With Labor Day, one must look at a professional wrestler. The average indy wrestler makes a very small amount a night for wrestling one match, which could only occur at most 3 times a week. Then consider how much training, travelling, and health problems one must have, you must consider that wrestlers don't have good working conditions.
Hell, even the WWF wrestlers, like the mid-carders, have it rough. A good friend of mine told me that a wrestler making $125,000 might seem like he's well off, but in reality, he's not. Note that the government takes a nice chunk out of that, since that salary is in a high tax bracket, so the salary is down to $70,000.
However, about $35,000 (or more) goes to travel expenses for the wrestler. It's said that an average WWF wrestler is on the road approximately 200 days, if not more. The myth is that the WWF pays for every thing for all of their wrestlers. Not everything. A wrestler uses a lot of money to pay for food, rental cars, hotels, and any other expenses for wrestling. The rest goes to whatever, like families or anything else, which could be anywhere from $25,000 to $35,000, which isn't bad. But note that the belief is that EVERY wrestler in the WWF is very rich from wrestling.
Just note a few more things. Job security is NOT guaranteed in the WWF. Vince McMahon could just release any wrestler at will. Wrestlers don't exactly have long careers within the WWF, so when they do retire from the sport, their retirement pensions won't be too high. Oh yeah, wrestling takes a toll on a wrestler's body, as there are some retired wrestlers who are crippled for life from the sport.
Hence, for an average midcarder in the WWF, making maybe around $125,000, they aren't getting paid for the conditions and life they must endure, or the terrible retirement benefits afterward.
If a wrestler only really receives about $25,000 to $35,000 a year for a very short amount of time, and if I were a wrestler, I'd quit the sport and take a job that pays that much but would have better benefits. You've got to admire those who are on the WWF midcard, because they could go elsewhere for a much healthier life. However, they choose to wrestle and to entertain us every week, while putting their bodies on the line and risking long term problems. Think about it.
On to the PDC.
On Smackdown, Christian announced that he had a match against the Rock for the WCW Title on tonight's RAW. Oh wow, the WWF might be making a major mistake! Why? Well, Christian is Canadian, and he said Toronto is his hometown... If you remember during the last Canadian tour, Canada's fans were cheering their hearts out for Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho on EVERY match. Sure, Christian is a heel and Rock is the biggest face right now, but only one can wonder how the fans will cheer.
The WWF is very protective of the Rock, in that they do NOT want any negative fan reaction momentum to ever start. They are well known for censoring signs in the crowd, over-dubbing the crowd, and making sure that the Rock always comes out on top for any feud by making his opponent(s) look very bad. Rock is coming off a loss, however, to Rhyno in a tag match, which could be a factor for the fans' reaction in this match. My thinking is that this match will be very short to keep the Canadian fans from cheering against the WWF's precious Rock.
WWF.com is hyping the Olympic medal throwing by Steve Austin, and how Kurt Angle will react. I'm guessing that the medals were fakes, since the medals that Angle wears now are the ones you could buy at a WWF mechandise stand. I suppose it will set up the Medals vs. Title match at Unforgiven? I hope so, because when the medals are on the line, Angle should have a better chance of winning. Of course, that's just wishful thinking, since Austin only loses when he really wants to. That's the truth.
"One blockbuster match has already been signed for RAW", says WWF.com. The match is Chris Jericho/Jeff Hardy versus Rob Van Dam/Rhyno. This match will be extremely good, but it will be MUCH better if the WWF does an angle, during the show, to set this match up. Rhyno has more heat against the Rock, right now, than he does against Jericho or even Jeff Hardy. One thing is for sure, though, and that's the fact that Rhyno and RVD will definitely win this match. If they don't, RVD will get pinned. I wouldn't doubt that the WWF runs a Rhyno vs. the Rock match at Unforgiven instead of a Booker T vs. the Rock rematch, since the WWF appears to be burying Booker T as each show goes by.
I really hope that the WWF realizes that the ratings are dropping, and changes the show's format. Don't give as much time to Austin backstage, and give more time to matches, besides any matches involving Rock, Austin, or Kurt Angle. If not, they can just keep enjoying a ratings slip, despite having the Rock back and the Alliance still on television.
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@That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow with a RAW review. Argh, school starts up for me again, tomorrow, so time will be tough once again.
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