4. Big Vito - The Bonus Machine?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4mi33_big-vito-full_sport Vito Lograsso was, for years, best known as WWF TV job guy and northeast independent wrestler Skull Von Krush, doing sort of a tongue in cheek take on the German gimmicks that exploded post-World War II. For years, he couldn't catch a break, but he started to build out more of a career in the late '90s in ECW as well as a tour of All Japan Pro Wrestling. As if right on time, one of his old friends from the indies got a lot of power in WCW: Vince Russo. Russo and Vito went back to Russo's days portraying his "Vicious Vincent" character, hosting his own wrestling radio show on Long Island and occasionally working as a manager on independent shows in the area. One young fan even got his parents to book Russo and Vito for his bar mitzvah. So it's only natural that with Russo in power, his old buddy got a job. The compensation is where it gets a little weird. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2s94k_lance-storm-vs-big-vito-hardcore-an_sport I've got nothing against Vito. He was a talented wrestler who could be fun on promos and was especially good in tag team matches with Johnny the Bull as the Mamalukes. Having said that, he was signed off a run as a opening match level comedy wrestler in ECW. He was not an in demand wrestler, and he should have been paid at the level of other journeymen in the company. Instead, he got a lot of bonuses that were unusual for his spot.
Cost: Well, his annual guarantee was reasonable for his spot at $125,000 for the first year escalating to $130,000. However, he also received various bonuses that took him up over $243,000 in 2000, his only full calendar year with WCW. For comparison, Brad Armstrong made the same $125,000 with no bonuses even after many years in the company. Anyone else at that level should have had the same opportunities. It's not that Vito was a colossal waste the way others on this list were as much as he's an odd choice to have gotten those bonuses written into his contract.