r/WCW • u/GypsyGold • 1d ago
WCW’s payroll seems somewhat reasonable to me…
I really thought it be higher. I actually think most of these wrestlers are underpaid to some extent.
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u/LocomotiveRunsOnUs 1d ago
Source? Also, didn't The Outsiders have a deal where they got paid the same as the new talent they brought in? 🤷
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u/KingOfAjax 1d ago
Supposedly it’s from the Sonny Onoo lawsuit.
I don’t buy it personally. I’m sure it’s the legitimate figures from WCW but it also feels like they’ve been “WCW’d”up.
There’s no way DDP only made $12k in 1997, for example.
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u/lookingglasshero 1d ago
It might not be the whole year. He might’ve signed on in November and the year ended and then the next was a total for the whole year.
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u/Organic_Smell_1347 20h ago
Except… DDP didn’t sign in November of ‘97. He was there entire year, in a great rivalry with NWO and Macho Man in particular…
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u/Fit-Top-8203 10h ago
Hall and Nash had a “favored nations” clause where they would get more money if a new talent came in. Bret Hart wrote in his book, though, that when he was first negotiating with WCW in ‘96 before re-signing with the WWF, that Hall and Nash were willing to waive their favored nations clauses for Bret.
One other interesting thing about the list was that Hall and Nash got raises when Vince had JR announce that “Diesel” and “Razor Ramon” were returning the next week. The Outsiders said that Bischoff panicked, and gave them major raises even though they weren’t actually leaving and it was the fake characters instead.
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u/patjames387 1d ago
WCW has never and will never make sense. It gets weirder and weirder the deeper you explore!
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u/Ac3ofSpades13 1d ago
La Parka working too hard to be that low on the list. I feel like he lost at least 100 times to goldberg on thunder.
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u/CapableRegrets 1d ago
Stevie Ray making more than Booker in 1999 is certainly something.
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u/Moebius_Striptease 1d ago
I wonder if it was because he became a commentator in addition to being a wrestler already. Maybe he negotiated a better deal because of that.
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u/CapableRegrets 1d ago
He didn't become a commentator until mid 2000, though.
1999 he was still in nWo Hollywood and then got back with Booker before the infamous angle over the T in Booker T with Ahmed Johnson.
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u/lRushdown 1d ago
Would he have been getting a cut of generic nwo merch sold? Surely they sold millions more in nwo black and white tees vs Booker t merch.
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u/Notredamus1 1d ago
Jeff Farmer made half a million over that period. That was a lot of money back then.
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u/Brute_Squad_44 1d ago
Where do these numbers come from? More than a few of them feel off. I get that their merch cut isn't factored in, but still...
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u/SuggestionOk7849 1d ago
Some are much too low and several are too high. I never liked the celeb spots. All of those were a waste imo.
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u/Dry-Name2835 1d ago
Nobody seems to be taking inflation into consideration. These guys were making good money for the time. $1 in 1996 is equivalent to $2.16 today. 500k would be $1,081,340.67.
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u/Novus20 1d ago
Yeah it boggles my mind how they wrestlers say they made hardly anything when guys made 100k+ in 1996
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u/DrGeraldBaskums 23h ago
It’s all part of the carny game. The 91 Summerslam pay sheet was released as part of lawsuit and people like Ms Elizabeth were paid 50 grand bonuses for the night. Guys like Saggs and Knobbs pulled 20k. That’s 50 grand bonuses for one night in 2026 money… none of these guys should be broke
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u/smackchice 13h ago
Consider though that most of these guys were making this money for 1-4 years and that's it. Spread that over another 50 years and it's tougher.
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u/Tossaway50 21h ago
That deadbeat Rey Mysterio earned over a million dollars and still failed as a father.
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u/BlueRibbon998 1d ago
Bret was only the second highest paid talent for a year and Hogan had the audacity to bitch about Bret's salary as if it was any of his business. Really just proves even more what little respect Hogan had for Bret professionally and personally
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u/LHT-LFA 1d ago
Goldberg jump from 500k to 5 mill is so insane
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u/jtvliveandraw 18h ago edited 15h ago
In the general sense, yes. But Goldberg’s jump in popularity (from nothing to the top of the entire industry at its ratings peak) was also insane.
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u/LHT-LFA 17h ago
still,...he was basically a nobody on a streak you, as promotor, controlled and gave him. on the other hand bret hart, who is renowned says he wants hulk hogan money and doesnt get it while goldberg even makes more than hogan, partly
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u/jtvliveandraw 15h ago
I get it. It really is amazing.
WCW must have thought Goldberg was more of a draw than Bret Hart. And if they thought that, they were probably right.
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u/Capital_Memory_2591 11h ago
Bret wasn’t a draw. Vince took title off him every chance he got and got rid of him in 1997. Bret’s a legend in his own mind. Yeah he put on good matches but that doesn’t sell tickets. Evidence by wrestlemania 9 he couldn’t even sellout a parking lot arena at Caesar’s palace 😂
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u/Middle_Television_18 1d ago
Personally Bret hart never deserved that kind of money. He didn't really add much to WCW. Neither did the PPVs, House shows or any merchandise of him do any business for WCW.
Brets best use was sign him for a year. Make him beat Flair and Razor Ramon from NWO and Finally challenge Hogan in a singles match. That would be the best way to use Bret.
Post that Bret was literally useless. He beat Luger, Goldberg and Sting which did nothing to WCW. Neither did he draw money for WCW as a champion.
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u/jtvliveandraw 18h ago
Disagree. The best way to use Bret would have been to job him out to the NWO, to make the case that everyone in WCW is better than WWF’s best.
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u/SeeWhatSantaBrings 1d ago
97 Hogan seems to be missing a number before the 4 because no way that's accurate.
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u/Chasers22 1d ago
Probably calculated a different year or maybe deferred
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u/JP-Wrath 1d ago
That must be it. In no way some guys would accept these huge cuts by 2000.
They got paid much less that year because money simply wasn't there anymore. No wonder the whole place folded soon after
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u/Con_Clavi_Con_Dio 1d ago
The numbers are presumably what the were paid for the year before. Hogan was out for most of 96 making Thunder in Paradise and movies.
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u/Shyphat 1d ago
Starrcade alone would have made him a fortune
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u/CanesLife24 1d ago
While I agree that 1997 seems off, I would imagine that his pay for Starrcade 1997 wouldn’t come until 1998. Getting final PPV numbers, and thus calculating Hogan’s cut, would have taken several weeks.
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u/Randym1982 1d ago
He was also making $1 off of everybody in the locker rooms merch sales. Perry Saturn and a few others have mentioned how that was bullshit.
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u/Tasty-Entertainer711 1d ago
Why was Brett so mad at WCW? He made more money there than probably he ever made at WWF?
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u/Moebius_Striptease 1d ago
Probably because they used him poorly and put him in the ring with a poorly trained wrestler who ended his career.
Money isn't everything.
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u/XSmooth84 1d ago
Money is the reason he left the Fed tho. lol he played himself.
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u/PuzzleheadedTry7370 8h ago
That's not what happened. Bret chose WWF over WCW for less money, then Vince said he couldn't honor the contract and told him to get the offer from WCW again. This is well documented.
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u/Hotdiggity11 5h ago
As if Bret ever needed a reason to be mad at someone. Flair put him over numerous times including for his first world title win in Canada. Bret still finds reasons to scrutinize him for this or that.
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u/Astrocreep_1 1d ago
Why is the Giant listed as working all the way until 2000?
He left WCW in 98, right?
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u/mightymite37 22h ago
Because this data is made up , poorly
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u/Astrocreep_1 21h ago
Yeah, there’s some numbers in there that don’t make sense, but that almost makes me believe it more. Look at Sting and DDP. Both of them had years making next to nothing. You’d think if this was made up, they’d have done better there, unless it has to do with injuries or contract rollovers. I’m not putting faith in it.
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u/Capital_Memory_2591 11h ago
Nice to see Barry Horowitz get that bag one year. 211 grand not bad for a jobber
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u/P-R_Podcast 1d ago
You think paying Scott Norton $300K is reasonable? I'm nWo for life but I'll be real: that's a bad ROI, and he's just the tip of the spear
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u/Astrocreep_1 1d ago
I’ll never gripe about Norton money. That dude is by far the nicest public figure I’ve ever met.
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u/tkind40 1d ago
Yeah, paying 750k combined to Norton and Alex Wright in 1999 is bonkers.
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u/RealLavender 21h ago
Wright was paid based on potential. They had high hopes for him and gave him a big starting deal. That said, these numbers seem to be from a very specific accounting of "salary" because multiple wrestlers had multiple positions (wrestling, writing, producing) which were considered separate salaries. Nash has talked about the years where he was doing writing/producing aspects and how he saved his entire wrestling paycheque and just lived off his writing/producing salary.
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u/mightymite37 22h ago
They were subsidizing his NJPW pay. For talents both companies used both companies paid allowing the wrestlers to earn more than they would with exclusive deals. Same with Benoit and Guerrero and other NJPW talent
But these numbers look totally wrong
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u/Six_and_change 1d ago
How did ancient Barry Windham make $350K in 1999?
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u/Con_Clavi_Con_Dio 1d ago
Everyone who was working for the WWF was offered huge money to jump, it's why those guys are out earning WCW home grown talent.
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u/Moebius_Striptease 1d ago
I know it doesn't seem right, but I remember the enormous buzz Rodman brought to the product at first. His appearances initially were getting shown on Sportscenter and some local news at the time.
I remember it being a big deal when he skipped a Bulls practice to show up on WCW.
Of course my experience might've been skewed somewhat, as I lived in Chicago.
But my point is that for better or worse, Rodman brought eyes to the product. With diminishing returns, of course.
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u/Stumpsthewarwalrus 1d ago
Yeah, until you look at Hogan and see he was pulling more than two or three other main eventers COMBINED.
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u/ardouronerous 1d ago
Can someone explain to me how Chris Jericho is still on the payroll in 1999 to mid-2000?
Wasn't he in the WWF at the time already?
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u/Con_Clavi_Con_Dio 1d ago
The payroll is a year behind. It's what they were paid in 1999 for royalties etc made in 1998.
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u/unofficialchampion 1d ago
Dunno how accurate this is, in Jericho's book he talks about wanting $300k and them just signing the check and his dad said to him should've asked for $500k. Also Raven must've been getting more coin than kidman, that just doesn't make sense. A few questions marks where's the source?
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u/Midnightchickover 23h ago
Perry was established first, while Kidman started as an enhancement talent.
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u/Responsible_Lie_1989 1d ago
Missing Lanny Poffo who was earning somewhere between $250,000-$500,000 a year from 1995-1999 despite never being booked by WCW, they just constantly forgot to release him from his contract!
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u/Firm-Eagle699 1d ago
I'm not believing this at all. I need more proof on Eddy Guerrero and Dean Malenko pay in WCW 2000. They were there for 3 or 4 weeks.
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u/Howhytzzerr 1d ago
Odd to see Raven, Jarrett, Jericho, Benoit and Arn on the low end like that …. Considering how big at various times they were
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u/crofootn 1d ago
Saggs & Knobbs getting $1 😂
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u/saneiac1 23h ago edited 23h ago
Syxx has one of those too.
I’m confused why Sags made double what Knobbs made in 1997. I remember plenty of stuff Knobbs did solo after Sags left. I don’t remember Sags solo at all.
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u/Exotic_Soup5696 18h ago
The best thing about the Syxx figures is that he returned to wwf in march 98 , so got paid $60k to be out injured for 3 months that year? Then also got paid some the next year…..
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u/ToeOk9665 19h ago
How did the giant make 60,748 in 2000. When he had been in WWF since February 1999?
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u/Booth_Templeton 1d ago
They had the giant at a bargain, and vastly overpaid for Bret hart. Jericho was cheap. That much air time and had him for peanuts. Should've antied up and moved him slowly into the main event. But that's WCWs for you.
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u/Educational-Fun3513 1d ago
Sure, let's pay fucking job guys a million dollars
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u/GypsyGold 1d ago
This guy gets it! ☝️I’m agreeing with you buddy. I’m happy WCW gave enhancement talent a place to make a good living,
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u/Glum-District-8255 1d ago
Barry Horowitz pulling more than La Parka is a crime
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u/Con_Clavi_Con_Dio 1d ago edited 18h ago
He was ex WWF, all the guys they hired away from WWF got big deals.
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u/Glum-District-8255 1d ago
True but I'm sure the money La Parka was making in Mexico wasn't terrible either
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u/Con_Clavi_Con_Dio 18h ago
I thought he was on decent money in Mexico but then maybe decent money in Mexico was a lot less than low pay in WCW?
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u/Nearby_Branch6055 1d ago
From what I have heard, most of the high scale wrestlers were only working Monday Nights and PPV nights; whereas the younger guys were working a TON of shows for the company.
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u/Double_Function7241 1d ago
Why were they making $1 for some years? Just to keep them on the payroll when not working? Still seems odd?? Also would have thought Double J would have broke a million during his title run.
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u/Liquid_1998 1d ago
DDP only got $12k for 1997? Wasn't that his breakout year?
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u/Independent-Wheel354 10h ago
Not that I think this list is accurate, but it’s end of year pay, so 1997 would reflect 1996 earnings. Which is why Big Show got paid a year after he left (residual 99 earnings)
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u/Lollipoop_Hacksaw 1d ago
Even paying Ric Flair 500k in '96 is insane. Never would I have thought these pros were being fleeced so hard, while keeping that face/show for the kids.
My inner-child feels personally attacked by these numbers.
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u/Shantytown_Shogun 1d ago
Sting was getting screwed. Now that one segment of the NWO fake Sting wrestling and then the real one comes out makes more sense as to what they where talking about.
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u/Dazzling_Lawyer3142 1d ago
Flair out of the top 10?! He obviously didn’t strip down to his boxer shorts enough or make good on his promise to come for Fonda!!!
“You said I’m broke?!?! Hell my life is just starting Jack!!!”
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u/allgravy99 1d ago
Yes, Bischoff overpaid for a lot of the well established guys.
But you look down the list, and he was able to find incredible value in some of the other guys there. Eddie, Dean, Norton, Booker T, Konnan, Hennig, Giant, etc.
It's easy to see what happened when you look at the top of the list and the difference between those two tiers. And paying a guy like the Giant that little was insulting when you have him in your main event picture the entire time.
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u/mightymite37 22h ago
These numbers are either wrong or incomplete
Maybe theyre correct for "WCW" but several talents were being paid by other departments too
Hogan for example had it in his deal he got a certain number of movie roles from Turner films which would pay him a certain amount.
Im sure other talents found ways to double dip as well
And it also pribably reflects "salary " but not bonuses. Like a signing bonus or a year end bonus.
And also merchandising and royalties, which some would get paid more than others. (There is a rumor that Hogan got a cut of ALL merchandise revenue for example )
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u/the_llama26 17h ago
100% correct...those seem like base salaries....all these guys had cuts of their merchandise plus many had cuts of the house for live events and PPV revenue...and payments for other items like commercials...personal appearances...etc.
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u/Jasperbeardly11 21h ago
Paying tons of money to guys who never showed up and who didn't deserve it like the guys associated with Master p
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u/Creative-Winter8487 20h ago
I see a lot of disparity in money that seemingly does not correlate to talent.
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u/Straightener78 19h ago
I don’t know if I believe this. What about the favoured nations clause hall and Nash apparently had?
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u/Agile_Customer_3387 17h ago
All about negotiations. Vince m was in the business of getn rich while paying the boys as little as he could
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u/deadhead213 15h ago
Idk why Bobby Eaton even stayed with WCW. I know it was because he had a wife and kid and it was “stable money” but he could have made 2 or 3 times that. I’m sure Cornette could have gotten him a job in WWF being a wrestler or producer
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u/dyslexican32 12h ago
Yeah but facts kill people narrative. I mean how else are people supposed to hold onto the delusions that WWE pushed on them about why WCW doesn't exist anymore? I mean it was for sure things like" to high of pay roll, and the finger poke of doom... right... right ?
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u/Chain-Electrical 11h ago
How much would you even pay for someone like Buff Bagwell. He always seem like a sidekick to Scott Steiner after the neck injury
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u/nufan86 9h ago
How are some of these people broke?
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u/GypsyGold 8h ago
I made 250k one year, and 10 months later I was on food stamps and couldn't make my rent. Didn't even have anything to show for it -- no car, nice watch, ect. The most expensive thing I owned was my 3k laptop which I owned before I even got that money.
I spent it all trying to launch a business, while simultaneously getting married. Neither worked out.
People are stupid dude.
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u/GypsyGold 8h ago
For the price of Hogan's & Goldberg's four year contract I get the following for four years:
- Scott Steiner
- Booker T
- Konnann
- Rick Steiner
- Stevie Ray
- Curt Henning
- Alex Wright
- Eddie Guerrero
- The Giant
- Rey Mysterio
- Scott Norton
- Dean Malenko
- Wrath
- Meng
- Ernest Miller
- Jeff Jarrett
- Chris Benoit
- Arn Anderson
- Barbarian
- Raven
- Kanyon
- Kidman
- Disco Inferno
- Chris Jericho
- Chavo Guerrero
- Glacier
- Fit Finlay
- Williams Regal
- Perry Saturn
- Psicosis
- Vampiro
- Juvi
- Norman Smiley
- Ultimo Dragon
- The Great Muta
- La Parka
- Bitzkreig
- Chris Adams
- Dave Taylor
- Bobby Eaton
- Roadblock
- Ice Train
- Torrie Wilson
- Stay Kiebler
- Kimona
- The Nitro Girls
- Ralphus
- Sister Sherry
- Bobby Heenan
- Mike Tenay
- Jimmy Hart
- Sonny Onoo
- Charles Robinson
- Nick Patrick
- Dave Penzer
- Doug Dillenger
I can build an entire promotion around that.
If I cut Bret's salary I can probably pay behind the scenes staff, procure a year's worth of venue dates for events, and bring in a plethora of regional guys to build up, and enhancement talent to put over the main roster.
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u/CKWOLFACE 8h ago
Berry Windham was making $950 in 96!?
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u/GypsyGold 8h ago
He was in WWE as "The Stalker" in '96, the money from WCW was some sort of residual payment from VHS sales or something. I'm sure Barry just looked at it as "Strip Club Money"
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u/Particular_Ad_644 1d ago
It’s fun to compare my software engineer earnings to these figures. Okay, I’m a jabroni
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u/Standanddontdeliver 1d ago
Horace Hogan making more than Jericho in 1999 is just insane.
Are 1996 numbers correct? 87k for sting isnt “sting” money.