Quote:

 

On Wednesday, Chris Jericho called out Shinsuke Nakamura on Twitter, telling the Japanese star that he’s nothing in Jericho’s world. It’s now being speculated that Jericho is going after him to build towards a match that will take place this summer when WWE holds two shows from Tokyo’s Sumo Hall (July 1st & 2nd).

ToTheBank

Mar 23 2016, 08:49:39 PM

The three you mention (RKO, Cena and Lesnar) will be Mania season guys for a long time to come once Trips and Taker stop showing up. Let's face it, get ready for a lot of Reigns' headlined WM's

Fromage

Mar 31 2016, 10:41:55 AM

Looks like Mick Foley and his family will get their own reality type show on the Network. Why? Because apparently people want to know what Mick Foley does on a regular basis.

ToTheBank

Mar 31 2016, 11:51:13 AM

Fromage

Mar 31 2016, 10:41:55 AM

Looks like Mick Foley and his family will get their own reality type show on the Network. Why? Because apparently people want to know what Mick Foley does on a regular basis.

I am not one of those ppl... Why not do an origins show to help get over some of their talent? Each week highlights a diff superstar. Imagine the help some ppl like Kalisto, Neville or Zayn could get. I think it would be fun seeing the mythos of a Wyatt family and League of Nations too

Fromage

Mar 31 2016, 11:59:28 AM

ToTheBank

Mar 31 2016, 11:51:13 AM

Fromage

Mar 31 2016, 10:41:55 AM

Looks like Mick Foley and his family will get their own reality type show on the Network. Why? Because apparently people want to know what Mick Foley does on a regular basis.

I am not one of those ppl... Why not do an origins show to help get over some of their talent? Each week highlights a diff superstar. Imagine the help some ppl like Kalisto, Neville or Zayn could get. I think it would be fun seeing the mythos of a Wyatt family and League of Nations too

That's actually a great idea. A little mini-dcoumentary about a certain superstar, and how they ended up in the WWE. We don't see enough of these guys personalities, so it makes it difficult to connect with them. Remember back when Ryback cut that really good promo where he spoke from the heart? People were interested in that to see where it went because Ryback was showing personality.

T-Unit

Mar 31 2016, 02:44:17 PM

Fromage

Mar 31 2016, 11:59:28 AM

ToTheBank

Mar 31 2016, 11:51:13 AM

Fromage

Mar 31 2016, 10:41:55 AM

Looks like Mick Foley and his family will get their own reality type show on the Network. Why? Because apparently people want to know what Mick Foley does on a regular basis.

I am not one of those ppl... Why not do an origins show to help get over some of their talent? Each week highlights a diff superstar. Imagine the help some ppl like Kalisto, Neville or Zayn could get. I think it would be fun seeing the mythos of a Wyatt family and League of Nations too

That's actually a great idea. A little mini-dcoumentary about a certain superstar, and how they ended up in the WWE. We don't see enough of these guys personalities, so it makes it difficult to connect with them. Remember back when Ryback cut that really good promo where he spoke from the heart? People were interested in that to see where it went because Ryback was showing personality.

NXT last week had a terrific video package about Jordan and Gable, showing their amateur wrestling roots. That was amazing and it weaves together their connection as a tag team; both guys were actual wrestlers, both guys were great and were close to being the best with Gable an Olypian and Jordan a Collegiate start, and both lost their decisive matches and failed to capture the goal.

That's compelling because that's the story of 95% of the audience: the failure at the critical moment and the regression to just being a footnote and not history itself.

If WWE did stuff like that for Cesaro and showcased his ascent through the Indies, he's be a fucking superstar everyone would cheer for. If they did it for Roman Reigns who is related to a bunch of pro wrestlers and had the job lined up for him when he couldn't hack it as a football player and got into the company via Easy Street and his connections, he'd be the most hated guy in the company and for good reason.

Oh, but he already is the most hated guy in the company, but he's passed off as the top babyface. It's bass ackwards.

ToTheBank

Mar 31 2016, 11:14:44 PM

T-Unit

Mar 31 2016, 02:44:17 PM

Fromage

Mar 31 2016, 11:59:28 AM

ToTheBank

Mar 31 2016, 11:51:13 AM

Fromage

Mar 31 2016, 10:41:55 AM

Looks like Mick Foley and his family will get their own reality type show on the Network. Why? Because apparently people want to know what Mick Foley does on a regular basis.

I am not one of those ppl... Why not do an origins show to help get over some of their talent? Each week highlights a diff superstar. Imagine the help some ppl like Kalisto, Neville or Zayn could get. I think it would be fun seeing the mythos of a Wyatt family and League of Nations too

That's actually a great idea. A little mini-dcoumentary about a certain superstar, and how they ended up in the WWE. We don't see enough of these guys personalities, so it makes it difficult to connect with them. Remember back when Ryback cut that really good promo where he spoke from the heart? People were interested in that to see where it went because Ryback was showing personality.

NXT last week had a terrific video package about Jordan and Gable, showing their amateur wrestling roots. That was amazing and it weaves together their connection as a tag team; both guys were actual wrestlers, both guys were great and were close to being the best with Gable an Olypian and Jordan a Collegiate start, and both lost their decisive matches and failed to capture the goal.

That's compelling because that's the story of 95% of the audience: the failure at the critical moment and the regression to just being a footnote and not history itself.

If WWE did stuff like that for Cesaro and showcased his ascent through the Indies, he's be a fucking superstar everyone would cheer for. If they did it for Roman Reigns who is related to a bunch of pro wrestlers and had the job lined up for him when he couldn't hack it as a football player and got into the company via Easy Street and his connections, he'd be the most hated guy in the company and for good reason.

Oh, but he already is the most hated guy in the company, but he's passed off as the top babyface. It's bass ackwards.

Thanks for the positive feedback about the show idea guys

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Yesterday, we reported on how Chris Smith at Forbes had put together a list of WWE’s highest paid wrestlers. While lists of this kind have gone around for years, they’re usually of some nebulous origin or an incredibly unreliable source like CelebrityNetWorth. This is different, however: Not only is it from Forbes, the magazine of record for finance, but it’s also an actual Forbes staff writer as opposed to their larger contributor network. Nothing against them, but they weren’t hired with the financial angle in mind. Since it’s a Forbes article from a Forbes staffer, the list is being taken a lot more seriously than these things usually are.

In his article, Smith claims that “Over the last year we’ve pored over court documents, SEC filings and WWE’s booking contracts and spent hours speaking with industry sources, allowing us to construct the first ever FORBES list of WWE’s Highest-Paid Wrestlers.” Let’s take a look at the list again:

1. John Cena: 9.5 million

2. Brock Lesnar: 6.0 million

3. Triple H: 2.8 million

4. Randy Orton: 2.7 million

5. Seth Rollins: 2.4 million

6. Roman Reigns: 2.1 million

7. Undertaker: 2.0 million

8. Big Show: 1.5 million

9. Kane: 1.3 million

10. Dean Ambrose: 1.1 million

So, what do we know about the numbers on Smith’s list for Forbes?

The only one whose pay would come up in SEC filing is Triple H, since he’s an executive officer of WWE under his real name of Paul Levesque. This does appear to be correct: If you don’t include stock awards, and Smith didn’t, he made $2,812,629 in 2015. That’s broken down as $573,269 in salary for his executive role, $526,000 in incentive plan compensation, and $1,713,360 for his pay as talent, $1 million of which is his contracted downside guarantee. There’s a note that “Mr. Levesque has out-earned this minimum guarantee in each of the past several years.”

Randy Orton and John Cena both had divorces, though only Orton’s finances went public as a result. TMZ reported that at the time of the July 2013 divorce, Orton was making $291,666 a month, or just $8 short of $3.5 million in a year. It’s not clear if that was his total 2012 pay or what, as the belief is that WWE’s downside guarantees never top $1 million. Cena did have his annual earnings pegged as about $10 million by Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer in January, while Meltzer has also reported Brock Lesnar’s pay in the past because he gets a flat fee per appearance. In the past, Meltzer has said something to the effect of how these days, it’s understood that The Undertaker’s $1 million guarantee is considered his WrestleMania payoff. With additional appearances headlining SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell last year, $2 million sounds reasonable.

It gets hazier after that as you move further down the line.

In a deposition that I cited in my January article for SBNation about Big Show’s flirtation with boxing, Big Show said that when he returned to WWE in 2008, he asked for $1.25 million and a $250,000 signing bonus…but that was eight years ago and it’s not clear in the public filings if he even got what he wanted. A deposition with his wife, who apparently handles their finances, had her testifying that she didn’t think he made any bonuses on top of his base salary. That would be unusual for a full time WWE performer, but it could also have to do with confusion over the nature of WWE contracts. WWE pay works two ways: You can just take your per-event pay and royalties as they come, or you can take your downside guarantee as a salary and get a balloon payment at the end of the year for what goes over the guarantee. Since he has little merchandise, $1.5 million doesn’t sound outrageously low, though.

Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Kane, and Dean Ambrose all have little to no information out there about their pay. Kane recently put his home up on the market and it was huge, sprawling property with a house customized to his specific needs as a very tall man, but because he’s based in Knoxville, Tennessee, the price was dramatically less than you’d think, coming in under $1 million. The rest seem realistic enough.