10 Secrets Nobody Has Told You About WCW

6. The Truth About Lanny Poffo's WCW Contract

Stunning Steve Austin Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWE.com

One of the many, many stories of the daft amounts of money being thrown around in WCW during the second half of the '90s, is that Lanny Poffo was paid by WCW to sit at home for four years.

While this is strictly true, there's a little more to the tale than Lanny being a pointless financial outlay for WCW.

Speaking to Rene Dupree on his Cafe de Rene podcast - an interview which would prove to be Lanny's last ever - Poffo reiterated that, yes, he was paid by WCW for four years without ever working a single show for them, but that this was balanced out by what his brother Randy Savage brought to the table for the company.

Notably, the Macho Man brought a $750,000 agreement with Slim Jim with him to WCW, which more than offset the cost of having Lanny contracted to Ted Turner's promotion.

In addition to that, there were initial plans to do something with Lanny in WCW, with Savage having earmarked a rehash of the classic Gorgeous George gimmick for his younger sibling. As such, Poffo bleached his hair and hit the gym as he waited for the phone to ring.

The problem is, the phone never rang.

Elsewhere, Eric Bischoff has since noted on his 83 Weeks Podcast how, unbeknownst to Lanny, Randy also agreed to be paid less in order to accommodate the outlay of his brother's contract.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.