Fuck TNA.Power Slam Magazine in the UK is reporting some very interesting salary figures for the TNA Knockouts.
According to their sources, Christy Hemme and Mickie James are the only ones under guaranteed contracts. Not only that, but get ready for this: both Hemme and James are making over $100,000 yearly.
There was no information on what exactly James' figures are, but Hemme recently signed a 3-year deal with TNA that will pay her an unbelievable $175,000 a year. This is surreal considering the most she does these days is ring announce. It's believed that Eric Bischoff helped her get the deal, as Bischoff is a big fan of Hemme's.
Hemme's reported salary has drawn criticism from colleagues as they feel it's exorbitant for a non-wrestling female personality. The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer could not confirm the exact figures, but did say that her deal definitely made her the highest-paid female in the company's 9-year history, even moreso than James, who actually wrestles. It's believed James makes somewhere around $125-$150,000 a year.
The salary for every other TNA Knockout is a stark contrast to the bank Hemme and James are making. None of the other women are under guaranteed deals and only get paid when they work. Velvet Sky is making the most of all the other Knockouts, and she's only getting paid $600 per appearance. Most of the women are only making $300 per appearance, barely more than the referees, who make $250 an appearance.
TNA recently honored Sky's request to bump her fee up from $300 to $600, but she seems to be an exception to the rule. Gail Kim, Shelly Martinez, and Awesome Kong all left the company because TNA refused to pay them more than $300 an appearance.
What makes the low pay for the Knockouts even more damning is that TNA only covers plane tickets. The talent have to pay for their own transportation, lodging, wardrobe, and medical expenses.
Former TNA Knockout Taylor Wilde told a famous story a few years ago where she had to still work a normal day-job because her TNA money was so little despite her being the Knockouts Champion. A fan walked into the Pacific Sunwear where she worked and recognized her. The customer/fan asked her, "Aren't you the TNA Knockouts Champion? What are you doing working here?" Wilde immediately quit the job out of shame. Wilde was released from TNA in December 2010 and retired from wrestling shortly after to return to college.
Daffney is also in the middle of suing the company because they wouldn't cover her medical expenses after she was severely injured by a very green wrestler from Team 3D's wrestling camp in Florida.
TNA wrestler Jesse Neal also recently revealed on Twitter that he and his fiancee are on food stamps because his TNA pay is so little, it doesn't help him with monthly expenses.
Meanwhile, TNA is paying their ring announcer $175,000 a year.
The first Ladder Match DVD set has this, and I love how the crowd is dead at the beginning but slowly gets louder and louder as it goes on.BillRiccio said:the hardy's vs edge and christian ladder match from no mercy 99 is starting on the nostalgia stream
Sunflower said:Can we start combing Youtube and try the most incoherent Flair promo of all time? Is there one that is the gold standard of insanity, or is it a hard fought battle?
Kccitystar said:
You should be celebrating! The only good person in that Wall of Shame that is awesome is me. I don't deserve to be in that damn Wall!EraldoCoil said:new Z! True Long Island Story is up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2o2Z1pVA3o&feature=feedu
love Ryder.....haha.
Edit: the only reason im not on the wall of shame is becuase of my 1 week FE......angry.
Kccitystar said:
PWInsider.com said:WWE MONEY IN THE BANK BUYRATE UP BIGTIME THANKS TO CM PUNK VS. JOHN CENA
by Mike Johnson @ 6:25 PM on 8/25/2011
The 2011 WWE Money in the Bank PPV garnered over 265,000 worldwide buys, according to WWE's latest performance indicators released to stockholders.
This buyrate would be up over 100,000 buys from the debut Money in the Bank PPV, which drew 165,00 buys worldwide.
That pretty much tells the tale that the CM Punk angle leading into the PPV and his challenge of John Cena certainly turned heads and made people part with their money.
AnEternalEnigma said:Fuck TNA.
What. the. fuck.Most of the women are only making $300 per appearance, barely more than the referees, who make $250 an appearance.
Double What. the. fuck.TNA wrestler Jesse Neal also recently revealed on Twitter that he and his fiancee are on food stamps because his TNA pay is so little, it doesn't help him with monthly expenses.
Kccitystar said:
And now that he's being phased out of the Title race, let's see how the PPV buys do.rvd2kewl said:Money in the Bank Buyrate:
NoRéN said:And now that he's being phased out of the Title race, let's see how the PPV buys do.
D. Brine = $$$rvd2kewl said:Money in the Bank Buyrate:
Damn! Might as well try to get a job at ROH. Bet they pay way better than TNA.Plywood said:What. the. fuck.
Double What. the. fuck.
Buckethead said:Hemme is a good ring announcer but good God that is a ridiculous amount of money.
She is one deliciously good looking woman but her making around 3k a week while most of the female wrestlers make $300 per appearance is ridiculous.Buckethead said:Hemme is a good ring announcer but good God that is a ridiculous amount of money.
Same. MitB was the first PPV I bought in years. I had a strong feeling ADR would cash in and win at SS so i didn't buy. Cena v. Mexican JBL? No thanks. I'm good.Liquidsnake said:I didn't even buy SS because I knew CM was going to lose, so they lost my money.
rvd2kewl said:Money in the Bank Buyrate:
Yeah. :/ If I just put it in full screen and wait for a few minutes, the quality gets a little better though.Seraphis Cain said:Trying to watch Superstars on WWE.com, and holy hell the video quality is ATROCIOUS. Fix that shit, WWE.
Better than Borash.Net_Wrecker said:*screams*
RIC FLAIR-AH
ROB VAN DAM-AH
AJ STYLES-AH
MADISON RAYNE-AH
etc.etc.etc.
Yeah, good ring announcer. 125K good.
rvd2kewl said:Money in the Bank Buyrate:
Guzim said:http://i.imgur.com/fcPzt.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]
Look at that skinny fat ass' gut spilling over his trunks.
Disgusting.
Hey Punk, go hit the weights.
Is there a ratings breakdown of this week's Raw?DMczaf said:CM Punk is bringing ratings during his segments and PPV buys.
That sound you hear is Triple H's teeth grinding.
Yeah here.Guzim said:Is there a ratings breakdown of this week's Raw?
Guzim said:Is there a ratings breakdown of this week's Raw?
.Raw on 8/22 did a 2.97 rating and 4.64 million viewers, the second lowest non-holiday mark of the year.
The number was down because the New York Giants vs. Chicago Bears preseason game on ESPN did a 4.45 rating and 5.85 million viewers. That number doesnt include over-the-air viewership of the game in both the New York and Chicago markets, which would increase that number significantly. Raw was No. 4 for the night on cable. Another example of why it was down being football is that the female viewers were strong, but male viewers were the lowest of any Raw except the 7/4 show this year with a 64-36% skew, which doesnt bode well for male viewership when the regular season begins and football attracts double that audience.
In the segment-by-segment, the opening segment with Alberto Del Rio, John Cena, C.M. Punk and HHH did a 3.29 first quarter. A disaster is that Del Rio vs. John Morrison lost 777,000 viewers. Nikki Bella vs. Eve Torres stayed even. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley lost 105,000 viewers and did a 2.72 quarter, one of the lowest of the year not including the 7/4 show. The in-ring with HHH, Kevin Nash and C.M. Punk gained 597,000 viewers, which is slightly better than average for the slot. But the tag title win by Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne over David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty lost 494,000 viewers. The Miz & R-Truth promo gained 148,000 viewers. Cena vs. Punk was a big success, gaining 1,186,000 viewers to a 3.65 overrun. Essentially what has happened is theyve buried the mid-card, and the fans see Del Rio and Morrison as mid-card, so youve got Cena, Punk, HHH and Nash (and as far as Nash goes, given hes been in with the big guns in every segment, there is no evidence he is or isnt a big gun) are all the swing viewers care about right now.
Bellator on 8/20 did an 0.2 rating and 226,000 viewers for the live airing and an 0.1 and 114,000 viewers for the replay. It was the fifth highest rated of the 14 Bellator events that have aired on MTV 2.
Smackdown on 8/19 did a 1.86 rating and 2.92 million viewers, ranking it fourth for the night on cable. That didnt stop them on Did You Know for claiming they were No. 1 on cable for the second straight week.
MMA Live on 8/19 did an 0.18 rating on ESPN 2 at 11:45 p.m., coming right after live boxing that did a 0.31.
Impact on 8/18 did a 1.05 rating and 1.46 million viewers, placing 16th for the night. The show did a 0.60 in Males 18-34 and 1.04 in Males 35-49. In the segment-by-segment, Devon vs. Scott Steiner and the X Division gauntlet intros gained 56,000 viewers. The X Division Gauntlet match itself lost 83,000 viewers. Traci Brooks cleavage in Eric Bischoffs office lost 195,000 viewers. ODBs cleavage vs. Mickie James gained 334,000 viewers, one of the biggest gains for TNA of the year, and a 1.18 quarter. Once again, that kills the Jersey Shore theory given that the most growth of any segment and highest rated segment of the show went against Jersey Shore. RVD vs. A.J. Styles lost 236,000 viewers. Crimson and Kurt Angle going nose-to-nose lost 42,000 viewers. And the Mexican America title win over Beer Money lost 14,000 viewers and did a 0.97 rating.
CMT aired two pro wrestling related shows on 8/17. The movie To The Mat, about a small Southern wrestling troupe starring Ricky Schroder did a 0.29 rating and 327,000 viewers. It was followed by the TV show Made, featuring Matt Morgan teaching someone to be a pro wrestler, which did a 0.07 rating and 83,000 viewers.
I really like Borash as an interviewer and announcer.Buckethead said:Better than Borash.
Professor Beef said:The first Ladder Match DVD set has this, and I love how the crowd is dead at the beginning but slowly gets louder and louder as it goes on.
upJTboogie said:Yeah here.
Thanks!RBH said:
There's more:El Pescado said:Steve Austin and Zack Ryder have the best Twitter relationship. XD
@steveaustinBSR said:@ZackRyder why HELL NO you can't put a lime in the damn beer!!!
@CMPunk said:To make it not taste like piss. It's still poison.
@steveaustinBSR said:@CMPunk you oughta mind your own business...stay focused on Nash and leave the beer drinking to me...Punk.
@CMPunk said:@steveaustinBSR focus is my middle name...Steven.
@IAMJericho said:It's so cute reading @CMPunk and @steveaustinBSR 's lil cyber bitch-fights...
@CMPunk said:Yeah. Way more entertaining than you and Miz.
djsandman said:The TNA taping in Huntsville tonight starts in about an hour, hopefully we should get results quickly since they can't kick people out of a ticketed arena like they can from the Impact Zone. Right?
There was lots of frustration within TNA going into tonight's Impact Wrestling tapings from Huntsville, Alabama. At last word a few days ago, there were only 800 tickets sold. According to F4WOnline.com, company officials were only expecting around 2,000 fans in an arena that is set up for 10,000 or 12,000.
It's said that people in TNA are concerned about how Spike TV officials will react since Spike is covering some of the expenses of taking Impact Wrestling on the road.
bean breath said:Look at that skinny fat ass' gut spilling over his trunks.
Disgusting.
Hey Punk, go hit the weights.
Not a bad turnout for TNA.djsandman said:![]()
TNA is using the BFG road set again for the Huntsville tapings.
bean breath said:There's more:
Apologies to JDFox187.
Joey Styles on Twitter said:@CMPunk and @SteveAustinBSR, can we move this twitter war to a slightly larger stage? Perhaps WrestleMania?
cjelly said:Not a bad turnout for TNA.
I'm imagining Austin spraying Punk with beer from a fire hose in the build up to the match.Ondore said:I like Joey Styles's reply:
funkystudent said:YAY that Punk = ratings and PPV buys.
also Fuck TNA and there bullshit.
Hope after Hogan and Bishoff's contracts end that they could toss there talent a extra few hundred per appearance.
I feel bad that I can earn more then a TNA wrestler working in my local bar.
you just know Sting and Flair are on 500k + a year or something stupid.
They really need to rethink there WCW 2.0 strategy because they are currently on the road to being shut down with in 2 years.
And then Austin comes out drinking a can of his brand new, very own brand of beer which is only sold at that show and sells out in minutes. Later that night, single cans of the beer are seen on eBay selling for hundreds.bean breath said:I'm imagining Austin spraying Punk with beer from a fire hose in the build up to the match.
*fantasy booking
*Then Punk cuts a promo the next week about how he's barring alcohol sales from all WWE live events.
Then Punk aligns himself with Linda McMahon and her campaign to bring back prohibition. The angle ends with both being stunnered on the steps on congress.NoRéN said:And then Austin comes out drinking a can of his brand new, very own brand of beer which is only sold at that show and sells out in minutes. Later that night, single cans of the beer are seen on eBay selling for hundreds.
A few days later, the beer is available on wwe.com for retail.