This is often one of the first questions I’ve seen come up when googling a wrestler or promotion. Everyone wants to know who makes what for various reasons, whether it’s to gauge their own interest in trying their hand at it, or simply wanting to know for whatever reason. Mostly, it seems superstars like Hulk Hogan, the Rock, Sting, and Ric Flair (among many others) have skewered people’s ideas when it comes to smaller promotions and wrestlers, like Impact wrestlers.
Many of us expect them to be making millions hand over fist, and we’re shocked when we find out they had to drive eight hours to make $50.
For many, it comes down to the love of the sport. But we’re still curious what someone in sports and/or entertainment makes when we hear their names, so here’s a little look at reported salaries for Impact.
Keep in mind, these are reported averages for groups, and individually they could be far different. In the end, we’re dealing with estimates and not hard facts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSaCCAuUm_s
Not the WWE or AEW
First off, this isn’t the WWE or AEW. Impact is a smaller company that’s not run by a billionaire, so the pay scale for Impact wrestlers will be vastly different. Which brings us to one of the reasons this is a topic lately.
Killer Kross.
When Killer cross asked for his release from Impact, he said it was due to not making enough to live on. This is something that caught a lot of people off guard. As mentioned above, we have the expectation that every famous wrestlers is making oodles of money. In this case, it was announced that he was offered $45k as a raise, and that $45k was less than most standard NXT contracts. Remember the point about the difference in companies and owners?
The thing here is Kross was signed when he was relatively new, and this could be compared to a rookie’s contract in other sports. The exact details aren’t known because Impact wants their contracts to be between them and their talent, and they have every right to that. But considering how they’re so small, this isn’t really a surprise. In fact, it makes sense given what proven stars and top tier talent reportedly make in the company, meaning he wasn’t considered main roster talent at the beginning.
Top talent, top price
Back in November of 2019, James Strome gave an interview after his contract with Impact ended, and in that he stated he was paid $150k – $200k guaranteed deal.
According to sportnewswale.com, Impact’s wrestlers don’t make that much anymore. In fact, it’s believed that top talent like Sami Callihan, Moose, Ken Shamrock, and other top tier main eventers are paid roughly $100k while others on the main roster reportedly make between $50k and $80k annually.
As many of us know, a large portion of a wrestler’s pay also comes from their share of the revenue at shows. Sportnewswale.com listed these as known, so we’re continuing to go with their numbers barring other information that may make its way to us.
For shows, it’s reported that Impact pays local talent $200 for their part in squash matches, $500 for new contracted talent, and $750 for the top tier.
It’s important to note that Impact isn’t, and never really was at the same level as the WWE and AEW. They made some noise in the 2000s, but they simply don’t have the funding through various reasons to compete. This doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t grow again as they’ve been making additions to their roster and sport one of, if not the best women’s division in wrestling. One thing for sure is Impact wrestlers put on some great matches, so they should be good with a few moves here and there business-wise. Time will tell.
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