Ask anybody who's ever seriously stepped foot inside a wrestling ring, and they'll tell you: it's not easy work. Anybody who puts their body on the line to entertain fans deserves to reap rewards for their labor, and it's always hard to begrudge anybody making an honest living.
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With that said, WCW (and "ATM Eric" Bischoff, in particular) was a little too laid-back with its pens in the late 1990s. When the company was briefly on top of the North American wrestling scene from 1996-'98, it was turning such a profit that a few hundred thousand dollars here or there might have seemed like chump change. However, so much gets written about the financial burden of the humongous salaries paid to major stars that the company wasted (e.g. Bret Hart, Master P), that some of their lesser - but just as ridiculous - contracts extended to mid-carders go overlooked.
10 Van Hammer - Over $200,000 In 1999
Van Hammer never rose above the mid-card during his nearly decade-long (sans two tryout matches with WWE in '93). However, by 1999, the muscular Maryland native was earning a cool $200k per year in a comfortable, long-term role jobbing - aside from the occasional television win over the likes of Kenny Kaos, Johnny Swinger and Bull Pain.
While Hammer - at that point, working a "serious" gimmick for the first time in a while after leaving Raven's Flock to become a stereotypically tye-dyed "hippie" for a few months - at least wrestled a considerable number of matches throughout his career (unlike some others on this list) for the company, WCW could've found cheaper labor here and it wouldn't have made a difference.
9 Ed Leslie - $150,000 to $200,000 Annually From 1996-99 (Ascending)
Ed Leslie has been a punchline for so long that it's probably difficult for some to believe that there was a time - circa 1989 in WWE, to be specific - where his most well-known character, Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake, was a top upper mid-carder for a hot company.
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However, when Leslie came to WCW shortly after his best buddy Hulk Hogan in 1994, he couldn't bring the gimmick with him, which led to several years of laughable gimmicks and increasingly-embarrassing performances. By the late '90s, he landed on perhaps his most life-like personality yet: Hogan's "Disciple," which essentially was a glorified bodyguard. Sure, it was nice of the Hulkster to ensure that his erstwhile "brother" was getting paid, but it's hard to believe that by 1999, Leslie was making $200k to lose a few times a month on Saturday Night and Worldwide.
8 Konnan - Nearly $500,000 Annually From 1998-2000
It's not that Konnan wasn't a good wrestler, because in his younger days - especially his time in Mexico in the early '90s - he was quite athletic and had some very exciting matches. He was charismatic too, as K-Dogg managed to cram multiple crowd-inclusive catchphrases into the same promos regularly year-over-year.
By 1998 into 1999, however, the workhorse's place in the reunited nWo had been exterminated. Despite attempts to push Konnan as leader of the Filthy Animals and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it tag title run with Rey Mysterio, the part-time rapper/telenovela star began wrestling considerably less in 2000 (including a three-month suspension for asking for his release - this was WCW after all), while still commanding half a million dollars a year in salary.
7 Stevie Ray - Nearly $650,000 In 1999
While nobody would ever confuse Stevie Ray for his brother and Harlem Heat tag partner Booker T, he was a more-than-capable bruiser half of a classic team. And like many duos from throughout wrestling history, many assumed that eventually they'd split up and try their respective hands at singles action. However, it took years - and an injury to Stevie - for that to happen.
Booker spent a significant portion of the year's first half as Television Champion while Stevie was leading the nWo B-Team. Hence, their reunion in the second half - eventually leading to one of the dumbest gimmick matches ever at SuperBrawl 2000 - felt like a brotherly gift. Even more baffling: for 1999, Stevie managed to out-earn his brother by nearly a thousand dollars!
6 Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart - Nearly $500,000 Between Them In 1998
Speaking of gifts and favors, when "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith and Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart followed their brother-in-law Bret Hart out the WWE door in the wake of the Montreal Screwjob in late 1997. Thus, it would've been pretty rude if the "Hitman" didn't put in a good word for his Hart Foundation comrades upon his arrival in WCW.
While both men were past their primes and had other "demons" holding them back, it appeared (as demonstrated by the company's lazy, misspelled graphics in the above images) as if the creative team never intended to give either a chance. Each wrestled 40+ matches in 1998, trading wins and losses with other mid-carders but never making much of an impact. They were both released that October after the Bulldog infamously suffered a severe back injury thanks to one of the Warrior's hidden trap doors built into the ring apron.
5 Ray Traylor - Over $200,000 Annually From 1996-1998
At his peak, Ray "Big Boss Man" Traylor was an underrated big man: a legit 6'6", 300-pounder whose agility and speed rivaled that of others like Bam Bam Bigelow. Moreover, especially as a babyface in the early 1990s in WWE, the Boss Man showed he had real working-class charisma in feuds with Mr. Perfect and The Mountie, but chose to move on to WCW in 1993.
Unfortunately, WWE's lawyers were a little upset that when he made his debut, his gimmick and name "The Boss" were a little too close to their trademarks. After a few months of silliness regarding his moniker (including a short stint being billed as simply "The Man" - we're not kidding), Traylor became "Big Bubba Rogers" for the first time in several years. However, by the late 1990s, virtually any name recognition and cache he once enjoyed from his WWE days was long gone.
4 Brian Adams - Almost $250,000 Annually From 1998-2000
Aside from a few brief career highlights, Brian "Crush" Adams is primarily remembered as one of many promising '90s big men whose lack of charisma made it tough to stand out, no matter how many times he was repackaged or switched companies.
Another friend of Bret Hart's who'd worn out his welcome in WWE by 1998, Adams came in as an "enforcer" for the nWo when the group was already bloated and oversaturating WCW programming. After about a year of wearing the Black and White, management chose him to briefly portray the KISS Demon (before quickly being replaced by Dale Torborg). While a partnership with Bryan Clark as Kronik - and a newly-chiseled look - helped raise some eyebrows in 2000, the company was already a sinking ship. After a disastrous WWE appearance during the Invasion storyline, he disappeared from mainstream American wrestling for good.
3 Alex Wright - Nearly $400,000 Annually In 1999/2000
"Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright was only 19 years old when he was discovered by WCW while on a German tour in 1994. When he made his debut for the company that September, the handsome and athletic son of European star Steve Wright looked to have a future in its blossoming Cruiserweight Division through 1996 and beyond.
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However, after a few years of good-but-unmemorable matches and character work, Wright went through a dramatic repackaging as the stereotypically evil German Berlyn. To say this was a failure is putting it mildly: it was a gimmick straight out of the '80s, and Wright, who was pocketing hundreds of thousands of Euros at the time, never recovered.
2 Tank Abbott - $700,000 Between the Very End Of 1999 and 2000
In the grand scheme of WCW signings from outside the wrestling world in the late 1990s, Tank Abbott had potential: the early UFC star and toughman brought a kind of weird charisma and legitimacy that, on paper, seemed like it would fit the wacky world of professional wrestling perfectly.
Unfortunately, the company got an early taste of a lesson that many promoters since have still had a hard time grasping: wrestling fans like wrestling, and while MMA (and to a lesser extent, boxing) and sports entertainment have some things in common, there are a lot of intangibles that quickly led Abbott from being seriously considered as WCW Champion (although this suggestion did get Vince Russo sent home at one point...) to a dancing fool with 3 Count.
1 Kevin "Nailz" Wacholz - Nearly $250,000 Between 1997-98
It's somewhat unbelievable that somebody who wrestled only twice - once defeating Yuji Nagata in a dark match on an October 1997 Nitro, and the other in a victory over Barry Darsow at an April 1998 house show in South Dakota - could bank $250 grand from a responsible major wrestling company at any point in history. But who said WCW in the late 1990s was responsible?
Unless you were watching WWE during a specific few months you might have no idea who "Nailz" is. That, however, didn't stop WCW from bringing him in twice: the first immediately following his initial release (and confrontation with Vince McMahon) as a last-minute surprise opponent for Sting at Slamboree '93. While not much else is known about exactly why Wacholz managed to stick on the company's payroll for so long while doing so little, it's one of the biggest wastes of money in its history - which is saying something!
