WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash reflected on the monumental shift in professional wrestling contracts that he and Scott Hall spearheaded when they left the WWF for WCW in the mid-1990s. On his “Kliq This” podcast, Nash detailed the move from minimal guarantees to the multi-year, high-value guaranteed deals that changed the industry’s financial landscape. Guaranteed contracts existed before 1996 (Lex Luger had one in 1988) but you didn’t see them offered as much until Hall and Nash’s jump to WCW.
The discussion was prompted by a question about WWE contracts. Nash explained how different the structure was before their move. “There was no such thing as a downside guarantee,” he said, before clarifying. “Well, there was a bullsh*t guarantee of like, $1,500 or something like that.” Co-host Sean Oliver added, “You were guaranteed. Your guarantee was 10 events at $150.”
Nash explained that he and Hall completely changed that paradigm. “We just, we got a flat-out guarantee,” he said of their initial WCW deal. “Vince then came back with the guarantee [for WWF talent in the 90s], and then once WCW went out of order… you couldn’t put the f**king genie back in the bottle, right? There was no way anybody was gonna go back to f**king $1,500 guarantees.”
Their initial three-year deal with WCW was incremental, reportedly starting around $750,000 and increasing each year. That, however, was just the beginning. “That was, like the first deal we got. And then that changed within as soon as they pulled that stupid f**king fake Diesel and Razor [lookalikes],” Nash said, explaining their leverage increased immediately. “We got a f**king big bump on that. We’re making… we got longer, longer time, and we’re making seven figures.”
He also mentioned their use of a “Favored Nations” clause. “If someone came in and made more than us, then… we got matched,” he explained. He noted they were “always in the process of renegotiating our deals,” using offers to other top stars like Hulk Hogan as leverage to improve their own contracts, a business-savvy approach that helped set a new standard for top-tier talent compensation in wrestling.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Kliq This TV with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
