Bobby Lashley will not be working the Liga Elite tournament for start-up promotion Lucha Libre Elite in Mexico. The Wrestling Observer newsletter reports that one promoter that had booked Lashley in the past said that TNA wanted $6,000 for Lashley. For those of you not aware of how some of TNA’s deals work, TNA has been signing talent to deals that allow TNA to control their bookings. For example, a wrestler could sign for $100,000 but they TNA would be able to book them out to independent promotions. The idea here is that they would eventually make money back when they book their talent out to indy promotions.
Moose’s contract is somewhere between $80,000 to $100,000 for his first year and $96,000 in his second year and TNA would be allowed to book him out to indy promotions for 110 dates. TNA sources say that those numbers are high and their claim is that he’s making $75,000 per year. TNA’s job is to get him booked for 110 shows and, in theory, they should make back the money they are paying him.
In the case of Lashley, $6,000 is a lot more than what Lashley was charging before TNA took over his bookings. We don’t know for sure if this is why he was pulled from the tournament in Mexico but I can see why the price would be a problem for some promotions, especially when they are asking to go above their budget for talent that is working for a company that has lost a ton of steam in recent years. If they were getting a name that was just released from WWE, then I could see them paying $6,000 per show. He was also pulled from several other independent shows including one in Puerto Rico.
For Lashley, this is not a bad deal. He’s been pulled from these shows but, under the terms of his TNA contract, he is still getting paid his guaranteed money. TNA is essentially costing themselves money by pricing themselves out.
