Had pro wrestling not even considered fully entering an era of guaranteed contracts, CM Punk would have never made a base salary that would allow him the ability to earn enough money to leave. For much of the entire history of pro wrestling, deals were made with handshakes, "Wrestler X gets Guarantee Y for Dates 1-Z." However, when you have to negotiate contracts for guaranteed money, the imperative for a wrestler to feel absolutely beholden to said company actually changes. It's an inversion of what you learn when studying traditional businesses, but of course, pro wrestling is not a traditional business. Guaranteed contracts when coupled with the existing notion of paying talent bonuses for Pay-Per-View appearances, merchandise sales and brand-related commercial appearances can send profits for certain talents (like Punk) skyrocketing. As well, even for less pushed talents like say, The Miz or David Otunga (both of whom have WWE FIlms credits to their name) can stack a fairly sizable sum on top of a low-end to middling WWE guaranteed salary and make a terrific yearly income. If you're CM Punk, you're looking at a massive guarantee on top of a top-selling DVD, a cavalcade of merchandise and PPV bonuses, too. Thus, when the wrestling business just stops being fun, there's likely a plethora of zeroes (as in probably more zeroes than any other wrestler in the history of the wrestling business has ever had staring them in the face at his age) giving you ample reason to walk away.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
