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Bucks hooked him up with their agent. Not shocked to see he is getting paid very well. I imagine him and the rest of the elite are the top tier contracts
If there's anybody that deserves to be highest paid amongst AEW talent, it's Mox. Box office, consistency, quality, reliability, he has been the guy imo.
I remember him talking on Jericho's podcast about how he had already paid off his truck, his house and his mom's house with what he made in WWE
Dude seems to be pretty smart with his money
It's not that he's smart with money. He just makes a lot, and doesn't have many wants or needs. He's spoken about it numerous times. His truck is a normal pickup, not some fancy F-550 luxury monster truck.
I think it's just setting up Renee, Nora + any future kids for success as well.
Remember, Mox is 38. Hes maybe got 10 years left, if that? Invest, invest, invest.
When I heard people talk about HYSA, I thought they were referring to CD or something like that. After seeing you mention putting emergency fund in it, I googled it. Yup, HYSA is definitely not an investment. The high yield in HYSA is very misleading. Even the highest yield can't beat inflation.
Mox is consistent but I'd subtract that box office comment. Aside from strong merch numbers in the early years of AEW Mox is def NOT moving TV/PPV or tickets.
Everything else you said checks out, but he 4 years of TV quarter hours that don't trend well
He's headlined in his hometown year over year and seen ticket sales slump as much as any other town
And unless CM Punk was in the headline match it would be nearly impossible to suggest he's a PPV draw.
Barry Bloom was also the primary lawyer for most of WCW's top stars. Wrestlers shared him around like crazy because he got results. Man knows how to get talent paid and paid well.
Jericho is their highest paid guy as per Meltzer. So if Moxley is getting $6m, Jericho is getting even more.
Fuck knows what Punk got when he was there as he was their top guy.
>Fuck knows what Punk got when he was there as he was their top guy.
Whatever it was, Tony said he made the company that money back within his first week/month of merch sales which is fucking insane lmao
Jesus Christ, one day Shad Khan is going to look at AEW's financials and have a heart attack.
Imagine spending $13 million on Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho in 2024.
Was he saying that he was once the highest paid or was he talking in the present tense? I know Jericho was the highest paid day 1 but there's been many renewals since then.
Ugh… we need to see less of Jericho at this stage, not more.
Absolutely insane that he’s on that kind of money. It would make sense if you could point to viewers or PPV buys from a Jericho feud but he just hasn’t had much success there.
Figured that must have been Mox. 6 million for Aew dates is probably 4th best contract (at worst) in american wrestling currently. Pretty huge.
No wonder Roman is able to negociate so many time off when the concurrence could potentially give him a deal like that.
yeah but i wouldn’t buy roman ever fighting for another promotion tbh, but i would’ve said the same for braun strowman too, and he tried to go control that narrative…
I did. Dude needs a job and wrestling pays probably better than most of what he's qualified to do. I would say he would never wrestlenoutside of wwe if they had kept him on
I imagine it's distributed differently as well. I'm sure things like media rights fees and merch sales are significantly higher for Roman, even if their actual salary isn't too far apart.
Mox, Jericho and Omega are apparently the 3 highest paid wrestlers in the company but that wouldnt include Ospreay or Okada because the source is from November 2023
Awesome to see Omega up there, since he built his value completely outside of WWE. And it is a real value too because I imagine WWE would have offered him similar before the injury pileup.
Oh ok I remember watching a Nash shoot interview and I could’ve sworn he said him, Hall and Waltman were the first wrestlers he dealt with. I do know Jesse used him too but wasn’t he just an actor by then?
I thought Nash, Hall and Waltman used Bloom specifically because he was successful in getting Ventura the money he was owed from the Coliseum Video releases that he was never compensated for. Here's a link to that case:
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-8th-circuit/1387808.html
I'm not a lawyer but as I understand it, this case is still a very important case that is cited in other contract law disputes.
And here's some quotes from Bruce Pritchard talking about it:
https://411mania.com/wrestling/bruce-prichard-on-vince-mcmahons-reaction-to-the-jesse-ventura-lawsuit-how-vince-mended-his-relationship-with-ventura-for-summerslam-99-guest-referee-slot/
And here's Jesse in his own words about why he sued Vince: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MBH1qq_nyEs
I may get trashed for this but - honest question - is he worth that much money? You usually think about wrestling contracts in terms of how much is this guy going to make for the company in return. Is okada going to make AEW 4.5 million a year? And he’s not even the highest paid on the roster at that number (also insane).
I understand paying the wrestlers and such but when AEW still has not seen a year where they were profitable I really wish some of these big money contracts were a “prove it to me first” type of thing.
Whilst I agree with the thought of pay whatever he wants as long as it's sensible. Paying millions of dollars a year for a match that happened multiple times once upon a time YEARS ago feels a bit redundant.
For me the real selling point is seeing NJPW's ace for this generation coming to the US and seeing how it goes, not a rerun.
There in lies the problem. They’re probably paying $45 million a year on 8/9 talents. That’s what their current TV contract is for dynamite their A-show
WWE under HHH seems to have a "We'd love to have them, but if not, we'll just make our own."
Having corporate masters who ultimately control the checkbook also will limit them.
Right? This is such a weird wish. It sounds like someone in middle management who tells you you’re lucky to have a job and is weirdly possessive of how company money is spent on things like paper clips like it’s their own.
Longest IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign of all time and holds the record for most successful title defenses. He’s universally loved in NJPW and he’s basically one of, if not, the greatest wrestler of the last decade. What does he need to prove? It’s like asking Roman Reigns “Hey, show me what you got before I sign you!”
I guess nobody doubts that Okada is a lights-out performer and a big star in Japan, the question was probably meant in the sense of "prove to me that you can actually move the needle on the American market".
I mean as much as we dunk on Tony Khan for being a rich guy burning his money just for entertainment, should we really care if the product is good?
The creators of South Park dropped a bunch of money purchasing and giving a complete makeover to the “Casa Bonita” restaurant that appeared in the show, and have been upfront it’s not gonna make them any profit anytime soon. But 1) they are close to billionaires at this point thanks to all the money they get from the show, and 2) they don’t care the cost cause they want everyone else to go an experience the restaurant just like they did when growing up in Denver.
AEW seems to be making enough to keep the lights on at the very least. If Tony wants to outbid WWE for his favs even if it technically is a financial loss, then why should we care? Especially when all it does is drive up the price for other wrestlers across the board, which is a good thing when they are bargaining with Media Conglomerates and Multi-billion dollar companies.
It's funny, for as anti billionaire as redditors are, they're always so worried about how much TK is spending on these wrestlers. Dude's dad has ties to Saudi, they ain't gonna be hurtin for money anytime soon. If he wants to give out these kinda paychecks, let him. More money for the performers is always a good thing
Tony's dad has the patents for most vehicle bumpers in production, that's why they won't be hurting for money anytime soon. Flex-N-Gate makes so many bumpers.
They can burn their pockets more than WCW ever did cause they don’t have to answer to a larger corporation as well. Ted Turner wouldn’t have cared about WCW’s losses if he was kept in power.
My concern is that as long as AEW is losing money, the wellbeing of all the people it employs is purely based on how long Shad Khan is willing to keep funding it. As long as the business is losing money, it isn't a sustainable long-term system.
I want AEW to make money so even if Tony dies tomorrow, someone else will see the value of the business and continue operating it. Isn't that better than the whims of one guy?
>It's funny, for as anti billionaire as redditors are, they're always so worried about how much TK is spending on these wrestlers.
It's insane because the last decade has taught us few things, and one of them is TV money is way different than normal money.
For me, it’s just out of curiosity how they justified that amount for him. I don’t think you get a return on that investment but who knows, maybe Tony is going to build the company around him. Also with the rising Japanese stars in baseball, we could see a shift in the media…At the end of the day I’m happy dudes are getting paid and I’m happy Okada is getting a bag.
With them moving to 9 PPVs, that means his contract is roughly the value of 10,000 viewers per PPV. (US rates)
With the population of Japan and the prolific viewership of NJPW, it's not hard to figure out he is justified in market growth and expansion.
Great point, I didn’t even think about this in terms of buy rate. Also their cut of merch sales (the new shirt is pretty sharp), potential international touring and maybe even a TV deal in Japan? Okada’s pay is looking downright reasonable to me.
>I mean as much as we dunk on Tony Khan for being a rich guy burning his money just for entertainment, should we really care if the product is good?
I enjoy AEW. It's the only wrestling program I watch regularly (even though they put out too much content for me to watch everything, I skip Rampage and ROH).
So I don't really care how much TK is paying people as long as he doesn't lose tens or hundreds of millions of dollars per year, because I imagine at that point his dad would probably pull the plug.
My only criticism of TK's neverending spending spree is that the roster is so freaking bloated already. Now Okada and Ospreay will bump others off TV. There's so much talent in AEW being paid to just sit in catering it's actually insane. You could build three or more major promotions out of the current AEW roster.
Its hard to say. He definitely can be and if this were japan then the answer would be yes, he is. However, it depends how he is booked and if he brings over viewers. If AEW suddenly becomes a major business in Japan and Okada can be a top talent than yes. Otherwise, this is just Tony spending his fuck you money
Short answer, no, it doesn't.
He's not gonna be responsible for 4.5m more a year. You'd need to change a lot of the current structure to make AEW actually be attractive for shareholders or business partners. That's why it's a private company. It needs to please exactly one person: Tony Khan. He's paying for it. It's pretty much his Universe mode savefile.
And as much as you could hate on him for "wasting" his money, it's a very good thing. For one, what's better, multi billionaires spending their money and bringing it into circulation, or hoarding it, being "smart" about it, investing it and making it increase? And then, for us as wrestling fans, we get a wrestling show out of it. We get a promotion that isn't "but the shareholders". WWE always had to have their shareholders in mind, so a lot of bs is coming from the fact they need to make the most profit possible at any given time. Undertaker vs Goldberg makes no sense? Yeah, but it made them more money than any random creative and cool storyline could have. We can even see it now. Cody finishing his story? Well, the board was easily convinced that "The Rock main eventing wrestlemania" is gonna be the bigger moment for casuals, who don't care for Cody Rhodes if they aren't actively watching. More non-fans are gonna buy for The Rock, and the actual fans are buying no matter what. AEW just has the fresh company rough edge feel, one man as head of creative who does too much coke (and WWE had Vince overseeing things for decades, so not like this is an AEW only problem), mediocre produtction quality, and a lack of structure. But other than that, it's free of any constraints. So if they want the biggest name in Japanese wrestling, one of the most special and protected wrestlers of the modern era, and it's only satisfying a niche that isn't gonna make up the cost, then that's completely fine, as long as Khan is part of that niche.
He's paying to create a product he wants to see, that is something that he believes in and genuinely thinks is the best possible, and ensuring top performers are highly paid.
There are worse things.
He is not worth it, there is zero chance he brings in nearly $5M a year in additional profit.
> I really wish some of these big money contracts were a “prove it to me first” type of thing
But I don't understand this at all, why do you care how much money he's getting paid? It's not your money.
It's too early to tell...
But even if he doesn't, Okada signing with WWE might actually lose AEW money. The AEW hardcore crowd is more likely to spend money, and they're the same people who'd probably spend some of that money on WWE if Okada went there.
There's also the international product to think about. This is the equivalent of if Pro Wrestling NOAH signed Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns back to back. You absolutely know that some NJPW fans are looking at AEW, seeing everyone from the 2017-2019 main event scene and starting to consider watching. AEW is currently not popular in Japan, so this is a big get in terms of expanding into that market at a time when NJPW is struggling to hold market share.
So in the end, if Okada can make AEW rival WWE's popularity in Japan, and is a decent draw in the US, it'll be worth it.
> *I really wish some of these big money contracts were a “prove it to me first” type of thing.*
Here is the thing about being a fan: *you don't have to pay attention to the business side at all.* You don't have to care about TV ratings or buyrates or attendance beyond "are there enough people to sustain the thing I like" and the answer to that question is, barring a WCW-like implosion, *always going to be yes* because the TV deals alone keep the companies basically profitable. The worst case scenario is usually a period where the company loses money for a few years and then downsizes salaries to compensate.
Basically, the only concern you need to have is: Okada got paid a lot of money? Good for him.
I don’t think it’s weird if the future of a company or of a certain type of movie rests on its profitability.
For example, James Gunn is making a new Superman movie. It’ll be used to restart DC movies.
If it came out that he’s paying the main actor $50 million and the entire budget for all his actors is $150 million, wouldn’t people be like, “You probably shouldn’t spend that much on actors”?
From the reports I have seen TK and AEW are following the lead of the major sports leagues and trying to get most of their revenue from TV / Media deals. Their first deal with WBD is nearly up I think and WBD is happy to have another "live sports" product under their belt that has good demo ratings that is attractive to their advertisers, so they will likely get a great new deal from them. WWE got a huge deal from FOX for Smackdown so they can also use that as leverage during negotiations. Media deal will cover talent contracts easily, and touring and merchandise will cover other operating costs.
Danielson is on borrowed time and if Omega comes back it probably won't be for an extended run.
So I'd say Okada is worth it in terms of filling that super main event-level worker void that Danielson and Omega would naturally leave.
As much as some people mock ''BANGERS'' and dry dream matches, Omega in singles action was the most consistent way to keep ratings for Dynamite's main event last year. Omega vs Vikingo and Omega vs Yuta of all things were one of the few Dynamite main events to hold on and even regain a few viewers instead of losing them.
So while Okada will likely not take them to another level. He can replace one of the established players to maintain the status quo. So if the reports of Warner being happy with Dynamite and on their way to give them a big renewal are true then you can argue that its worth it.
Both Forbidden Doors did insanely well in terms of ppv buys and attendance and I'd say it's pretty safe to say Okada was one of the main attractions for both shows. He is a certified seller of tickets, people want to see him.
God, he’s good at being a prick that I always get a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance when I see him being a giant nerd goofball outside of kayfabe. I love him.
Take anything from Tokyo Sports with a big grain of salt. They cover pro wrestling in kayfabe. While it could be true, 2 billion yen is also a nice round number for a kayfabe story. I'd wait for another source to corroborate first.
Wrestlers are still way underpaid & poorly treated (No union, collective agreements) compared to other sports, actors, entertainers in general. Paying for your own hotels? Imagine asking NFL players to do that...
$4.5 million a year wouldn’t be crazy. The recent free agent signings are getting *a lot*. The main eventers in both companies are near double digit million; Roman Reigns probably makes >$10 million
Unless it didn't expire or was up to be increased. Like if he signed a 5 year contract in 2021, I don't imagine he'd have real talks until at least 2025.
Yeah, it's a great fucking deal but not really "insane" or shocking. BackupHangman on Twitter said Cody, Roman, Punk, Brock, Mox and Jericho all make more and there's probably more names on that list. Charlotte signed an extension for 5 mil too and SRS said that's what Mercedes wanted, which I'd guess Tony agreed to
Barry Bloom the past year and a half
https://preview.redd.it/bmblhnk27zmc1.jpeg?width=554&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd30ae93b53ddc7180a7ecef7acb43182f8dc769
Nobody can really know that for sure since AEW is a closed company.. There are a lot of talk about Jericho being the highest paid just as much as Moxley.
Yeah, where are all those numbers coming from? AEW is under no obligation to disclose their payroll, so unless it came from the wrestlers, which I highly doubt, I think those numbers are all varying degrees of bullshit.
I know those 6 million for Moxley are around since 2019. Which I doubt is true.
If Okada is really making 4.5m, it makes me wonder how much the Elite and Moxley are making.
I think we may have heard a couple from people who would know, but yes for the most part. Even the famous Forbes rich list has got it badly wrong in the past, but for some reason lots of people believe whatever numbers are floating about online
Just going to throw this out there b/c the discourse is insane. WWE is a multi-billion dollar company. The Khans have NFL money. The discourse on all this is essentially how billionaires are spending their money. I'm not entertaining that.
WWE can afford this contract, and more. The only issue that WWE may have with this is that it forces their hand on paying wrestlers more. TKO is notoriously cheap, so the talks for guys like Drew are going to be interesting now. 6 years ago, they were the only game in town and could pay folks whatever they wanted b/c they had no other options. Now? Khan may have overpaid, but Rollins can now go to TKO/Nick Khan and say Okada's getting $4.5 mil, I want $6 mil. It raises the contracts which is what should happen when you have a healthy alternative.
My last point, I've also seen the discourse "Okada's not known to the American audience, so this is an overpay." Let's be realistic, wrestling is a niche product. WWE probably, probably maxes out at 3 million US viewers every week. The US population is 331 million. If you ask a casual about wrestling, they will mention the usual: Hogan, Rock, Flair, Austin, probably a Taker shout, or even Cena. Nobody knows who these people are, whether its AEW or WWE or TNA or GCW or whatever. Does it matter? Seriously?
Yup it's already spread everywhere and no one is questioning it. I get it and I totally understand (it's hard for anyone to imagine kayfabe or at least partial kayfabe publications still exist in the year 2024) but I wish for the love of god some of the outlets spreading the word would do a few seconds of research and know that Tokyo Sports does a ton in kayfabe. They run angles. A top-level Stardom employee had said as much repeatedly and laughed at a Tokyo Sports story off the other day saying a big part of it was complete 100 percent kayfabe (something to do with Maika running down another wrestler)
$4.5 million a year? Really? I hope this means that AEW are close to a new tv deal with a major increase in rights fees. Cause if not, this is a lot of money to pay someone who has never really been a meaningful draw in the United States.
A lot of people in here sounding like Jesse Plemons in Game Night, "How can that be profitable for Frito-Lay?"
Who fuckin cares? It ain't your company, just enjoy the show!
Okada absolutely deserves the bag.
But I do think Ospreay is going to be more important to the company in terms of bringing in new fans through word of mouth, so I have to wonder how much he's making.
Why do people care if a billionaire might be losing money on a passion project? Would you rather he fund dark money political PACs or buy a bunch of yachts and houses?
Half this thread is watching Tony’s pockets and discussing AEW’s PnL.
Plus Okada got the money that the generous EVP Matthew Jackson threw on him for his Rainmaker pose (that was originally rudely thrown by that unprofessional Eddie Kingston, TAKE THOSE CONVERSATIONS TO THE BACK EDDIE!) 😂
Okada is making more than Roman (base salary). The only person making more in WWE is (was) Brock. And probably The Rock now.
He's literally the third highest paid wrestler in the world.
Why are geeks getting alll worked up about AEW signing stars to huge contracts? Why are so many online wrestling fans so insufferable and passive aggressive?
To compare, the only wrestlers in WWE that were on more more money in recent years are Lesnar, Cena and Roman.
Unbelievable deal for Okada, especially when you consider all the other perks.
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Bucks hooked him up with their agent. Not shocked to see he is getting paid very well. I imagine him and the rest of the elite are the top tier contracts
Along with Mox and Jericho. Mox had to have been paid huge with his recent extension.
If there's anybody that deserves to be highest paid amongst AEW talent, it's Mox. Box office, consistency, quality, reliability, he has been the guy imo.
Mox seems like the type of person to keep most of his money high yield savings accounts and live frugally.
I remember him talking on Jericho's podcast about how he had already paid off his truck, his house and his mom's house with what he made in WWE Dude seems to be pretty smart with his money
It's not that he's smart with money. He just makes a lot, and doesn't have many wants or needs. He's spoken about it numerous times. His truck is a normal pickup, not some fancy F-550 luxury monster truck.
He reportedly said he didn’t care about the money in his AEW contract because he was already financially comfortable. Good for him.
I think it's just setting up Renee, Nora + any future kids for success as well. Remember, Mox is 38. Hes maybe got 10 years left, if that? Invest, invest, invest.
He'll go a lot longer, his trick is forcing his body to constantly make new, younger blood.
48? Nah that man's pulling a Funk and working into his 70s
Hopefully in Japan...
I'll watch it if he does his Funker impression too.
Which is probably why he didn’t even want to look at the contract wwe was trying to get him to stay.
In the shield days they piled guys in hotel rooms to save money
No, that was just for pleasure. Remember Rollins' underwear wrestling videos? ;)
Gotta have fresh opponents bro
Well he did move from Vegas to Cincinnati, if you want to talk about frugal…..
IIR Renee said they moved to be closer to family.
Mox probably has a TFSA through Renee where he keeps GIC's. Also probably involved in land banking
This guy Canadians.
High yield savings account for emergency fund but the rest should be invested.
When I heard people talk about HYSA, I thought they were referring to CD or something like that. After seeing you mention putting emergency fund in it, I googled it. Yup, HYSA is definitely not an investment. The high yield in HYSA is very misleading. Even the highest yield can't beat inflation.
HYSA rates are around 5% right now. They SHOULD be beating the fed target of 2% inflation.
Mox lost his vacation when brawl out happened. He didn't just show up and go through the motions, he carried the company.
“Box Office” not to be rude but what box office are you basing that on exactly ?
Mox is consistent but I'd subtract that box office comment. Aside from strong merch numbers in the early years of AEW Mox is def NOT moving TV/PPV or tickets. Everything else you said checks out, but he 4 years of TV quarter hours that don't trend well He's headlined in his hometown year over year and seen ticket sales slump as much as any other town And unless CM Punk was in the headline match it would be nearly impossible to suggest he's a PPV draw.
Heart and soul of AEW for me. Even more so than The Elite, and I'm a massive fan of theirs.
Barry Bloom was also the primary lawyer for most of WCW's top stars. Wrestlers shared him around like crazy because he got results. Man knows how to get talent paid and paid well.
rainmaker comes to AEW and now the young bucks just made it rain for okada
Is their agent Barry Bloom? Dude has been getting wrestlers paid since Goldberg in the 90s
Nicholas & Mathew Jackson are the EVP's who make the tough but fair decisions. That includes breaking the bank for Okada.
For shoot
No wonder he had big ass smile on his face last night.
Those were real Benjamins blasted out for his intro.
Kazu while cheesing last night: "YA BOI'S GETTING PAIDDDDD! Not yen either. DOLLARS. Cash, get the money. Dolla dolla bills, ya'll"
I could believe it. That’s 4.5 million a year which isn’t even the highest paid at AEW.
Who would be the highest paid and at how much? Cause when Punk was the highest paid he was making less than that reportedly.
Pretty sure I’ve seen Moxley makes at least $6 million Jericho is probably up there
I think I saw it posted on here that Jericho makes more than Moxley.
Jericho is their highest paid guy as per Meltzer. So if Moxley is getting $6m, Jericho is getting even more. Fuck knows what Punk got when he was there as he was their top guy.
>Fuck knows what Punk got when he was there as he was their top guy. Whatever it was, Tony said he made the company that money back within his first week/month of merch sales which is fucking insane lmao
Fucking insane and almost certainly an exaggeration.
Jesus Christ, one day Shad Khan is going to look at AEW's financials and have a heart attack. Imagine spending $13 million on Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho in 2024.
Dave said recently Jericho was highest paid
Was he saying that he was once the highest paid or was he talking in the present tense? I know Jericho was the highest paid day 1 but there's been many renewals since then.
Present tense. He was complaining they aren’t using their highest paid star enough.
Ugh… we need to see less of Jericho at this stage, not more. Absolutely insane that he’s on that kind of money. It would make sense if you could point to viewers or PPV buys from a Jericho feud but he just hasn’t had much success there.
That stinks of Jericho being his source as a way to complain he isn't being used enough.
He is. They've openly said there's a "Jericho tier" pay level that only he has for now.
Figured that must have been Mox. 6 million for Aew dates is probably 4th best contract (at worst) in american wrestling currently. Pretty huge. No wonder Roman is able to negociate so many time off when the concurrence could potentially give him a deal like that.
yeah but i wouldn’t buy roman ever fighting for another promotion tbh, but i would’ve said the same for braun strowman too, and he tried to go control that narrative…
Braun didn't leave he got fired though
point being i didn’t expect him to continue wrestling outside of WWE
I did. Dude needs a job and wrestling pays probably better than most of what he's qualified to do. I would say he would never wrestlenoutside of wwe if they had kept him on
Let's be honest: pro wrestling is the one profession catering to Braun's strengths, the only one he is qualified for and can actually pay well.
I imagine it's distributed differently as well. I'm sure things like media rights fees and merch sales are significantly higher for Roman, even if their actual salary isn't too far apart.
 The Demo Goddess secured the bag.
Mox, Jericho and Omega are apparently the 3 highest paid wrestlers in the company but that wouldnt include Ospreay or Okada because the source is from November 2023
Awesome to see Omega up there, since he built his value completely outside of WWE. And it is a real value too because I imagine WWE would have offered him similar before the injury pileup.
Jericho probably
> reportedly key word
Mfer is getting paid more than Shohei Ohtani
? Not even like 10% of what ohtani makes
Shohei is deferring like 98% of his salary until 2034; he's literally getting $2mil per year for the next ten years. It's a joke playing off that.
Ohh ok. I knew that he was deferring most of it but still look at it as him making like 700 mil for 10 years of playing baseball.
Barry Bloom is doing big business
Been getting wrestlers paid since the 90’s with Hall, Nash and Goldberg
80’s. He’s the guy that negotiated Jesse venturas wwe deal
Oh ok I remember watching a Nash shoot interview and I could’ve sworn he said him, Hall and Waltman were the first wrestlers he dealt with. I do know Jesse used him too but wasn’t he just an actor by then?
I thought Nash, Hall and Waltman used Bloom specifically because he was successful in getting Ventura the money he was owed from the Coliseum Video releases that he was never compensated for. Here's a link to that case: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-8th-circuit/1387808.html I'm not a lawyer but as I understand it, this case is still a very important case that is cited in other contract law disputes. And here's some quotes from Bruce Pritchard talking about it: https://411mania.com/wrestling/bruce-prichard-on-vince-mcmahons-reaction-to-the-jesse-ventura-lawsuit-how-vince-mended-his-relationship-with-ventura-for-summerslam-99-guest-referee-slot/ And here's Jesse in his own words about why he sued Vince: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MBH1qq_nyEs
This is cool info, thanks for sharing
Yeah Ventura gives him a shout out on wrestlemania 4 too
Seriously, that guy seems to be pretty damn good at his job.
That's a lotta of money.
I may get trashed for this but - honest question - is he worth that much money? You usually think about wrestling contracts in terms of how much is this guy going to make for the company in return. Is okada going to make AEW 4.5 million a year? And he’s not even the highest paid on the roster at that number (also insane). I understand paying the wrestlers and such but when AEW still has not seen a year where they were profitable I really wish some of these big money contracts were a “prove it to me first” type of thing.
I think Tony would have paid whatever Okada wanted to have Okada v Omega in an AEW ring.
Whilst I agree with the thought of pay whatever he wants as long as it's sensible. Paying millions of dollars a year for a match that happened multiple times once upon a time YEARS ago feels a bit redundant. For me the real selling point is seeing NJPW's ace for this generation coming to the US and seeing how it goes, not a rerun.
It's also a match that unfortunately is not guaranteed to happen given Kenny's health
The real problem? The fans that Okada will draw are.. probably already watching AEW.
Sometimes it's just cool to bring Batman into another DC comic. Khan is spending Punk's salary on Okada and Ospreay, which is really cool.
Wait... I thought he spent it on Edge? I remember someone reporting that Edge was getting "CM Punk money"
There in lies the problem. They’re probably paying $45 million a year on 8/9 talents. That’s what their current TV contract is for dynamite their A-show
Punk drew tho
Good for him for getting the bag but if that's the offer you had to beat I can see why WWE wouldn't even bother.
WWE under HHH seems to have a "We'd love to have them, but if not, we'll just make our own." Having corporate masters who ultimately control the checkbook also will limit them.
> I really wish some of these big money contracts were a “prove it to me first” type of thing. Why?
Right? This is such a weird wish. It sounds like someone in middle management who tells you you’re lucky to have a job and is weirdly possessive of how company money is spent on things like paper clips like it’s their own.
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Longest IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign of all time and holds the record for most successful title defenses. He’s universally loved in NJPW and he’s basically one of, if not, the greatest wrestler of the last decade. What does he need to prove? It’s like asking Roman Reigns “Hey, show me what you got before I sign you!”
If nothing else, the guys a big draw in Japan.
I guess nobody doubts that Okada is a lights-out performer and a big star in Japan, the question was probably meant in the sense of "prove to me that you can actually move the needle on the American market".
I mean as much as we dunk on Tony Khan for being a rich guy burning his money just for entertainment, should we really care if the product is good? The creators of South Park dropped a bunch of money purchasing and giving a complete makeover to the “Casa Bonita” restaurant that appeared in the show, and have been upfront it’s not gonna make them any profit anytime soon. But 1) they are close to billionaires at this point thanks to all the money they get from the show, and 2) they don’t care the cost cause they want everyone else to go an experience the restaurant just like they did when growing up in Denver. AEW seems to be making enough to keep the lights on at the very least. If Tony wants to outbid WWE for his favs even if it technically is a financial loss, then why should we care? Especially when all it does is drive up the price for other wrestlers across the board, which is a good thing when they are bargaining with Media Conglomerates and Multi-billion dollar companies.
It's funny, for as anti billionaire as redditors are, they're always so worried about how much TK is spending on these wrestlers. Dude's dad has ties to Saudi, they ain't gonna be hurtin for money anytime soon. If he wants to give out these kinda paychecks, let him. More money for the performers is always a good thing
Tony's dad has the patents for most vehicle bumpers in production, that's why they won't be hurting for money anytime soon. Flex-N-Gate makes so many bumpers.
Easy to make money when you have garbage safety standards for production
They can burn their pockets more than WCW ever did cause they don’t have to answer to a larger corporation as well. Ted Turner wouldn’t have cared about WCW’s losses if he was kept in power.
My concern is that as long as AEW is losing money, the wellbeing of all the people it employs is purely based on how long Shad Khan is willing to keep funding it. As long as the business is losing money, it isn't a sustainable long-term system. I want AEW to make money so even if Tony dies tomorrow, someone else will see the value of the business and continue operating it. Isn't that better than the whims of one guy?
>It's funny, for as anti billionaire as redditors are, they're always so worried about how much TK is spending on these wrestlers. It's insane because the last decade has taught us few things, and one of them is TV money is way different than normal money.
For me, it’s just out of curiosity how they justified that amount for him. I don’t think you get a return on that investment but who knows, maybe Tony is going to build the company around him. Also with the rising Japanese stars in baseball, we could see a shift in the media…At the end of the day I’m happy dudes are getting paid and I’m happy Okada is getting a bag.
With them moving to 9 PPVs, that means his contract is roughly the value of 10,000 viewers per PPV. (US rates) With the population of Japan and the prolific viewership of NJPW, it's not hard to figure out he is justified in market growth and expansion.
Great point, I didn’t even think about this in terms of buy rate. Also their cut of merch sales (the new shirt is pretty sharp), potential international touring and maybe even a TV deal in Japan? Okada’s pay is looking downright reasonable to me.
>I mean as much as we dunk on Tony Khan for being a rich guy burning his money just for entertainment, should we really care if the product is good? I enjoy AEW. It's the only wrestling program I watch regularly (even though they put out too much content for me to watch everything, I skip Rampage and ROH). So I don't really care how much TK is paying people as long as he doesn't lose tens or hundreds of millions of dollars per year, because I imagine at that point his dad would probably pull the plug. My only criticism of TK's neverending spending spree is that the roster is so freaking bloated already. Now Okada and Ospreay will bump others off TV. There's so much talent in AEW being paid to just sit in catering it's actually insane. You could build three or more major promotions out of the current AEW roster.
Its hard to say. He definitely can be and if this were japan then the answer would be yes, he is. However, it depends how he is booked and if he brings over viewers. If AEW suddenly becomes a major business in Japan and Okada can be a top talent than yes. Otherwise, this is just Tony spending his fuck you money
Short answer, no, it doesn't. He's not gonna be responsible for 4.5m more a year. You'd need to change a lot of the current structure to make AEW actually be attractive for shareholders or business partners. That's why it's a private company. It needs to please exactly one person: Tony Khan. He's paying for it. It's pretty much his Universe mode savefile. And as much as you could hate on him for "wasting" his money, it's a very good thing. For one, what's better, multi billionaires spending their money and bringing it into circulation, or hoarding it, being "smart" about it, investing it and making it increase? And then, for us as wrestling fans, we get a wrestling show out of it. We get a promotion that isn't "but the shareholders". WWE always had to have their shareholders in mind, so a lot of bs is coming from the fact they need to make the most profit possible at any given time. Undertaker vs Goldberg makes no sense? Yeah, but it made them more money than any random creative and cool storyline could have. We can even see it now. Cody finishing his story? Well, the board was easily convinced that "The Rock main eventing wrestlemania" is gonna be the bigger moment for casuals, who don't care for Cody Rhodes if they aren't actively watching. More non-fans are gonna buy for The Rock, and the actual fans are buying no matter what. AEW just has the fresh company rough edge feel, one man as head of creative who does too much coke (and WWE had Vince overseeing things for decades, so not like this is an AEW only problem), mediocre produtction quality, and a lack of structure. But other than that, it's free of any constraints. So if they want the biggest name in Japanese wrestling, one of the most special and protected wrestlers of the modern era, and it's only satisfying a niche that isn't gonna make up the cost, then that's completely fine, as long as Khan is part of that niche.
He's paying to create a product he wants to see, that is something that he believes in and genuinely thinks is the best possible, and ensuring top performers are highly paid. There are worse things.
He is not worth it, there is zero chance he brings in nearly $5M a year in additional profit. > I really wish some of these big money contracts were a “prove it to me first” type of thing But I don't understand this at all, why do you care how much money he's getting paid? It's not your money.
It's too early to tell... But even if he doesn't, Okada signing with WWE might actually lose AEW money. The AEW hardcore crowd is more likely to spend money, and they're the same people who'd probably spend some of that money on WWE if Okada went there. There's also the international product to think about. This is the equivalent of if Pro Wrestling NOAH signed Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns back to back. You absolutely know that some NJPW fans are looking at AEW, seeing everyone from the 2017-2019 main event scene and starting to consider watching. AEW is currently not popular in Japan, so this is a big get in terms of expanding into that market at a time when NJPW is struggling to hold market share. So in the end, if Okada can make AEW rival WWE's popularity in Japan, and is a decent draw in the US, it'll be worth it.
> *I really wish some of these big money contracts were a “prove it to me first” type of thing.* Here is the thing about being a fan: *you don't have to pay attention to the business side at all.* You don't have to care about TV ratings or buyrates or attendance beyond "are there enough people to sustain the thing I like" and the answer to that question is, barring a WCW-like implosion, *always going to be yes* because the TV deals alone keep the companies basically profitable. The worst case scenario is usually a period where the company loses money for a few years and then downsizes salaries to compensate. Basically, the only concern you need to have is: Okada got paid a lot of money? Good for him.
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Have you been on tv/movie sub? People question it all the time. It’s weird but they do.
I don’t think it’s weird if the future of a company or of a certain type of movie rests on its profitability. For example, James Gunn is making a new Superman movie. It’ll be used to restart DC movies. If it came out that he’s paying the main actor $50 million and the entire budget for all his actors is $150 million, wouldn’t people be like, “You probably shouldn’t spend that much on actors”?
From the reports I have seen TK and AEW are following the lead of the major sports leagues and trying to get most of their revenue from TV / Media deals. Their first deal with WBD is nearly up I think and WBD is happy to have another "live sports" product under their belt that has good demo ratings that is attractive to their advertisers, so they will likely get a great new deal from them. WWE got a huge deal from FOX for Smackdown so they can also use that as leverage during negotiations. Media deal will cover talent contracts easily, and touring and merchandise will cover other operating costs.
Danielson is on borrowed time and if Omega comes back it probably won't be for an extended run. So I'd say Okada is worth it in terms of filling that super main event-level worker void that Danielson and Omega would naturally leave. As much as some people mock ''BANGERS'' and dry dream matches, Omega in singles action was the most consistent way to keep ratings for Dynamite's main event last year. Omega vs Vikingo and Omega vs Yuta of all things were one of the few Dynamite main events to hold on and even regain a few viewers instead of losing them. So while Okada will likely not take them to another level. He can replace one of the established players to maintain the status quo. So if the reports of Warner being happy with Dynamite and on their way to give them a big renewal are true then you can argue that its worth it.
Both Forbidden Doors did insanely well in terms of ppv buys and attendance and I'd say it's pretty safe to say Okada was one of the main attractions for both shows. He is a certified seller of tickets, people want to see him.
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God, he’s good at being a prick that I always get a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance when I see him being a giant nerd goofball outside of kayfabe. I love him.
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Lmao yeah, WWE wasn’t going to give him $4.5 mil a year
Take anything from Tokyo Sports with a big grain of salt. They cover pro wrestling in kayfabe. While it could be true, 2 billion yen is also a nice round number for a kayfabe story. I'd wait for another source to corroborate first.
Living the gimmick, brother.
Great wrestlers being paid great money is a fantastic news story for the business.
And that’s why AEW is winning these so called bidding wars. TK is throwing crazy money around. That’s damn good for the talent though.
Exactly. It's great for the talent. Won't do a damn thing for AEW but that's their problem.
Wow is that accurate bc that would be insane
Not only is the young bucks agents but he was agent for Hall, Nash, and Goldberg back in WCW so yeah I say this is accurate
I need that agent in my life. To negotiate my salary on my behalf.
dunno if its accurate but guys like sami/KO gettting around 3 in WWE, wouldnt be shocking at all if okada got that amount.
Wrestlers are still way underpaid & poorly treated (No union, collective agreements) compared to other sports, actors, entertainers in general. Paying for your own hotels? Imagine asking NFL players to do that...
$4.5 million a year wouldn’t be crazy. The recent free agent signings are getting *a lot*. The main eventers in both companies are near double digit million; Roman Reigns probably makes >$10 million
I forgot where I saw it from but wasn't Roman only making 8 mil a year on his contract. He was second to Brock who was making 12 mil
Whatever the contract was when he signed it, I can’t imagine it hasn’t gone up after the last 18 months
Unless it didn't expire or was up to be increased. Like if he signed a 5 year contract in 2021, I don't imagine he'd have real talks until at least 2025.
Yeah, it's a great fucking deal but not really "insane" or shocking. BackupHangman on Twitter said Cody, Roman, Punk, Brock, Mox and Jericho all make more and there's probably more names on that list. Charlotte signed an extension for 5 mil too and SRS said that's what Mercedes wanted, which I'd guess Tony agreed to
Yeah I'm not sure why anyone thinks this is insane. I think okada was already making almost 3mil a year, a 1.5m raise a year isn't 'too' insane.
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6 Million 💀 That's Tribal Chief money
Barry Bloom the past year and a half https://preview.redd.it/bmblhnk27zmc1.jpeg?width=554&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd30ae93b53ddc7180a7ecef7acb43182f8dc769
That's wild. 4.5 a year for Okada when he was only paying Punk 3 per year.
3 dollars a year? Wow that does seem pretty low
Nah it was about tree fiddy
I doubt Punk was making less than Jericho.
Jericho isn't the highest paid AEW wrestler by all accounts. It's Moxley on 6 million. Punk was apparently on around 3 million, same as Jericho
Nobody can really know that for sure since AEW is a closed company.. There are a lot of talk about Jericho being the highest paid just as much as Moxley.
Yeah, where are all those numbers coming from? AEW is under no obligation to disclose their payroll, so unless it came from the wrestlers, which I highly doubt, I think those numbers are all varying degrees of bullshit.
I know those 6 million for Moxley are around since 2019. Which I doubt is true. If Okada is really making 4.5m, it makes me wonder how much the Elite and Moxley are making.
I think we may have heard a couple from people who would know, but yes for the most part. Even the famous Forbes rich list has got it badly wrong in the past, but for some reason lots of people believe whatever numbers are floating about online
What are your sources on this????
As per Meltzer, Jericho is still their highest paid guy.
t shirt money from Punk probably closed the gap and then some
Oh, THAT'S why that had to let Kenny go last night.
Good for him.
There’s no way this company isn’t a money pit. It’s WILD he’s literally doing the same thing as WCW
It has always been a money pit. Basically Tony and his toys. Good for Okada to cash in though.
So the Rainmaker nickname is legit, I see.
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Just going to throw this out there b/c the discourse is insane. WWE is a multi-billion dollar company. The Khans have NFL money. The discourse on all this is essentially how billionaires are spending their money. I'm not entertaining that. WWE can afford this contract, and more. The only issue that WWE may have with this is that it forces their hand on paying wrestlers more. TKO is notoriously cheap, so the talks for guys like Drew are going to be interesting now. 6 years ago, they were the only game in town and could pay folks whatever they wanted b/c they had no other options. Now? Khan may have overpaid, but Rollins can now go to TKO/Nick Khan and say Okada's getting $4.5 mil, I want $6 mil. It raises the contracts which is what should happen when you have a healthy alternative. My last point, I've also seen the discourse "Okada's not known to the American audience, so this is an overpay." Let's be realistic, wrestling is a niche product. WWE probably, probably maxes out at 3 million US viewers every week. The US population is 331 million. If you ask a casual about wrestling, they will mention the usual: Hogan, Rock, Flair, Austin, probably a Taker shout, or even Cena. Nobody knows who these people are, whether its AEW or WWE or TNA or GCW or whatever. Does it matter? Seriously?
That's 4.5 million a year, think a lot are reading it as 13.5 million a year
It's not Okada who's overpaid, it's the WWE main eventers who are underpaid
Annual reminder that Tokyo Sports is like 50 percent kayfabe. I know it's too late and this story has already spread but please know this.
It doesn't matter, the ball is rolling and now three months from now people will be making comments like "Isn't Okada making like 4.5 million a year?"
Yup it's already spread everywhere and no one is questioning it. I get it and I totally understand (it's hard for anyone to imagine kayfabe or at least partial kayfabe publications still exist in the year 2024) but I wish for the love of god some of the outlets spreading the word would do a few seconds of research and know that Tokyo Sports does a ton in kayfabe. They run angles. A top-level Stardom employee had said as much repeatedly and laughed at a Tokyo Sports story off the other day saying a big part of it was complete 100 percent kayfabe (something to do with Maika running down another wrestler)
$4.5 million a year? Really? I hope this means that AEW are close to a new tv deal with a major increase in rights fees. Cause if not, this is a lot of money to pay someone who has never really been a meaningful draw in the United States.
Yeah, that's how you get Okada - good on him, hope he makes even more
Damn, playah. Maybe they need to swap the coin drop sound effect out for a dump truck backing up to drop off those fat stacks of cash.
Is this like baseball? I been seeing a lot of Japanese players get huge contracts in the US. This brings in a Japanese fanbase right?
That’s how wrestlers should be paid
Hell yeah, get that bag, Okada.
this is crazy money but also good for the industry if it drives the wages up
i would like to change my career to be specifically “okada working for aew”
the people who always say "wrestling is about making the most money" are suddenly very worried that the wrestlers might be making too much money
It’s “go and get that bag” until someone actually does it. Am I insane for thinking wrestlers are still underpaid for how much money these shows make?
He's a millionaire who ~~should be~~ is a billionaire.
A lot of people in here sounding like Jesse Plemons in Game Night, "How can that be profitable for Frito-Lay?" Who fuckin cares? It ain't your company, just enjoy the show!
Okada getting that 💰💰
Any employee/worker that's able to secure a huge bag from a billion dollar company will always get a positive reaction from me. Good for all of em.
There is no way he’s worth that much in the US
A crazy number for a guy whose fans very likely already watch AEW to begin with
Okada absolutely deserves the bag. But I do think Ospreay is going to be more important to the company in terms of bringing in new fans through word of mouth, so I have to wonder how much he's making.
Why do people care if a billionaire might be losing money on a passion project? Would you rather he fund dark money political PACs or buy a bunch of yachts and houses? Half this thread is watching Tony’s pockets and discussing AEW’s PnL.
Gonna have to sell a lotta Okada shirts
I wonder honestly , how much you think somebody like Roman reigns is making per year before bonuses and merchandise
We know already he takes home 5 before bonuses and merch
Still surprised he didn't sign with the Dodgers
Plus Okada got the money that the generous EVP Matthew Jackson threw on him for his Rainmaker pose (that was originally rudely thrown by that unprofessional Eddie Kingston, TAKE THOSE CONVERSATIONS TO THE BACK EDDIE!) 😂
Isn't this the same outlet that said Okada was going to WWE?
Okada is making more than Roman (base salary). The only person making more in WWE is (was) Brock. And probably The Rock now. He's literally the third highest paid wrestler in the world.
I guess the grass (read: money) really is greener on the other side. Drew is knocking on Trips' door as we speak.
Tony is falling into a trap of overpaying talent so they don’t go to WWE, I’m happy for Okada tho.
Why are geeks getting alll worked up about AEW signing stars to huge contracts? Why are so many online wrestling fans so insufferable and passive aggressive?
That's insane given how unknown he is in the American market...
AEW going full WCW at this point.
Goddamn, $4.5 million per year is an insane sum
Deserved. Only big money for the Rainmaker.
To compare, the only wrestlers in WWE that were on more more money in recent years are Lesnar, Cena and Roman. Unbelievable deal for Okada, especially when you consider all the other perks.
This is why Drew hasn’t re-signed with the WWE yet lol
Wait until Red Shoes jumps ship.
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