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10 Surprising Revelations From The 1991 Summerslam Payroll Sheet

Thought this was interesting and would spark some convo on the blog. The Summerslam 91 paysheet was released due to Warrior's lawsuit regarding the dvd WWE produced about him. 

As soon as I heard about this one I thought "Ah, Mookieghana must have done it", but it's someone else working off of a document provided by him.  Still, WOW.  I'm such a nerd for this sort of thing and it's awesome to be able to get some hard numbers even if it's decades out of date.  Great stuff.  

Comments

  1. Lots of the maths in the article is off. He keeps adding thousands and hundreds together and coming up with an answer that is thousands + thousands.
    8000 + 200 should be 8200 not 10000, mistakes like this are throughout the article.

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  2. A draw is an advance. So is Moondog Spot makes 1000 for am MSG show, and he takes a 200 draw, His paycheck will be 800.

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  3. Which means the maths make even less sense.

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  4. It's like an advance on the wrestlers pay for the night. Like they'll take $500 out for the night and it will be deducted from their eventual pay for working the show.

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  5. I laughed at:
    *MARRIAGE*
    Savage VS Elizabeth

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  6. That's a question the author of this article probably should've asked also.

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  7. It was a match made in Heaven...


    Old Testament Heaven!

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  8. Truer words have never been spoken.

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  9. Maybe Heenan was right when he kept referring to it as the Match made in hell. :)

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  10. I assumed it had something to do with their ability to draw people. Basically, put asses in seats. But that doesn't all line up with what some guys made.

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  11. I don't see why he was so surprised Hebner made more. He was the head referee, almost always the ref in the biggest drawing matches and main events, and arguably a draw himself. I know I would be disappointed if 'ol Earl wasn't reffing the main event.

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  12. He needed the extra money to cover his plastic surgery.

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  13. No wonder why Iron Sheik hates those no good jaborinis Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan. They made TRIPLE his payout!



    FACKING BULLSHIT!!!!

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  14. That was bugging me throughout the article. He seems to randomly add an extra zero to the draw from time to time.

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  15. An advance on your pay

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  16. Partly on topic, but to me, the main reason why Bret's book > Foley's books is that Bret always gave exact payout details. Foley never did, so when he mentioned an embarrassingly low payday, or higher than usual, there was no way to even ballpark it. For example, he said late in his career, he flew to Japan for one date, which was one of the most impressive payouts he ever got... So... $10K? $100k? 1 million? No idea.

    While Bret said that the $2000 WM 2 payday was a slap in the face, or he got $500k for WM 9. Made for a much better read.

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  17. Cool read. Thanks for posting.

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  18. And Elizabeth made twice as much as Sheiky for basically standing in the middle of the ring.

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  19. "Randy Savage, i find out you die. i cry. you are one of best and my brother. you be happy with the elizabeth. god bless you"
    https://twitter.com/the_ironsheik/status/71731406530805761

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  20. "The Elizabeth"

    I know I'm horrible, but I read it 5 times, and chuckled all 5 times.

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  21. I thought the most interesting part was that the company spent over 30 grand paying all the guys who were brought to MSG for the show but didn't appear on the show (although when Boss Man and the cops drag the Mountie through the backstage area, they pass by an open door where some wrestlers are and I'm pretty sure one of them is Shawn Michaels).

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  22. Yeah but I would argue she drew a lot more byes than Sheiky Baby did for this one.

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  23. annnd now you know why guys like JTG and Yoshi Tasu will never quit.

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  24. Stranger in the AlpsMarch 28, 2014 at 10:35 AM

    This was interesting. With inflation, I wonder how much this comes out to? How much did six pounds of cocaine cost back then?

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  25. $1,000 in 1991 is about $1,685 today. Figure everything you see is about 70% more.

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  26. Foley also played Mr naive about the drug culture--"I never seen it but idk what they do" bullshit. Pain pills and somas were passed around like hotcakes in the lockerooms of the 90s and so many are dead from it. Not to mention the bloated juiced up bodies that returned to form from 97-2005. Bret was atleast much more honest and didn't devote chapters to amusement parks or tori Amos stalking lol.

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  27. I always felt the IRS character and matches were sooooooo dull

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  28. This was the biggest weakness, in my view, of Foley's last book. The entire book was building up to the falling out between Foley and McMahon, which was based on the night that McMahon was screaming at him over the headset. Yet Foley, for whatever reason, decided to create a fantasy situation to tell that story -- and it completely took me out of the moment. Because Foley wasn't actually telling us what was said, I couldn't entirely wrap my head around his decision to leave and go to TNA. It was a huge part of the story and it completely fell flat with me.

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  29. Same here. Instant channel changer.

    Like he didn't seem quite good enough to beat anyone cleanly... But he was just good enough to make the match drag quite a while with a ton of rest holds. Worst of both worlds!

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  30. That's not entirely true - $10k of that was for Jake & Undertaker, who did appear and worked a huge angle.

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  31. Yes, the author implied that was added to their total. Like IRS made $5000. Not $5100...the $100 was just an advance.

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  32. For me it was the fact that he wrestled in a dress shirt and tie. Mr. Hughes I could buy, because he was a giant dude even in the shirt and tie. IRS basically looked like a middle management guy, so I never bought him as legit in a fight. Why he didn't just do the Ted DiBiase thing and come to the ring in that outfit and then take it off for tights underneath (which he did as Michael Wallstreet in WCW right before coming over as IRS) is beyond me.

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  33. So that means the higher the draw the worse the coke habit was?

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  34. They had the captions ready for the legal pleadings in the divorce all ready.

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  35. According the article, the wedding reception angle was taped several days after the show. Jake and Undertaker apparently were there, though, since they did get paid.

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  36. Yeah, Hardcore Diaries was a huge disappointment after his first two books. First, his idea that they should do a Texas Deathmatch with Terry Funk at Wrestlemania makes him sound like a huge mark for himself who's stuck in the past. And his drool over Melina, and insistence that she was just like a sister, was kind of gross.

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  37. Yep, I enjoyed that book overall, but I feel like 2 more fitting names for the book would have been:



    -The Name Dropping Diaries
    -The FriendZoned Diaries

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  38. Mister_E_Studd_Got100ProblemsMarch 28, 2014 at 11:18 AM

    The math in this article is atrocious. Once you correct all of the errors though, it's an interesting window into the workings of the day.

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  39. Well, I do believe that Foley wasn't in that culture and just stayed away from it so he wouldn't know much about it. Also I can see him not wanting to burn bridges. Foleys later books would go off on wierd tangents, yeah (I still say his first book is perfect) but even if I wasn't happy about a story or a running joke, it still felt like it was really Foley taking. Sharing what he wanted to share.

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  40. Do you think Melina would have thrown Foley a pity fuck if he asked? I think she would have. I also think for all his talk in Diaries, Foley would never cheat on his wife.

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  41. If I may say it, I've been liking this WhatCulture site in general...

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  42. Is she related to The Tazz?

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  43. And for his collection of SCREWdrivers.

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  44. I guess they had Scott Steiner doing the math for them.

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  45. Insan how they took legit bad motherfucker Mike Rotunda and made him that. The Varsity Club were fucking scary.

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  46. HOW much money, brother???????

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  47. This gives me a good excuse to watch SummerSlam 91 again to see if this time, Sid power bombs Hogan.

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  48. There's only so many times you can talk about a woman being sexy and beautiful and add "but I love her like a little sister" before you sound like you want to fuck your sister.

    His cheerleading of her is even more ridiculous in hindsight considering what we know about her backstage behavior and that she essentially got released for being a pain in the ass.

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