Hulk Hogan's 1998 WCW Contract

[Fox]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/287131780/1998-Hulk-Hogan-contract-with-WCW

Take a look before they pull it. Amongst others, here are a few of the highlights:

- Hogan was paid a $2 million bonus simply for signing the contract.
- Hogan was given 25 percent of the ticket revenue made during any Nitro or Thunder event that he participated in, with his minimum cut being $25,000.
- Hogan was paid $20,000 (every month!) for being associated with nWo.
- Hogan was handed 15 percent of PPV sales for all PPV events that he took part in, with $675,000 being the minimum amount he would collect.
- Hogan was set up to receive 50 percent of the profits that WCW made for selling any merchandise directly related to him.



Kinda makes it hard to feel bad for him.

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>This uploader has all kinds of interesting stuff uploaded.</font>

[Lock Jaw]

Interesting.... Dude also has up a file that lists each member of the WCW roster and what their contract/pay was: http://www.scribd.com/doc/282738951/WCW-Talent-Contract-Database

[Emperor Smeat]

Does that also count Hogan getting a percentage of merch sales not related to his own stuff. Think Jericho talks about that happening to him in his Breaking the Code dvd set.

Hogan getting paid that much to just to be associated with the nWo would help explain why the group lasted way too long and the whole Starrcade 97 debacle.

[Ruien]

No way that is legit. 25% of all ticket revenue? No way.

[NormanSmiley]

Hogan cheerleaders coming into the thread soon

[Bad News Gertner]

Deserved every penny

[Maluco]

He legitimised them and was responsible for bringing in others like Savage. If the 3rd member has been anyone else, the nWo angle might never have got off the ground either. And yes, I know that is debatable and we will never know for sure.

The point is though that they needed to take massive risks to compete with WWE initially and they did that. The problem though was that they were never able to move on and create their own stars and a viable business after that. But initially, he was probably worth a lot of what he made.

[Jura]

Uploaders gonna upload

[#1-norm-fan]

I say it wasn't enough.

[Damian Rey]

He deserved what they were willing to pay him.

[Fox]

It is a crazy ass contract, but frankly, if WCW was willing to agree, then good for Hogan for getting the cash flow. Can't hate a man for wanting to make a good living, have a nice house, nice things, provide for his children, and of course make enough so that when his wife takes him to church he still has SOMETHING.

And frankly, there's a great explanation in the Death of WCW book where they say that even if WCW eliminated all of these kinds of contracts for guaranteed money, they would STILL have lost money.

Kinda curious what Nash's contract looked like.

[BigCrippyZ]

Does that also count Hogan getting a percentage of merch sales not related to his own stuff. Think Jericho talks about that happening to him in his Breaking the Code dvd set.

Hogan getting paid that much to just to be associated with the nWo would help explain why the group lasted way too long and the whole Starrcade 97 debacle.

I don't see any provision that would allow him to get any revenues for other talent-specific merch. However, under section 9, subsection E, it looks like Hogan got no less than 25% of the net revenues or $20,000/month (whichever was greater) from generic non-talent specific NWO merchandise, even if his own Hogan merch revenues didn't equal that amount.

[BigCrippyZ]

It is a crazy ass contract, but frankly, if WCW was willing to agree, then good for Hogan for getting the cash flow. Can't hate a man for wanting to make a good living, have a nice house, nice things, provide for his children, and of course make enough so that when his wife takes him to church he still has SOMETHING.

And frankly, there's a great explanation in the Death of WCW book where they say that even if WCW eliminated all of these kinds of contracts for guaranteed money, they would STILL have lost money.


Exactly. Maybe it wasn't best for the company or others involved, but in a situation like this, you can't blame him for getting the most out of the deal. Hogan didn't coerce or force them to agree to the terms in the contract.

[NormanSmiley]

The $ was never an issue. Those two dirty words they gave him was the problem. God bless vinny ru @ batb!

[Mr. Nerfect]

No way that is legit. 25% of all ticket revenue? No way.

Kevin Sullivan talks about Hogan's ridiculous contract all the time. Ray Traylor, aka The Big Bossman, also had a hilarious one. I can't remember the exact sum, but whenever a PPV got a certain amount of buys, he'd instantly get paid a lump sum of money.

[BigCrippyZ]

Kevin Sullivan talks about Hogan's ridiculous contract all the time. Ray Traylor, aka The Big Bossman, also had a hilarious one. I can't remember the exact sum, but whenever a PPV got a certain amount of buys, he'd instantly get paid a lump sum of money.

Same thing with Hogan's PPV buyrate clause in section 3, paragraph D. Really surprised by Traylor getting a large lump sum for PPV buys but then again, anything is negotiable.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The way Sullivan tells the story, the amount of buys a PPV needed to get were unforeseen at the time.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Credit to him, deserved the money if they're willing to drop the cash.

Can't feel sorry for him for being broke and constantly being in debt though. He's an ass.

[NormanSmiley]

GDN is right. Always right. Tag partner

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

TOOOOO SWEEEEEEEET

[The CyNick]

Deserved every penny

this

[Frank Drebin]

Cool stuff. Thats about where I expect salaries to be. I like seeing who made what. For some reason we never hear about any of that.

[NormanSmiley]

We didnt? "Sting money" was talked to death by nash. And big show never stopped telling you how much nash and hall were getting in every hindsight wcw dvd

[Sixx]

Goldberg was paid 2,5 million?

Gillberg deserved this kind of money more.

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>Thinking about it...feel like Hogan almost never wrestled on Thunder and he'd sometimes go a few months without wrestling on Nitro. He'd appear all the time but often just do promos and interfere. The contract says he needs to "appear and wrestle" to get the 25% of ticket revenue.

Hard to blame WCW for avoiding him working TV matches, because after a while that shit would add up big time. Plus at that point Hogan was in "less is more" zone anyway where seeing him wrestle should have been a special attraction.</font>

[Innovator]

His lawyer deserves a healthy pat on the back for that contract.

[Sixx]

I think his ex-wife's lawyer deserves it more.

[road doggy dogg]

Well, when you compare that to Ryan Leaf's rookie contract in 1998 (four-year, $31.25 million contract, including an $11.25 million signing bonus) it doesn't seem that bad.

I know, apples and oranges, but still fun to compare

[Heisenberg]

Came by to see if anyone needed a ride to Jelly School

[Big Vic]

When did the contract expire?

Edit: Oh would have been May 2001.

[BigCrippyZ]

When did the contract expire?

Edit: Oh would have been May 2001.

May 28, 2002.

[Big Vic]

Only if they opted in for the forth year, which I don't think they would have.

[BigCrippyZ]

Only if they opted in for the forth year, which I don't think they would have.

It's not an option contract for either WCW or Hogan. Looks like Hogan wrestling in the 4th year was the only contractual issue to be determined later.

Under section 11D, he still would have been under contract in year 4 as a wrestling consultant and could not be employed or perform for another wrestling promotion during year 4 (the term as defined in paragraph 1). In consideration, which is necessary to have a binding contract, for Hogan's 4th year services he would be paid $100,000 as a consultant to WCW if he didn't wrestle for them that year.

It's likely in 1998, Hogan was anticipating taking time off in year 4 to take a break and start talking about a new deal with WCW had they still been around obviously.

[Big Vic]

Hmm is that so... Happy 1,000 :)

[BigCrippyZ]

Hmm is that so... Happy 1,000 :)

Thanks man! Didn't even notice I'd hit 1,000. I guess it's true what they say, you really do end up using your law degree everyday!

[BigCrippyZ]

Does anyone remember how regularly Hogan made appearances on Nitros or Thunders starting in June of 1998? I don't remember him appearing hardly at all on Thunder, especially after 1998, but I also switched primarily to watching WWE starting early in 1999.

The reason I ask is, he got paid 25% of the gate or at least $25k, for appearing on TV even if he didn't wrestle at the TV taping. That does seem like a crazy stupid business decision for WCW to agree to for someone to potentially just appear in a backstage segment and not have to work a match to me, even for someone like Hogan.

Not that I doubt that it happened, just seems crazy dumb to me financially for WCW. Maybe something like 10%/$10k for appearance or 25%/$25k for wrestling would have been a better business decision.

[NormanSmiley]

Hogan never showed up much in may into early june because of Nba playoffs.

[Sixx]

Does anyone remember how regularly Hogan made appearances on Nitros or Thunders starting in June of 1998? I don't remember him appearing hardly at all on Thunder, especially after 1998, but I also switched primarily to watching WWE starting early in 1999.

The reason I ask is, he got paid 25% of the gate or at least $25k, for appearing on TV even if he didn't wrestle at the TV taping. That does seem like a crazy stupid business decision for WCW to agree to for someone to potentially just appear in a backstage segment and not have to work a match to me, even for someone like Hogan.

Not that I doubt that it happened, just seems crazy dumb to me financially for WCW. Maybe something like 10%/$10k for appearance or 25%/$25k for wrestling would have been a better business decision.

He'd appear on Thunder from time to time (not often though) where he would come into the ring, run his mouth with Vincent or Disciple in the background nodding and that's about it.

[Hanso Amore]

Flair had a nice appearance deal

[NormanSmiley]

when he wasn't being sued

[Hanso Amore]

LOL raplhus was making more than a bunch of wrestlers

[BigCrippyZ]

Flair had a nice appearance deal

Very true. Not even considering PPV bonuses or merch royalties, including Flair's $500k salary he was easily still grossing over $1 million a year even if he only worked TV tapings and one house show a week for 45 weeks out of the year.

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>Looks like Hogan wrestled in 8 PPVs during the first year of this contract, rather than the 6 he was obligated to do. What a nice guy.</font>

[Nicky Fives]

And people wonder why WCW went out of business.... props to the guys that got the money they did.....

[BigCrippyZ]

<font color=goldenrod>Looks like Hogan wrestled in 8 PPVs during the first year of this contract, rather than the 6 he was obligated to do. What a nice guy.</font>

Always such a giver. :lol:

[BigCrippyZ]

Wow.

Stacy Keibler only making $15,000 salary, $500 valet/physical fee and $500 per TV appearance .

Torrie Wilson making $200,000 salary.

Brian Knobbs making $245,000.

Jesus. Who the hell was in charge of approving business/legal affairs?

[Big Vic]

Knobbs is Hulks friend right?

[BigCrippyZ]

Knobbs is Hulks friend right?

Thought I recall hearing they were friends.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Konnan makes a good killing. Meng only on $180,000. :-( Lol, Hogan's section just says "See contract." Konnan was making more than Rey Mysterio or Bam Bam Bigelow.

[NormanSmiley]

At least bam bams's checks were clearing in atlanta

[Mr. Nerfect]

Boom.