10 Totally Ridiculous WCW Contracts You Won’t Believe

10. Bill Goldberg

goldberg wcw
WWE.com

Absolutely nobody should suggest that Bill Goldberg wasn't a top, top name by 2001. He was, and he was inarguably the hottest prospect WCW pushed from 1997 onwards. A supposed shoe-in to join the WWF post-WCW, he instead decided to sit at home and collect on his giant AOL/Time Warner contract.

Why wouldn't he? The guy was earning $2.5m per year, and that was set to skyrocket up to $3.5m in the fourth year of his deal.

That's a mind-blowing amount of money for someone who was, for all intents and purposes, still a relative rookie next to some of WCW's other major stars. During this stretch, Goldberg stood to earn a whopping $11m from his agreement, and that's before taking into account other pay-per-view bonuses.

Those, as the contract sheet says, were separate from his core deal. Not even the much-maligned Kevin Nash was earning as much as Goldberg here; his core salary was $1.45m in 1999 and $1.625m in 2000-2001. There was a "booking service" bonus of 200k on top of that, but he didn't come close to Goldberg's contract.

So much for favoured nations.

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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.