2. Bret Hart Talks About Ryback’s Demeanor At Payback 2016
On a recent edition of The Sharpshooter Show, WWE Hall of Famer Bret “Hitman” Hart discussed about the recent situation with Ryback and his demeanor backstage at Payback 2016. Below are the highlights:
On Ryback’s demeanor backstage at WWE Payback the night before he posted his comments speaking out against WWE:
“I saw him one time throughout the night. He didn’t look happy but he looked like he was concentrating on his match. We just passed by each other. I never saw him. I never saw his match.”
On the way wrestlers get paid:
“All I know is that wrestlers get contracts now. They get signed to a certain amount and how that reflects on how many dates they have a year or what they get paid or how that comes down to PPVs. Whether that’s extra on top of what they make. I don’t know. It seems to me if you get signed to a good contract then you don’t need to worry about how many days you work. You just have to show up and do the dates that you are required. Who cares if you win? Who cares whether you’re on the PPV or not on the PPV?
I suppose there is probably some kind of monetary, I’m guessing, I am sure there has got to be a monetary connection to that. Like a bonus. Sort of like you get a bonus on top of what you’re salary is if you’re on these PPVs. As far as wrestlers winning and losing and not getting paid the same? I don’t know that’s the case. For example, if Yokozuna was wrestling me and I was the Champion, I was the highest paid guy on the card.
[showhide more_text=”Read More” less_text=”Read Less”]This was before contracts. The big guaranteed contracts. If I was wrestling Yokozuna and I was the Champion and he was the challenger he basically got the same pay as me for that night. We were both paid equally as far as I know. We both got the same pay off. That’s why it was so important to work with the Champion. You got a title shot. You get to work with Bret Hart while he’s champion for two months. That means you get top pay for two months. Every night you’re getting paid the same amount as the Champion. That was my understanding of it. That’s why it was important. People would go, “Why would you care when you lose the title?” When I lost the title and they came in and told me I was losing the title to Yokozuna in Las Vegas. That he was going to lose it like a minute later to Hogan. It was a big drop in salary. I’m not getting paid top money anymore. I’m getting paid main event money but I am not getting the World Champion payment. I remember, it’s a big step down. You’re just not being paid the same. Me losing the World Championship is just like someone losing the Stanley Cup or the Super Bowl. People say, “Wrestling’s not real.” It’s real. I get people that have mocked me or criticized me over the years saying, “He took wrestling too serious.” I was the hardest working guy in the company. I was the star of the show and I wasn’t getting paid top money. Hulk Hogan started making the top money and he wasn’t the top guy anymore. I had a right to my complaints. Yoko got the belt, eventually, from Hogan and I was supposed to get the title but Hogan made sure that I didn’t get it. So he stopped me and he stopped my family from making a living. He cut in to my income. That’s why I was always so bitter and still am towards Hogan. I’m like, “You cost my family income. By deciding that you didn’t want to drop the belt to me. You wanted to drop it to Yoko instead because you wanted somebody big or something.” I don’t remember what his reasoning was. You changed my fortune and my financial outcome because of your decision. That’s not right. Vince made the decision to put the title on me at SummerSlam. Then Hogan changed all that and they wound up going in a different direction. I was working with Jerry Lawler at SummerSlam. I’d been slanted in a different direction that was out of the money. It’s not fair. Those are more grievances that I would have as a wrestler. As far as I know, unless things have changed, the winner does not make more than the loser. The main event makes more money than the opening match. If you’re not one of the main events then you’re not making as much money. It’s hard to say. Wrestling has changed so much and probably the financial structure has changed the most. I know years ago there was a criticism of me that I didn’t like to lose. It’s not that I didn’t like to lose. I had no problem losing but I knew that if I was losing a lot of matches that I wasn’t going to be in the big main events. If you’re not in the big main events… that’s where the money is.”
