Putting the WWE and UFC under the same umbrella is an opportunity for underpaid wrestlers and fighters.
WWE has a new owner. While the McMahon family will still retain major roles in the empire Vince built, the whole show will now be run by Endeavor.
If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Endeavor was the top bidder for majority control of the UFC in 2016. Five years later, it bought out minority stakeholders for full control at a combined cost of $5.6 billion. Now it’s adding the scripted side of combat sports at a reported price of more than $9 billion.
That’s a massive amount of cash. History suggests comparatively little will trickle down to the wrestlers themselves.
The UFC has one of the worst revenue sharing setups among major sports. While the NBA, NFL and MLB all run on deals that split accrued cash between players and ownership at roughly a 50-50 rate, the UFC’s independent contractors only take home 20 percent of the company’s revenue each year. When company president Dana White — a man Endeavor kept at the helm after acquiring the company — was asked about whether raises were forthcoming, he was quick to stomp out any notion of better wages for the guys who create the product he promotes.
“It’s never gonna happen while I’m here,” he told GQ Magazine in 2022. “Believe me, these guys get paid what they’re supposed to get paid. They eat what they kill.”
This is a problem for WWE wrestlers, who fall under the same nebulous “independent contractors” designation as UFC fighters. Per Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the former headliner turned Chief Content Officer, main roster “superstars,” as they’re called, make at least $250,000 annually. That’s a lot of money, but these wrestlers also have to pay their way across the country as part of a barnstorming show; WWE reportedly doesn’t pay for lodging or transportation for the majority of its roster. In-ring injuries are covered, but personal health insurance is not.
That leaves a lot of holes from a company that brought in $1.3 billion in revenue last year. WWE counts 224 active wrestlers on its Superstars page, including members of its feeder league NXT. Even if we assume the average salary across the board is $500,000, that comes out to $112 million in salaries — or eight percent of the company’s annual revenue.
The actual number is higher than that thanks to megastar deals and various benefits, bringing in one-off talent and retaining the services of semi-retired veterans through “Legends” deals. Still, longtime wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer pegged WWE’s revenue split at less than 10 percent for talent just last year. It’s clear there’s room for compensation to grow to create a more stable future for the athletes who risk their wellbeing to prop up a company in service of their dreams of stardom.
Unionization would help these wrestlers and fighters gain leverage in an arena where they’ve traditionally had little. Fighters and wrestlers at the top of the card occasionally get to negotiate their way to big deals — White was quick to admit the biggest stars get a cut of pay-per-view sales for headlining UFC cards — but the men and women stuck anywhere below that highest tier wind up settling for less in a trade where one bad night can end their entire careers.
This would go deeper than just compensation, health care (which the UFC also provides for its fighters, though only up to $50,000 and only for injuries officially designated as specifically MMA related) and retirement planning. Despite being labeled as “independent,” wrestlers and fighters under contract have little freedom to ply their trade elsewhere.
If they’re not being utilized on screen they can’t jump to rivals like AEW or Impact until their deal expires — and sometimes these contracts can be extended for nebulous reasons. WWE talent was banned from using Twitch as a source to supplement their income before that edict was lifted last year. In many cases, the company has acted to ensure its talent can’t generate income without cutting out its own slice first. That’s a questionable strategy to begin with, but one that gets more exasperating when you consider the people it’s juicing aren’t even technically employees.
Maybe these grimy practices end with new management in place. Or maybe Endeavor, the company that effectively shrugged and kept White in charge with minimal discipline after video emerged of him striking his wife earlier this year, carves a path for Vince McMahon to re-assume his throne and enact whatever policies he sees fit. If WWE decides to crack down on outside income streams again, there’s little its independent contractors can do to fight it but wait out the end of their contracts and hope those deals aren’t extended against their will.
[We’ve barely touched on UFC fighter pay as well, where six different fighters on the UFC 286 card took home $16,000 or less in guaranteed pay despite months of training and the fees associated with it. Like the WWE, the UFC stifled fighters’ ability to monetize their careers after implementing a uniform that stripped away sponsorship opportunities.]
That’s where a union would help. Pro wrestling has certainly improved in its ability to take care of its talent in the ring and out. The horror stories that once followed the industry like a shadow have slowed to a trickle. WWE takes better care of its wrestlers now than arguably ever before.
This doesn’t mean things can’t improve, especially for the men and women in the middle and bottom of the card putting on bangers and failing to get paid what they’re worth. Putting the UFC and WWE under the same umbrella allows contractors from both sides to link up and demand more. An equitable piece of the pie for the people who put their health at risk to put on a show.
That’s an uphill battle. Unionization efforts have sputtered out before. White and McMahon know that taking care of the stars at the top of their cards can squash these organization drives out before they can even start.
But the opportunity is there. The reward is a better life for wrestlers and fighters throughout the Endeavor umbrella.
