JTG (Jayson Paul, 27) pretty much not just got fed up with his situation, which isn’t uncommon for guys getting no push, but went public with it on twitter. Over the weekend, he started writing, ```Make decisions based on your worth, not your circumstance.” I wish someone told me this two years ago.” He followed with “The camels back just BROKE! I had enough of this.” Then, while at Raw, “As a pro athlete, I’m tired of me and my locker room brothers being taken advantage of. Fans have no idea what we go through.” Followed by “Yeah, I said it.” And then, “Nobody wants to speak up. Everybody’s afraid of losing their job or getting taken off TV.” What led to this appears to have been a number of things, all related to not getting a push and a lot of undercard frustration that got very strong of late. What started was when talent got paid for an international tour that went through Central and South America. They’re used to getting paid big on international tours, but the tour wasn’t that successful and the undercard talent all got $500 per night, which is a lot less than they expected. The grosses for the tour weren’t big, but at the same time, most of the shows on that tour were sold shows in that WWE itself got a guaranteed payoff of $250,000 per night from local promoters. The Brazil debut didn’t do all that well compared to debuts in most markets, but WWE sees Brazil going forward as an important market in the future because of the World Cup and Olympics bringing so much into that economy. Then came the frustration from WrestleMania. The company encourages everyone to bring their families to Mania for the whole week. However, the talent has to pay for it. The week in Miami for those with a wife and kids could run up to a lot of money. One veteran wrestler estimated to us the figure could have easily been significantly more than some of the talent earned for the week, which led to a lot of frustration. Then the guys at the bottom level only got $2,000 for the week, which coming at the same time the company was bragging about it being the biggest money producing show in pro wrestling history, was a surprise and led to a great deal of unhappiness. It should be noted that JTG and almost all the lower ranked guys didn’t wrestle on the show, as they didn’t do the usual Battle Royal to get everyone on the card, and the bottom guys who weren’t in the main matches were used to getting the level of payoff for at least being on the show. However, all the wrestlers on the roster did work during the week at Fan Axxess. This led to talk again about how the company should pay road expenses for talent given in virtually all forms of entertainment business when someone brings you on the road to work, they pay for the hotel or give you a per diem, and every sport falls into this category. I also want to make clear the payoff issue for the Latin American tour was some time back and the Mania payoffs were fairly recent, but whatever was the straw that broke the camel’s back with JTG is likely more never getting an opportunity. One story went around is that several times when O’Neil & Young were on television that Cryme Tyme started trending worldwide on twitter. Obviously WWE wouldn’t mention that on TV for a number of reasons, but with so much emphasis on twitter in the company, there were going to people saying to him that his tag team act is more over today, even though off TV for years, than the one they are pushing based on some people on twitter who were either telling jokes or don’t know the difference between he two teams, or who knows what. Much of the talent on the roster is so scared for their jobs that they aren’t going to do anything. Unless it’s a unified locker room so you don’t risk being fired for taking a stand. One person told us there was serious union talk after the Mania payoffs but for a ton of reasons, I don’t see wrestlers unionizing because the top guys aren’t going to join in and the bottom guys aren’t going to risk losing their job without another place to work for similar money in the business. At least in 1986, when Jesse Ventura was pitching the idea, and even he didn’t get very far with it, there were plenty of options for the wrestlers and the name stars carried the freight more than the brand name did. The whole dynamic is different. The only thing positive about timing, and this is something at least some talent discussed, is the Linda McMahon senate run, as if the wrestlers were in a fight with management over being unionized after the primary and before the general election, the publicity would hurt McMahon in a strong union state. But at the end of the day, I don’t see the solidarity and there are far too many guys scared for their jobs to make waves.
