I found this on a few message boards and I find it pretty interesting
Below is the World Wrestling Entertainment talent roster payroll that was taken from October of 2004 until February of 2006. The shown dollar amount beside each wrestler is the grand total that they earned from World Wrestling Entertainment in a one year period (downside guarantees, bonuses, and merchandise shares). Some wrestler's were given special privileges and bonuses in their contracts which can also be seen beside their total pay. All wrestler's contracts begin and end at different months of the year, there for each shown amount is what that particular wrestler earned in a 365 day time period between October 2004 and February 2006 (or however long they have been with the company). All dollar amounts were rounded up/down (Example: $244,766 would be $245,000)
- Ashley Massaro: $131,000 - Batista: $813,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week) - Big Show: $1,000,000 (Base salary) - Bob Holly: $217,000 - Booker T: $375,000 - Candice Michelle: $64,000 - Carlito: $319,000 - Chavo Guerrero: $206,000 - Chris Benoit: $488,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week) - Chris Masters: $253,000 - Christian - $396,000 - Danny Basham: $130,000 - Doug Basham: $126,000 - Eddie Guerrero: $372,000 - Edge: $704,000 - Eugene: $189,000 - Funaki: $124,000 - Gene Snitsky: $292,000 - Gregory Helms: $277,000 - John Cena: $1,743,000 (First class flight tickets, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation paid for every week) - John Layfield: $786,000 (Five star hotel accommodations paid for every week) - Jerry Lawler: $204,000 (First class flight tickets, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation paid for every week) - Jillian Hall: $52,000 - Joey Mercury: $134,000 - Johnny Nitro: $143,000 - Jonathan Coachman: $175,000 - Kane: $ 851,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week) - Ken Kennedy: $133,000 - Kid Kash: $62,000 - Kurt Angle: $1,023,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week) - Lance Cade: $118,000 - Lilian Garcia: $90,000 - Lita: $286,000 (Mostly downside paid due to lack of wrestling) - Maria: $41,000 - Mark Henry: $300,000 (Base pay) - Matt Hardy: $322,000 (Missed over $70,000 of pay due to firing) - Matt Striker: $43,000 - Melina: $155,000 - Mickie James: $72,000 - Nunzio: $186,000 - Orlando Jordan: $145,000 - Paul London: $177,000 - Psicosis: $122,000 - Randy Orton: $711,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week) - Rene Dupree: $289,000 - Rey Mysterio: $414,000 - Ric Flair: $508,000 (First class flight tickets paid for every week) - Rob Conway: $186,000 - Rob Van Damn: $220,000 (Only received downside and royalties due to injury) - Rosie: $105,000 - Shawn Michaels: $1,045,000 (First class flight tickets, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation paid for every week) - Shelton Benjamin: $366,000 - Simon Dean: $132,000 - Stacy Keibler: $178,000 (Only downside paid during absence) - Steven Richards: $94,000 - Torrie Wilson: $260,000 - Trevor Murdoch: $48,000 - Triple H: $2,013,000 (Allowed the personal use of company jet (10) times per year. First class flight tickets, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation paid for every week) - Trish Stratus: $618,000 (Receives 20% of all Trish Stratus merchandise sold) - Tyson Tomko: $127,000 - Undertaker: $1,811,000 (First class flight tickets, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation paid for every week) - Val Venis: $210,000 - Victoria: $275,000 - Viscera: $130,000 - William Regal: $225,000
Now, a few observations:
1) Snitsky is stealing money! 2) Maria deserves a major raise 3) How is Val Venis making over 200K a year but guys like Mickie James and Trevor Murdoch are making 1/5 of that? 4) I think Matt Striker might make more money teaching than being in the WWE. 5) Stevie Richards might have the easiest $92,000 a year job ever. He's barely even been on TV or house shows in a year and he is making almost 6 figures? 6) Nice to see JBL only stays at 5 star hotels.
Val has been employed for a long time. Mickie and Trevor have not. He's a proven talent with seniority. That may not get him much in TV time or pushes, but it probably helps him collect some extra bonuses on his check.
Tonight I wanna ruin my life, I wanna throw it all away, In a spectacular way
Originally posted by Excalibur05Val has been employed for a long time. Mickie and Trevor have not. He's a proven talent with seniority. That may not get him much in TV time or pushes, but it probably helps him collect some extra bonuses on his check.
So, why is Melina making 155k then? She hasn't been around long but she is making 3x as much as Kid Cash and the others I mentioned. Is her ass worth that much?
I found this on a few message boards and I find it pretty interesting
And without an actual linked source, there's no way to tell if they're true or if someone is just screwing with people. (Not you. Maybe who you copied it from - DVDVR? or who they copied it from, or ...)
Originally posted by Excalibur05Val has been employed for a long time. Mickie and Trevor have not. He's a proven talent with seniority. That may not get him much in TV time or pushes, but it probably helps him collect some extra bonuses on his check.
So, why is Melina making 155k then? She hasn't been around long but she is making 3x as much as Kid Cash and the others I mentioned. Is her ass worth that much?
I think a big part of what it comes down to is that while she's making 3 times as much as Kid Kash, fans want to see her about 60 times more than they want to see him.
These raises aren't based on wrestling talent. Also, a lot of them are probably jumped up due to the fact that some people are on a lot of PPVs while others are not. Like Excalibur05 said, Vince rewards people who are loyal to him, especially if it's someone like Val or Taker who are loyal during really tough periods. When Edge started off with the WWE, he said his pay was about $35,000 a year for the first couple years and he was on TV every week. He's certainly gotten a raise, so people can definately get raises if they stick to it. If anything, paying them less right off the bat probably helps weed out the Lesnars who quit when they're major players. At that point in their WWE life, they've been with the company for while but without getting paid a whole lot for it so you know that they're serious. Maria signed her contract when she was a Diva search loser, didn't she? I'm sure that it will go up next time around (and hopefully Trevor Murdoch's will go down, as his probably doesn't count a full year's worth of salary, but I'd already say that he's overpaid).
Looking at this list, I think Trish may be the most intelligent person there. Funny that Stacy thinks making $200,000 a year for what she does is 'not making any money'. I think she needed to spend a couple of years working at a McDonald's to realize how good she's got it now. It's nice to see that 'Smackdown Number One Announcer' is doing well.
Originally posted by Kane Is UglyI found this on a few message boards and I find it pretty interesting
Absent a real source, I find it a gullibility test. (I know, I know... "gullibility" can't be found in the dictionary, either.) Please don't drag stuff like this over here if the best you can give us is "a few message boards."
Originally posted by Kane Is Ugly ...for each shown amount is what that particular wrestler earned in a 365 day time period between October 2004 and February 2006 (or however long they have been with the company).
I may only do finance for a living, but by my math the period of time between October 1, 2004 and February 28, 2006 is 516 days.
Originally posted by Kane Is UglyI found this on a few message boards and I find it pretty interesting
Absent a real source, I find it a gullibility test. (I know, I know... "gullibility" can't be found in the dictionary, either.) Please don't drag stuff like this over here if the best you can give us is "a few message boards."
FWIW, a mod on another board that posted this list said he emailed Meltzer the list to see if the info was legit. He claimed Meltzer replied that, based on what he knew certain guys were making, the info looked to be legit. The mod is big on getting his facts from Meltzer, so I tend to believe his claim.
Originally posted by Kane Is Ugly ...for each shown amount is what that particular wrestler earned in a 365 day time period between October 2004 and February 2006 (or however long they have been with the company).
I may only do finance for a living, but by my math the period of time between October 1, 2004 and February 28, 2006 is 516 days.
But right before that, it says that some wrestlers' contracts begin and end at different months of the year. So it only counts 365 days (say, October 2004-October 2005), but the time period collected is longer to make sure all the wrestler's contracts go for one full year.
Melina probably sells more merchandise than Kid Kash does. Do they even have any Kid Kash merchandise? I know that Melina probably is represented in the Diva calendars and videos and such, and also you can buy MNM action figures and T-shirts.
That's the money they make per year no matter what, without payoffs for house shows or PPV and without merchandise royalties. e.g. Stevie Richards only makes his downside because he's not booked.
Originally posted by JSTThis is good discussion fodder for the radio show I do with my friends.
Can anyone dumb down the meaning of "downside" for me? :(
Basically, there's a basement amount for every contract (for argument's sake, call it $4000/month) that is paid to workers, barring termination, for the life of that contract. That's if Talent X is off the active roster due to injury or not being used on television or at house shows. That's the minimum they make. However, talents get paid in addition to that for things like gate divvies, PPV divvies, licensed product royalties, etc, which is where the bulk of their money comes from.
For lack of a better way of putting it, it's basically the WWE financially protecting themselves against doing what WCW used to do routinely, which was pay guys they didn't really need obscene amounts of money to stay home, because WCW used a guaranteed money system as opposed to the two-tier system the WWE does. Great for talent, but bad for a company bottom line.
So, say, RVD sitting on the bench for a year only made his downside, in addition to the stray DVD or merch royalty, which he would make far less from by not being on the active roster because by not working, he's not on TV and drawing far less money for the company.
EDIT: Beaten to it.
(edited by JoshMann on 16.3.06 1359) Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious
Also, people talking about Trevor Murdoch and/or anybody else who appears to hardly be making anything...those are newer guys just signed within the last few months, not a full one year that the other people have.
I fond it interresting that one guy in each of these teams makes just a liiiittle bit more than the other, even though one of them isnt any more over/better/famous than the other. In both cases, I couldnt even tell you which one was which.
I fond it interresting that one guy in each of these teams makes just a liiiittle bit more than the other, even though one of them isnt any more over/better/famous than the other. In both cases, I couldnt even tell you which one was which.
One guy on a team might have had a run-in on a couple PPVs or something, or maybe did more promotional stuff like autograph shows than the other to get a bit of a bonus.
I fond it interresting that one guy in each of these teams makes just a liiiittle bit more than the other, even though one of them isnt any more over/better/famous than the other. In both cases, I couldnt even tell you which one was which.
Depends on when the information was taken from for each guy, but Nitro did have that short run as Eric Bischoff's lackey on Raw. I can't even remember when it was or if it even falls into the dates given, but that could explain his slightly higher salary.
Same with the Bashams. IIRC, Danny Basham was still used for a while following the Bashams split, while Doug disappeared off the face of the earth.
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yeah.... i've watched him as the dead man.... in the ministry... against jake the snake.... against yoko.... as the bad ass.... i have to say now that he's fun to watch... and he's looking like hes having a hell of a lot of fun out there...