Whattaburger
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|  #1 Posted on 19.3.06 2053.26
Reposted on: 19.3.13 2054.57 | I was listening to a Sunny interview today and she talked about how Paul Heyman still owes her something like $180,000 in airfare receipts*** and it got me thinking that I've never quite understood how ECW lost all it's money.
As Nunzio said on the Rise/Fall ECW DVD, it wasn't as if they weren't wrestling in front of no one. And IIRC, ECW was selling-out a lot of venues (albeit small ones).
I know that putting on a wrestling show obviously takes a lot of money to put on, especially when you have the kind of established (more or less) wrestlers working for you to pay...it just doesn't make sense.
Were all those wrestlers just completely brainwashed into thinking that ECW would pull through and they didn't think twice about what they asked/wanted to be paid or was it something else?
Where did all there money go? Was it a combination of the venues vs the gate, production/maintenance, and the wrestlers' pay or what? I don't think ROH is anything near ECW, but I never hear anything about them having really bad money problems. What's the difference?
***Sunny said at the time, her and Candido were sort of like the travel agents for all the wrestlers and each of the needed plane tickets came directly from her AMEX card.
(edited by Whattaburger on 19.3.06 1924) | Promote this thread! |             | redsoxnation
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| #2 Posted on 19.3.06 2121.37
Reposted on: 19.3.13 2129.01 | Unless Sunny was chartering the Colombian plane to bring in her snow, the $180k for airfare number seems a slight bit of an exaggeration. And, if the number is correct, you'd think that maybe after the first $50k or so, you wouldn't spend the money unless Heyman gave it to you in advance.
Why guys would wrestle for Heyman: Where else were they going if they weren't in the WWF or WCW? Memphis was a shell of its former self. Mid-South/World Class/AWA/Florida/Central States etc. were dead and buried. Smoky Mountain folded in November '95. Even if they were only getting 20 cents on the dollar promised by Heyman, they were getting exposure and there was a track record of guys going from ECW to the WWF or WCW and making money. Without ECW, they don't have North American exposure and they probably don't have the chance to get the big paycheck. Would Mike Awesome have gotten the money from WCW in '00 without ECW? Sandman? A boatload of guys in '95 through '97?
| BigDaddyLoco
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| #3 Posted on 19.3.06 2232.10
Reposted on: 19.3.13 2232.22 | I did see an interview with Candino somewhere where he was talking about the outstanding credit he had from doing the plane ticket gig for Heyman. It was never a problem, because he'd clear the bill when Heyman gave him the check at the end of the month. Then Heyman started falling short and making promises, and I think Candion went ahead and did another month or two's worth before he realized the money wasn't coming.
Who knows what the real number is though | BigFredMachine
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| #4 Posted on 20.3.06 1528.12
Reposted on: 20.3.13 1528.21 | My last company did all the airfare through Amex - I know, I reconciled the card. It wasn't unusual to approach $200K on a given month, and this was with salespeople going on business trips. 50 wrestlers coming in for PPVs and house shows could hit that in two months, easy.
| kentish
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| #5 Posted on 20.3.06 1532.47
Reposted on: 20.3.13 1532.47 | | Did they ever actually make money? Seriously. | CANADIAN BULLDOG
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| #6 Posted on 20.3.06 1540.08
Reposted on: 20.3.13 1542.02 | I thought the big loss-leader was for costs to make their TNN show up to the network's snuff, though I could be wrong....
That said, I'm sure a lot of it was BECAUSE they weren't the typical indy promotion. Even if they didn't receive salaries that were competitive with the big two, guys like Taz, The Dudleyz, Raven, etc. had to be paid decent money to keep them going. Plus, I'm sure whatever advertising was done, be it on television, the Internet or wherever, that had to cost quite a bit. | Y2J 420
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| #7 Posted on 21.3.06 1234.06
Reposted on: 21.3.13 1238.30 | That's why running a glorified indy-fed is such a waste...a problem of running in one venue over and over...you limit your fanbase...
You start trying to be like the superior competition in terms of travel, venue size, profit, and production values, yet in the end you always fail...
They're companies in the US right now that do that and fail...some companies pay too much for one "wrestler" and reach too far for goals that are currently unattainable... | CRZ
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| #8 Posted on 21.3.06 1345.09
Reposted on: 21.3.13 1345.14 | Originally posted by Y2J 420
That's why running a glorified indy-fed is such a waste...a problem of running in one venue over and over...you limit your fanbase...
You start trying to be like the superior competition in terms of travel, venue size, profit, and production values, yet in the end you always fail...
They're companies in the US right now that do that and fail...some companies pay too much for one "wrestler" and reach too far for goals that are currently unattainable...
You know what, Y2J 420 ol' buddy ol' pal, I completely misjudged you. You are not obsessed AT ALL. Your knowledge of wrestling is a WONDER TO BEHOLD. The fact that I'm giving up and banning you is TOTALLY UNFAIR. I EAGERLY ANTICIPATE your next round of AIMs so I can block you from THERE as well. Also, everything in caps is a lie. C-ya... | | ALL ORIGINAL POSTS IN THIS THREAD ARE NOW AVAILABLE |
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