10 Mind-Blowing Wrestler Salaries WWE Couldn't Afford

6. Bret Hart - Salary Expectations $1.5 Million And Creative Control

Vince McMahon infamously couldn't afford to pay Bret Hart his $1.5 million WWF contract in 1997. The WWF boss had also grown frustrated at the creative control element in Hart's contract, which would later play a part in The Hitman's insistence in not losing in Canada. On September 22nd 1997, McMahon outright told Hart that he couldn't afford to pay the deal. He actually encouraged him to contact WCW and see what he could get. The rest is history. Hart got a $3 million a year deal out of WCW, which the WWF definitely couldn't afford to match. The mutually agreed exit was all set, but then there was the issue of Hart being WWF Champion. You know how that story ends!