10 Most INSANE Promises Wrestling Promoters Made To Wrestlers
2. No Other Wrestler Can Be Paid Higher Than Warrior
A letter penned by Vince McMahon to The Ultimate Warrior on 13 July 1991 has been posted on Reddit, and it's absolutely astonishing to pore over. Warrior was in the midst of a petted lip period where he wanted to be paid the same rates as Hulk Hogan. He felt so strongly about it that he was willing to no-show SummerSlam if things came to that.
Clearly, McMahon was eager to avoid that nasty business. He wanted Warrior to team with Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter. General Adnan and Col. Mustafa as the pay-per-view's headliner, and the boss was determined to get that inside the ring then go from there. So, in his letter, he referred to Warrior as "my friend" and as "a member of the WWF family".
They wheel out that "family" stuff whenever it suits, don't they? It can be a bit sickening.
Other terms disclosed in McMahon's text included a bumper $550,000 payoff for WrestleMania VII, 5% of the net revenue for house shows, and assurances that no other WWF contracted performer could be paid more. There was a splash of 'favoured nations' about that before 'favoured nations' was ever really a thing in wrestling.
Other add-ons? Warrior's merchandise royalty rate skyrocketed, and his 900 number was put on par with Hogan's bespoke phone line. It was the idea that nobody, including Hulk, could be pair more than 'The Ultimate One' that rocked some folks behind the scenes at the federation though.
After all, Warrior's WWF Title reign in 1990-1991 had been a commercial flop compared to the glory of 'Hulkamania', so it didn't make a lick of sense to give him financial parity.