JBL revealed that while Vince McMahon had a supposed formula for wrestler payouts, it was based entirely on feel and personal judgment—but still praised him as the best pay guy in the business.
All wrestling promoters have a method for calculating how they make payments to their performers and staff members after big events. During a recent Q&A episode of the Something to Wrestle podcast, JBL explained how payments were at the start of his WWE career when he came in with a downside guarantee, and how they eventually worked out when he was WWE Champion for almost a year.
Bradshaw says that his contract during his best run would be about ten times the amount of his downside guarantee.
"My contract, you know, when I was had my best run, I probably made, I think nine to ten times what my downside was, because I never cared about the downside, because, you know, I just believe that you should eat what you kill. I always thought that if I do well, Vince is going to pay me. He was a r was a great pay guy. I wasn't worried about it."
When asked if Vince McMahon had a certain formula or methodology for deciding his payouts, JBL would say that he did and it was complete bullshit.
"Yes, of course he did. He had a full methodology and it was 100% bullshit. 29%, I remember the number, went to the building, employees, and talent. That number may have been legit. I'm not saying that number is not legit, but how that number got dispersed was absolutely bullshit. It was Vince. Vince would go through, and I've talked to guys who've done payroll, including [Gerry Brisco], and Vince would come through and go, 'Nope. Change this to that. Change this to this.' He wood base it on what he thought guys were drawing, what he thought they were worth, the ticket sales he thought they sold, and where they were on the card. It was all feel.. That was 100% feel. To my knowledge, not many would bitch about paydays. Vince was a great pay guy, the best I ever saw."
JBL recently commented on whether or not he would return to WWE full-time as a commentator. Read more here.
In Fightful's resources section, fans can find a breakdown of what various wrestlers have disclosed about their pay over the years.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a H/T and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
