10 Things We Learned From Bruce Prichard’s Creation Of WWE Raw Podcast

by Jamie Kennedy

1. Money For House Shows Was Better Than Raw

Jim Duggan Shawn Michaels
WWE.com

Any money the WWF did make for Monday Night Raw didn't dribble down to the talent. One shocking fact Prichard revealed is that most wrestlers earned a measly $25 per appearance on the show during the early episodes. To put this into perspective, some house show payoffs were up to $1,000.

This means that Raw didn't pay as well as live events did. According to Bruce, this was standard practice in the company back then. They offered a basic TV wage that wouldn't go up or down according to the house. That was remarkably different to non-televised events. There, wrestlers would get a cut of the gate depending on their spot on the card.

Raw worked differently, and that had to be a source of irritation for the roster. Not only did they now have a potential extra date on their weekly schedule, they weren't even getting paid much more to reflect it. No wonder some of the early matches featured minimal bumps, slow action and a lot of stalling.

What else did you learn from Prichard's podcast on the creation and early days of Raw? Let us know down in the comments section!

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Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.