Wrestler Contracts, Blading, ROH/Mainstream, Mark Henry
Written by Richard Gray on Apr 7, 2008 - 11:25:02 PM
Note from Richard: I apologize for this being so late as I am out of town and currently traveling. This is not a new installment of Ask WNW but is a special retro edition featuring questions from past installments of Ask WNW mixed into one edition. I will be back Wednesday with a new update of Ask WNW. Thanks for understanding!
When a wrestler signs a contract with a company, what's in the contract? Like do they get bonuses, sick days, and personal time off, also what's the starting salary?
Contracts include how much money a superstar will be paid while they are working with the company. The most important number in a wrestler’s contract is the downside guarantee. This is the money that they will make no matter what and is really the only financial stability that one has. A downside guarantee is much higher for a main event superstar than a mid-card worker; however, most contracted wrestlers have downside guarantees. The contracts also stipulate the bonuses, share of merchandise sales, no-compete clause, etc. There is no starting salary as wrestlers work as independent contractors as there is no union to justify a base salary system. Performers are paid on a basis of what they draw.
How does blading work?
I know I’ve answered this one before but I love talking about the secrets of wrestling! When a wrestler decides to blade they take a pair of scissors and cut a piece off of a razor blade. They take the very small sharp piece and hide it somewhere in their attire. With it being very small it is easy to hide it in tape and in some cases, wrestlers hide them in their mouths (don’t ask me how they don’t destroy their mouths; I guess they have them taped up). When it comes time for them to blade they make sure they are out of range of the camera and they try to stay out of plain view of the crowd. They remove the blade from its hiding place and they slice a gash in their forehead. Wrestlers have to be very careful not to go too deep and it is a general rule of thumb that you don’t let anyone else cut you. After a wrestler cuts they put the blade back in its hiding place and they go on to finish the match! I wanted to post one thing in regards to yesterday’s comment that I could not recall any times in which WWE used fake blood. I was not saying that they have never used fake blood, I was just saying at the time I answered the question I could not think of any specific incidents. I have been overwhelmed with emails giving specific examples and while I love hearing from all of you, I think it’s clear that the company has used fake blood a time or two so it’s safe to stop telling me about it!
First of all, I love the site --- My question regards Ring of Honor and the talent therein. I've ordered all the ROH PPV's, and have been impressed (as would any fan of high quality, high intensity matches) by the depth of their roster. Who do you think, if any, as the best shot of being the next CM Punk/ Samoa Joe --- transitioning from ROH to either TNA or WWE?
Thank you so much for your support of WNW! There are numerous names that I could list here. One of the obvious wrestlers that I feel would fare very well in either WWE or TNA would be ROH Champion Nigel McGuiness. Not only does he have the size needed to be a top star, but he is also very agile in the ring and is capable of working excellent matches with anyone. With that being said, there are a lot of guys (like Nigel and Bryan Danielson) that choose to work in Ring of Honor and on the independent wrestling circuit rather than sign developmental deals with WWE or go to TNA because they are able to earn more money. Sometimes the temptation of becoming a huge star outweighs this and you see talent such as Samoa Joe, CM Punk, AJ Styles, or most recently Matt Sydal decide to try their chances at making it in the mainstream. One of the reasons that ROH’s roster seems so deep has to do with the way that they build their talent. While most of ROH’s talent does not look like we’ve been trained to see professional wrestlers look, the way that they are billed by the company along with the fast paced matches makes everyone seem credible. Personally I am a huge ROH fan and spend many of nights watching one of their DVDs.
Is Mark Henry really the world's strongest man? What I mean is has Henry won some sort of strongman competition to officially earn the distinction?
Mark Henry won the Arnold Classic Strongman competition one year and that is why he is referred to as “The World’s Strongest Man.” I do not know if he is literarily the strongest person in the world, however, he is the strongest guy in professional wrestling. Henry has so much natural pure strength that it’s ridiculous.
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