! Probably Ric Flair because he heard we were using "insider terms"

[diamond]

jcdenton said:

diamond said:

lol @ this thread

Pretty much sums up the IWC when they bitch and moan about everything backstage yet they don't even know how the wrestlers get paid

um... what? I dont think that was the question

It's relevant. The whole foundation of the IWC is that they have inside knowledge of the business, yet they don't even know how they are paid. Ridiculous

[Jimichiro Likes Erick Rowan]

diamond said:

jcdenton said:

um... what? I dont think that was the question

It's relevant. The whole foundation of the IWC is that they have inside knowledge of the business, yet they don't even know how they are paid. Ridiculous

They do? LIEK OMG?!?!1

[wwerules60]

diamond said:

jcdenton said:

um... what? I dont think that was the question

It's relevant. The whole foundation of the IWC is that they have inside knowledge of the business, yet they don't even know how they are paid. Ridiculous

You are part of the IWC, so don't act like you are better than anyone.

[diamond]

wwerules60 said:

diamond said:

It's relevant. The whole foundation of the IWC is that they have inside knowledge of the business, yet they don't even know how they are paid. Ridiculous

You are part of the IWC, so don't act like you are better than anyone.

I'm not. I just don't get as worked up about it as other people, especially when I don't really know that much about it (that goes for every single person on this board too)

[sexualvanilla]

The WWE is pretty secretive on how the wrestlers get paid, and even some of the workers don't know the formula either. I don't see why you're chastizing us since we're not the only ones who don't know the exact way it's done

[Legion]

paperstreetjesus said:

PAID!?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, brilliant

[diamond]

sexualvanilla said:

The WWE is pretty secretive on how the wrestlers get paid, and even some of the workers don't know the formula either. I don't see why you're chastizing us since we're not the only ones who don't know the exact way it's done

So they work for company, even though they don't fully understand the pay structure? That makes sense

[Red Impact]

diamond said:

So they work for company, even though they don't fully understand the pay structure? That makes sense

Really though, it's not as rare as you think. A lot of people don't know exactly what goes into or comes out of their paycheck, even when their pay structure isn't as complicated. There's no reason to believe that wrestlers would be any smarter.

Hell, those that don't have it figured out likely just know that their paychecks are more than they would be elsewhere, so they don't care a whole lot exactly what algorithm is used to determine it.