A lot of talent unhappiness over money. That’s always a concern, but there’s a realization that nothing is going to be done or changed as the complaints are that guys in the same positions are making less money on the same houses, for reasons explained here weeks ago. The company announced a fining system in recent weeks which didn’t help. They are back on the dress code kick, in the sense that if you were in public anywhere you are seen by fans, you have to dress in a professional manner. A failure to do so will result in a fine. It was also said that as far as arrival times at all arenas, if you are even one minute late arriving, a fine will be implemented. Then, this past week, the quarterly royalty checks were sent out. If you recall from the last quarter, the usual video game royalty check in the first quarter, the big one, has historically been around $70,000 if you are a star and in the game. Obviously if it’s a bigger star, it’s bigger, but that figure would be for people who would be considered major stars. Well, people at that level for the most part got around $11,700 for the first quarter of this year. Mick Foley went on a public rant about it. Lots of talents were privately very unhappy. One person who alerted us said that it was the nature of the sending of revenues from 2K Sports and the timing is different but some of it would be made up for during the next quarter. Well, the second quarter royalty checks came in and the number that most of the top level guys got was $1,555. I will say this much, there were guys in WWE who talked with UFC guys in Las Vegas and the subject came up. It was a pretty big deal this weekend. The WWE guys didn’t feel so bad because almost none of the UFC guys get anything from the video game. I believe if you are on the cover or are used in the video game ad itself you make something, but just being in the game you don’t. Don Frye refused to allow his likeness in the game the first year and I guess they felt it important enough that he got paid, but nowhere near what WWE people got. But that’s probably the reason he’s not in the new game.
The big thing is that WrestleMania payoffs should be mailed out this week. Nobody has been told anything, but if the talent is getting paid only on the PPV revenue, that will be down significantly from last year and bonuses will be declining monthly from the other shows. But if they pay a percentage of the network revenue to talent, the gap may close for Mania and be the same or more for the rest of the shows.
The feeling is no talent is going to do anything, because they all recognize there is nowhere else any of them can go and make even close to what they are making. But money concerns are not only the biggest issue from a management standpoint, now it’s also the most concerning issue among the wrestlers.
