10 Most INSANE Promises Wrestling Promoters Made To Wrestlers
5. OK, WCW Will Sign Your Brother (Then Never Use Him)!
Lanny Poffo was supposed to have a literally gorgeous gig as the new Gorgeous George.
His brother Randy Savage bought the rights to that gimmick during his WCW run. When he signed on the dotted line with the group in 1994, 'Macho Man' made sure part of the deal was that Lanny would get a contract too. Eric Bischoff went along with that, then...paid Lanny for 4 years to sit at home waiting for a phone call that'd never come.
Yes, really. Lanny had even bleached his hair and made sure he was ready to become the 'new and improved' George on episodes of Nitro, Thunder and Saturday Night, but he wound up watching everything from his couch instead. That's if Poffo even bothered to tune into WCW TV after a while. Probably not.
Nobody from upper management ever phoned him to talk about what he could be doing in front of the cameras. So, Lanny was on the books for 4 years without being booked to appear even once. It's hard to imagine that Randy never brought him up behind the curtain here or there, so WCW execs surely knew Poffo was still technically under the company umbrella.
There was just zero zest to utilise him. Reportedly, Lanny earned (ahem) somewhere in the region of $100,000 per year from the organisation without ever lacing up a pair of boots or cutting a promo. Hell, even booking him on house shows would've given WCW some value for his contract.
Instead, by choice, they received none. Approx 400 grand for sod all. Good work if you can get it.