The Sean Davis Project has announced the signing of Vader’s son, Jesse White. He was the number one center in the USA when he finished high school but developed injury problems that ended his football career at the University of Oklahoma. He then dropped down to 230-240 pounds from near 300 as a lineman in order to begin a wrestling career. He has only been wrestling for a few months but was expected to wind up in WWE developmental given the Oklahoma connection to Jim Ross, who he has known for several years. Mister Saint Laurent, who closed the deal, said that White was the type of young star they could build the new project around.
Vader has already signed with the group, while Booker T, El Hijo De Rey Misterio, Sonjay Dutt, Paul London, Rocky Romero and Konnan are all also linked with it. Most of the contracts are thought to begin in October/November, with the idea being to start the promotion in early 2011. It is believed that there are 30-40 guys under contract, with many from ROH and many more from that promotion to come when their existing contracts expire. ROH cannot match the medical benefits and 401K plan written into these new contracts, which are thought to be in the $30-50,000 per year range. The bigger names like Booker T are thought to be more in the $100,000+ range. The top people running the company are rumoured to be making about $2,000 per week, which means the salaries are going to be substantial long before any revenue is generated. There is no TV deal in place yet and even buying a slot on a network like Fox Sports Net is unlikely to lead to any great drawing power.
Nonetheless, there are many in TNA who are considering joining the Sean Davis group instead due to the better guaranteed money and benefits package. Given the lack of TV deal and that there will not be any planned shows for several months, much of this talk may be attributed to poor backstage morale in TNA.
Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 2 August 2010 (subscribe here)
