Matt Hardy has revealed the dollar-for-dollar breakdown of his first two WWE contracts, telling the latest episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy that his developmental deal in early 1998 was $300 a week with $300 per appearance, and that his first full-roster five-year deal in early 1999 maxed out at $200,000 in year three.
The breakdown came during a long money-themed conversation on the show, where Hardy walked through his entire WWE earnings trajectory. He started with the $150-a-night enhancement-talent rate he and Jeff Hardy were on when they first started doing WWE TV in 1994 through Chief Jay Strongbow.
“Even getting our foot in the door at WWE, as extra work, as enhancement talent, we would make $150 a night. That was the original deal. The first time we ever went was the anniversary’s coming up was May 23, 1994, so now it’s going to be 32 years in just a few days since the first time I ever wrestled a match in a WWE ring, which is wild. We make $150 bucks a night. We do RAW on Monday, Tuesday would be Superstars, and Wednesday would be Wrestling Challenge, and they would take, you know, four or five weeks’ worth of content on each one of those shows.”
The developmental deal followed years later. Hardy laid out the terms.
“Early in 98, in late February, early March, 1998, they came to us, and Jim Ross and Bruce Prichard offered contracts. And our contract that we signed was a developmental deal. And our developmental deal would be, this was our initial developmental deal, our first contract, it was $300 a week, and then we would make $300 per appearance. So if we wrestled anywhere, it was $300 if they would book us. So that was the first deal that we were on. Officially, $300 a week and $300 per appearance.”
He walked through the perks and shortfalls on the developmental deal.
“When we were a developmental act, we had our rental cars paid for, and sometimes we couldn’t get them because it wasn’t 25, so sometimes we had to, like, you know, get signed them over to the head bangers and have those guys drop us around. Or whoever. Sometimes we caught rides. We caught rides with the New Age Outlaws a couple times. And our hotels were also paid for at that time on the developmental deal.”
The Hardy Boyz signed their first full-roster deal in early 1999 after a hot run of house show matches with Edge and Christian convinced WWE to give them new identities and Michael Hayes as a manager. Hardy laid out the contract year by year.
“We signed a regular deal, which was five years. It was a five-year deal, $75,000, $75,000, year $200,000, year three, $125, year four, $150, year five. And that was your downside guarantee. We’re guaranteed to make 75. If one of our bookings didn’t equal up to 75, if we made 69,000 at the end of the year, then they owed us $6,000 more.”
He confirmed the hotel coverage changed once they came off developmental.
“Once we signed a regular contract, our contract was smaller. They picked up our hotels at TV. But then when we were on the road doing house shows, we had to pay for our own hotels. But we still got rental cars. We still got rental cars for about the first year of that first contract.”
Hardy said WWE eventually pulled the rental car perk back too.
“They were making so much money, they took it. They took it away from us.”
The Matt and Jeff Hardy deal numbers translate to about $150,000 in 2026 dollars for the year-one and year-two downside guarantees, and roughly $400,000 in 2026 dollars for the $200,000 year-three peak.
“When there were actual downside guarantees, where you had a safety net, like you won’t, you’re promised you won’t fall below this, was great. But then, you know, there’s no limit to how much you can make if you’re good and you’re successful.”
If you use quotes from this article, please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy and include a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
