Ryback Contract Dispute [UPD: Ryback comments post #26]

[KesselBuiltMyHotrod]

Also props to Ryback for catching Kalisto on Raw because there a ton of guys who would have missed that and it could have ended really badly.

 

[The Lunatic Fridge]

Dumb *** as CM Punk puts him, needs to realize that at the end of the day, he's a dime a dozen guy. WWE doesn't care what he can say on the mic, they don't care if he has enstien IQ or the intelligence of a potato (which is mostly the latter) they only care because of the muscle and guess what? They have tons of guys with that who are just as bad or WAY better than you. Guys like KO and Bray are even considered "out of shape" and are worlds better than him in the ring and even in stamina.


He gets paid less because he sucks more.
Look at Ryder, tons and tons of talent, still get buried 99% of the time and doesn't say a word and goes on with what they pay him to do. If we're gonna use Ryback's logic then Zack Ryder should be getting paid upper mid-carder level money for all the talent he has, despite WWE having him job 99% of the time.

 

[Deen]

Dumb *** as CM Punk puts him, needs to realize that at the end of the day, he's a dime a dozen guy. WWE doesn't care what he can say on the mic, they don't care if he has enstien IQ or the intelligence of a potato (which is mostly the latter) they only care because of the muscle and guess what? They have tons of guys with that who are just as bad or WAY better than you. Guys like KO and Bray are even considered "out of shape" and are worlds better than him in the ring and even in stamina.


He gets paid less because he sucks more.
Look at Ryder, tons and tons of talent, still get buried 99% of the time and doesn't say a word and goes on with what they pay him to do. If we're gonna use Ryback's logic then Zack Ryder should be getting paid upper mid-carder level money for all the talent he has, despite WWE having him job 99% of the time.

Ryder blows. He looks nervous anytime he gets a moment to shine and his move set is garbage.

 

[ColePens]

I don't know if anyone listens to the Kevin "Taskmaster" Sullivan podcast, but he and his co-host Mister Saint Laurant floated the idea last week about giving a guy who's jobbing a bit of a pay bump for the hit he will inevitably take if he has merch.

Guys are starting to get annoyed and think outside the box because I'm betting the whole PPV on the network thing still hasn't been settled.

From a business standpoint, I fully support the idea. It makes sense. Realistically Roman Reigns is going to see a bump in merch because people gravitate to the main card regardless. It's not AJ Style's fault he has to do the job even though he deserves the belt. It's not Kevin Owen's fault he's in the midcard even though he should be a main eventer. It's not Rusev's fault he had to do the job and fall into midcard hell with Cena.

And while those guys still sell merch, they could sell even more if they were pushed to the moon. Bray Wyatt might be the #1 example of how Ryback/Sullivan have a very realistic and fair point.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Unionize. Honestly, it's a shame that everyone eventually gets fed up with the system - but never concurrently enough to do something about it. Imagine if CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, Alberto Del Rio, and Ryback all had their grievances at the same time. They'd carry a lot more weight than just leaving one-by-one.

 

[ColePens]

Unionize. Honestly, it's a shame that everyone eventually gets fed up with the system - but never concurrently enough to do something about it. Imagine if CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, Alberto Del Rio, and Ryback all had their grievances at the same time. They'd carry a lot more weight than just leaving one-by-one.

I can't put that ownership on them, though. We live in a world dedicated to that. We all deal with **** we hate and don't do anything. Luckily for me, I try to focus on companies w/ a good culture. What are wrestlers going to do? They have one big time company they can work for. That's it.

That's not putting down the indys or other companies, but WWE is it. Unfortunately.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Also props to Ryback for catching Kalisto on Raw because there a ton of guys who would have missed that and it could have ended really badly.

I can't give him props when he's blown that exact same spot and injured guys at least three times before.

 

[KesselBuiltMyHotrod]

Look at Ryder, tons and tons of talent, still get buried 99% of the time and doesn't say a word

Is there another jobber with the name Zack Ryder I don't know about?

 

[The Lunatic Fridge]

Is there another jobber with the name Zack Ryder I don't know about?

I'm talking about in the context of "boohoo my contract isn't should be worth the same as X superstar

 

[MAHJ71]

While I fully admit Ryback isn't the best overall wrestler - I do think he has a fair point.

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

Push or no push, are fans going to go and buy a ticket with Ryback in the main event and line up to buy his merchandise? Does anyone get excited about him being the Big Guy.

Frankly his yowling is the yowling of a frustrated guy that knows in the grand scheme of things that this is as high as he's going to get because he's a limited performer that does some things ok, but is nothing exceptional or non generic.

Yes he works hard putting people over, but so did guys like Iron Mike Sharpe and Goldie Rogers and Barry Horowitz.

The fact that a guy like Ryback who is really that midcard monster that you feed to the main event guys makes $655,000 a year then cries that he's not making Main Event money is ludicris.

He had a choice of staying with the WWE and watching actual elite level guys make more then him, or he can go somewhere else and make less and be a big fish in a small town.

But now that Ryback is gone, and here's the other thing, nobody in the WWE fanbase is going to miss him or wax poetically about him, or have debates about whether or not he was the best jobber in the history of the WWE.

His whining is equivalent to Erik Estrada whining about making less money then Tom Cruise. I mean he probably worked the same hours on the set and he certainly made his leading lady look spectacular.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

His merch is on clearance. So there's that.

 

[Voight]

Ehhhhhh, his point is not a bad one on paper but it's not the guy who does the job that sells merchandise and moves the needle.

Couldn't agree more. Plus guys like Cena, Punk and HHH are just more appealing than others, hence why they get paid more, hence why they are usually pushed as main eventers.

 

[KesselBuiltMyHotrod]

HHH is a perfect example of a guy people accept as a top guy because he's been shoved down their throats forever.

 

[The Lunatic Fridge]

HHH is a perfect example of a guy people accept as a top guy because he's been shoved down their throats forever.

Or it's because he can talk on the mic, he can go in the ring and he portrayed a fantastic heel that everyone hated properly.

and when it was time, he played the goofy face that all the kiddies ate up.

 

[KesselBuiltMyHotrod]

Not me.

 

[Chimaera]

He has a point. But the problem is, it's part the push, and it's part what you can do when you get it, or getting the fans behind your gimmick even without a push.

For what it's worth, I think some of the guys who are seeing some of the biggest pop are guys who were stuck with a crappy gimmick, but have made something out of it because they're talented. New Day is a pretty cruddy gimmick, but the three of them have sold, and sold, and it's showing true what their talent is and the fans are behind them. They're over. Massively.

I do think it's hard to polish up some crap you might get fed, but there's a list of guys who were able to take mediocre gimmicks and find something that works. There's also a list of guys who were jobbers who have improved and made a career out of it.

Sure, Ryback might need to get more exposure and a better chance to show what he can do. But I think it's hard for him to justify the larger increase when there are so many other wrestlers who can cut it who get even less of a chance than he does. There's only so much time to go around, and there's way too much talent (and even more so with NXT which is putting some guys over more than some of the main roster guys before they've even wrestled a WWE TV match) for a lot of them to really push for a change. It isn't like Ryback hasn't gotten any time or any matches to showcase himself. He's a decent wrestler who people like, but no one is buying a shirt or getting a video game with him on the cover just because it's him. There are others who are more talented and better at a variety of things who get a fraction of the time he gets as it stands now. there's a few others who can grow and do more in the future in NXT now. He's a nice player in a roster that can do somethings for you, but I don't think the roster is hurt at all if he's let go.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

A number of issues led to Ryback being sent home but they were said to be very far apart on money. Ryback wanted hotels paid for when traveling and wanted road expenses paid for. Ryback also wanted his contract to be guaranteed for the full term, that way if he was released for any reason, he'd still be paid in full for the length of the contract. While some WCW stars had similar deals years ago, that has never been an option in WWE.

-WON

lmao

 

[Account Terminated]

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[Behn Wilson]

I was always one to believe that hotel accommodation and travel expenses should be provided for, given they're going around the world 300 days out of the year. That adds up. The contract being guaranteed is something I wouldn't do as a businessman, but the WWE should at least be taking care of their employees while they're travelling.

Then again, I'm no billionaire and don't know squat about running a business.

The travel expenses not being paid for are likely built into the pay rate for the wrestlers. I don't blame the WWE for not covering those, these knuckleheads like Flair would be turning in ridiculous expense reports. A one billion dollar bar tab, WTF???

 

[Account Terminated]

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[Kimi]

The WWE does pay some travel expenses, notably the flights for all the wrestlers. They're left to rent their own cars or whatever between shows on the weekly tours, but those are always designed to be close together anyway. I think they have the travel for overseas tours handled by the WWE too.


I'm not for the WWE providing travel, accommodation, or whatever. Whenever I've had to travel a bunch, I've always wanted to do my own arrangements as I know what I want. I find it are more tolerable that way. And a bunch of guys already travel together. They all have groups that book hotels together for the discount rates, they all share cars for travel. It's a system that works fine how it is.

And it's not like the wrestlers would get any of that for free if the WWE started to pay for it. They'd just have their pay reduced by what ever it costs. It's the same argument for insurance. Anything the WWE "should be paying for" they already do. They just overpay the wrestlers and let them handle it.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

-WON

lmao

i think he's just trolling in the sense he will ask for the moon and be fine when they say no, and if wwe were stupid enough to give him that then he'd be an idiot to say no.

they had a chance to make him a few times and didn't do it, but you cant have a guy like that doing long matches where he sells alot to smaller guys, its illogical

 

[DoyleG]

I was always one to believe that hotel accommodation and travel expenses should be provided for, given they're going around the world 300 days out of the year. That adds up. The contract being guaranteed is something I wouldn't do as a businessman, but the WWE should at least be taking care of their employees while they're travelling.

Then again, I'm no billionaire and don't know squat about running a business.

They can generally get that written off as a business expense.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

I think they can hammer out details like, "within reason". If they want to hit up a bar or eat at a five star restaurant and have a $200 steak, that comes out of their own paycheck. I meant more-so the hotel rooms, flight planning (fly coach by us, or first class on your own dollar), and car rentals in each city. Food comes out of your own wallet, so you choose whether you want a $200 steak every other night or to pinch every penny and eat at McDonald's.

It is pretty easy, you write a policy within the standard contracts. You include per-diems in that policy: X$ for flights, X$ for meals, X$ for...

The company gives you that money for each trip your are asked to do and if you go over, that's on you. If you go under, the money is yours.

My guess is that it is already calculated in their pay.