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HOW PAY FOR WRESTLERS WORKS, DID DEREK BATEMAN NEED TO FAIL TO SUCCEED AS EC3, CENA AS U.S. CHAMP AND MORE

I will use TNA as an example for this scenario.. But, say a wrestler gets paid $500 "per appearance" and they work a TNA TV taping, and say the company tapes 4 shows in that one night taping.. And, that wrestler has a match on each of the 4 shows.. Does he only get paid $500 for all of the 4 shows since it was done in one night? Or, does he get $2000 because technically he made 4 appearances for what's supposed to be 4 different shows? Also another question, say the wrestler is on a "pay per appearance" deal and, TNA has a show, but the only thing the wrestler is there for is a 1 minute promo and that's it, as opposed to a 15 minute match, does he still get paid the same money as if he were to wrestle?? Also, one last question, say TNA brings in a "pay per appearance" wrestler to a show but, he gets there and plans change and, they don't use him.. Do they still pay him/her or have to pay him/her?

It really depends on the talent and the deal they have with the company. In TNA's case, when wrestlers work multiple matches in one night for TV, they are compensated for it. Wrestlers don't get additional pay for longer matches. If they are brought in and not used they are paid.

Do you think TNA should try to get rid of most of their contracted talent (maybe keep 15) and, just use a rotating cycle of people on "pay per appearance" deals?? It would be a double-edged sword because, you couldn't really establish anyone but, it would keep the shows fresh and, it would separate themselves from other companies, where you see the same guys over-and-over.. And it would give TNA shows/tapings the feeling of "who is going to show up?"

I think that with the exception of a select few talents (Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, EC3, etc.) that's exactly the direction TNA appears to be going in.

Ever since Cena won the U.S Title, his segments and matches have been one the more consistent best parts of Raw.. But, doesn't it get a little old with the whole "You hung in there, kid" "You almost beat me" "Your going to be a star one day" act that goes on when guys wrestle him.. I mean, it's like WWE will build a young/new/repackaged/fresh guy up but, as soon as they meet Cena (especially a babyface) they get treated like once they wrestle Cena, they hang in there, give him everything he can handle and more, only to not be good enough to win, and then it's like they do no follow-up with the guy to get him back to a half-way prominent level.. As much as I like Owens, doesn't it seem like the booking of him vs. Cena in the lead up to their rubber-match has pretty much told us that, it looks like Owens is giving him a close fight only to lose.. Or, it looks like it'll be a no-contest, leading to a gimmick-match at SummerSlam that culminates in "sending the fans home happy" with Cena overcoming the bad guy and moving on to the next guy..

I've enjoyed the hell out of the Cena as United States champion era because it's brought in a nice series of good to great competitive bouts and also a feeling of "what can happen this week?" that has been lost in pro wrestling a lot in this era. It's established Kevin Owens and brought Cesaro back to the mix. That is a good thing.

Watching the never-ending season 3 of NXT.. At that time, did you think that Derrick Bateman had EC3 in him?? I remember thinking to myself that the guy was a joke and, then when he started in TNA, I was like, "Are you serious?" But, honestly would you say now, that EC3 as far as a character, talker, wrestler, and just overall talent, is one of the better guys in the business?? That guy has "SuperStar" written all over him..

I think his WWE release and frustrations fueled who he is now as a character and probably a person. He needed the WWE experience to get to be EC3.

I saw a question about the Hogan/Bischoff regime in TNA not being successful.. While it wasn't near what TNA and maybe some people thought it would be.. I thought TNA hit a home-run with TNA ReAction.. That show to me was ground-breaking and I loved the feel of the show.. Do you think TNA should bring that back?? Also, would you say the best run of the Hogan/Bischoff TNA Era was Bobby Roode's 9 month title reign?? I honestly thought Roode's heel work during that time as champion was AWESOME! I wish they wouldn't of took the belt off of him until Storm/Roode at BFG of that year..

I enjoyed Reaction and Roode was good as a heel champion, but let's not forget that TNA had everyone primed to see him as a major babyface and then Hulk Hogan made the call to drop that out of nowhere. That sort of thing only served to let the audience down.

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