Vince McMahon Paid HALF A MILLION DOLLARS For A WWE House Show Match (WWE News)
Madison Square Garden got a half hour WWE main event, curfew or no curfew.
Current TNA star Nic Nemeth, who worked extensively for WWE as Dolph Ziggler, told a fascinating story about Vince McMahon during an appearance on the El Paso, Texas based KVIA TV.
According to Nic, former WWE boss Vince McMahon once stumped up $500,000 of cold, hard cash just so he and John Cena could give fans packed inside Madison Square Garden a proper main event. Nemeth (as Ziggler) and Cena were in line to work a steel cage bout on the house show card, but time was running short. Backstage, it seemed like they'd only have around 8 minutes to work with, and that included their entrances.
WWE bosses were mindful of an age old MSG curfew that was in place. If they went over it, then the company would be fined half a million dollars immediately. Cena wasn't thrilled about the prospect of shortchanging fans with a rapid headliner, so he advised they go and talk to Vince.
McMahon reportedly didn't hesitate - he said that Dolph and Cena should go out there and 'give people their money's worth'. So, the cage match wound up going approx half an hour, and WWE was promptly fined the 500k. Meanwhile, Nic says he "busted up [his] front teeth" during the bout.
Both he and Cena were supercharged by Vince's decision, so they went hell for leather in front of an impassioned live crowd who didn't even know how much the match cost to get in the ring. McMahon likely knew the importance of the Garden market, but still...paying half a million for one house show bout is certainly something.