Backstage News On Big Saudi Arabia Paydays For WWE Part-Timers, WWE Using Bill Goldberg More?
The special guest Superstars brought in for the WWE events in Saudi Arabia have been paid well into the seven figures, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg, who lost to The Undertaker at the June Super ShowDown event in Jeddah, was said to be paid considerably more than he was under his one-year contract when he came to WWE in 2003-2004, which was for a $1 million downside for 8 dates per month. It was still less than his WCW contract, which was for $3 million per year at his peak.
There's no word yet on the Saudi payday numbers for Taker and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, but they likely made close to what Goldberg did, especially Michaels as he came out of retirement at Crown Jewel last November to team with Triple H for the match with Take and Kane. WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar likely earned as much, and more, since he's currently making more money from pro wrestling per year than just about any other wrestler in history has made, including their best years, according to the Observer. It was noted that this is why Lesnar retired from UFC, and why there's no amount of money that WWE won't pay The Beast to keep him from going to AEW.
Chris Jericho received $100,000 to work The Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia last year. Jericho admitted to Inside The Ropes last October that he was laughing at the amount he made for the event, despite just working the Rumble match for a couple of minutes.
"I literally was laughing," Jericho said. "A – watching some of the guys f–k up their spots, and B – once again, how much money are they getting paid that they paid me to be in this thing to basically do nothing? Whatever."
On a related note, it sounds like WWE may have future plans for Goldberg past his match with Dolph Ziggler at Sunday's SummerSlam pay-per-view. It was noted that the idea behind Goldberg right now is to push him similar to how WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino was at the end of his career – the top guy who comes around once or twice a year for a grudge match, which is made out to be a huge deal.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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