So Facebook let me back on, and I can go back to trolling Chris Benoit fans. I’ll teach him to be a dick to Miz. You notice that Alex Riley, Sandow and Morrison were all fired, and they’re keeping Big Show off TV? It’s a conspiracy against the Awesome One. Infact I bet Cody was fired just to intimidate Truth into not speaking out for Miz.
Okay enough nuttery.
I think WWE “independent contractors” are going to be getting their traveling costs paid for, and more of a guarantee in those downside guarantees. It’s not legal to have no compete clauses, and forced merchandise signings if you’re hiring an independent contractor. I can’t believe Vince has got away with this for as long as he has. He’s been treating his talent like disposable serfs since the 80’s, and this was illegal back then.
Before all you armchair contract attorneys yell at me, remember that this isn’t 1899, and contracts are often far from being ironclad. If you sign a contract allowing JBL to shower with you, you don’t have to do that with him. It doesn’t matter what you signed. The same is true in WWE.
You can’t offer a guy $1,500 a year plus 30% of his merchandise sales and then tell him, “You can’t work anywhere else, and you have to account for all your time.”, no that’s illegal. If WWE wants talent to account for time then WWE needs to pay for that. Talent shouldn’t even need to ask for paid travel.
You know why there’s no wrestler union? Because wrestlers are either punch drunk morons, or arrogant teenagers. They believe in “paying dues”, for what? If you make money, you should be first, not fucking Jimmy Valiant. This is showbiz. Everyone knows that except for the wrestlers, bookers, and promoters.
You know who made guys “pay dues”, Verne Gagne, Bill Watts, and Fritz von Erich. Their system worked great until Vince McMahon said, “I don’t give a shit if Hogan can’t wrestle, put the belt on him.”, and WWE has been murdering feds since. I bring this up because most talent is stuck in the 70’s while WWE is still in full cutthroat mode.
Talent deserves more, and they deserve a union, but it’s hard to convince someone like Balls Mahoney that he needs to think about his retirement. I’m sure now he thinks about it. I don’t think the union regulations would hurt the business because these feds make no money anyway, and it’s not like we need all these shitty weekend wrestlers. Well Damien Wayne thinks we do, but he also thinks Jimmy Valiant draws money.
I couldn’t convince Damien Wayne (the wrestler, not Batman’s awesome son) that he deserved Valiant’s pay. Wayne has the look, and does fine in the ring. He’s enough of a draw in local areas, but he’s brainwashed into respecting old men that had their chance, and need to retire. He even gave me that old chestnut, “if you haven’t been in that ring, you don’t know…”, I get that alot from wrestlers.
Pretty much the only thing keeping WWE from outright murdering talent is the rule of law because wrestlers are too honorable (too stupid) to protect themselves.
