10 WCW Rip-Offs That Helped WWE Win The Monday Night War

It's no secret that WCW gained a large portion of its roster through the allure of big money and guaranteed contracts. Big stars would routinely find six zeroes on their contracts, with the likes of Hogan, Goldberg, Sting, Hall, and Nash all receiving over a million dollars a year.

While these acts are all relatively justifiable as the reason WCW achieved the success that it did, countless other stars also achieved an incredible amount of money for their contributions. Stars like Sid Vicious, the Steiner Brothers, and Roddy Piper all received $750k or more, while even people like Tank Abbott were said to have taken home as much as $650k a year. Such is the price of competing with Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

However, the move to guaranteed money in WCW saw Vince himself forced to make the switch too. McMahon had previously been fond of the handshake agreement, offering little guarantee but a boatload of opportunity. Lex Luger's jump for the first Nitro shattered that trust factor, while the exodus of both Hall and Nash a year later, for big money and fewer dates, forced WWF to tow the line and offer guarantees of their own.

The move worked and saw them retain the likes of Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, and Steve Austin, and allowed WWF to overtake their competition as a result.