10 Times Vince McMahon Screwed His Own Talent
4. Mad As Hell And Not Going To Take It Anymore
The WWE Network launched with great fanfare in February 2014, rolling out globally over the following two years. Featuring old school programming and events as well as almost all the WWE content of the modern era, and some decent original programming, there's no denying it's been a huge success for the company.
Yet in the run up to the launch, questions were being asked about pay. After all, supposedly revenue from DVD and Blu-Ray sales was a big factor in determining the talent's earnings over and above their base salary, not to mention pay-per-view buy rates. The Network would end sales of physical media, and broadcasting events online would effectively neuter the WWE's still-lucrative PPV market.
The company didn't respond. As late as the launch itself, there were no answers forthcoming and talent were being fobbed off - the clear implication being that Vince McMahon hadn't really thought about it. In fact that’s exactly what he told CM Punk before he walked out… that they hadn’t figured it out yet.
And it wasn't just current talent - legacy wrestlers like Rene Dupree sued WWE two years after the Network launched when it became apparent that they weren't getting royalties as they used to with physical media like DVDs.
Eventually the company set up a new structure involving a hike in basic pay to compensate for the loss in pay everyone was receiving. Of course, there's no way of knowing whether that's adequate compensation, because WWE doesn't tell talent how their pay is calculated.