WWE Hall Of Famer The Latest Victim Of Budget Cuts

[Jack-Hammer]

According to PWInsider.com, WWE has released Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat as part of company wide budget cuts that've been going on for the past 6 weeks or so. Ricky Steamboat has been working as a coach in NXT and in the WWE offices with Triple H in Talent Relations. Steamboat is currently, reportedly, due to appear at several conventions and various non WWE DVD projects in the coming months.

 

[Reflection]

I guess Ricky served his purpose. There are lots of new talent- future stars and future champions, so there isn't any need for a specialized recruiter in the next couple of years at the very least.
Similarly, the talent that are already there in NXT have also matured a lot and got a lot of exposure and interaction with the fans, so there is no need for a coach either.
Ricky too would be happy that he got a job in the field that he loves and specialises in, for this long at this age. He must have saved enough money to spend the rest of his life without hardship.
So overall, no harm for anyone involved, by my understanding.

 

[oldschool4ever]

are you serious, so you release a veteran who has recruited excellent talent because of budget cuts. how about they not pay brock overhyped lesnar so much to wrestle twice a year. lets see, i bet HHH and stephanie are both collecting in ring performer salaries, they keep kofi kingston around for battle royals and the royal rumble just so they can have him avoid being eliminated in some amazing way and then 5 minutes later he gets eliminated. im sure steamboat will find a nice job in TNA, i dont particularly think their product is stellar but at least they give people jobs

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The writing was on the wall for Ricky when his kid got injured... then released.

Ricky was "good" at what he did but now the Performance Centre and recruitment model is in place they don't NEED a guy like him to go and actively recruit talent... anyone with half a brain ( more than Sid anyway) and a real desire will WANT to go there... even guys like KENTA and Devitt, for all their posturing were chomping at the bit, they just didn't want to go in on the bottom rung.

Ricky has had a good career with WWE all told, his in ring time was great first and third time (real inspiration to a lot of guys in the locker room to do what he did with Jericho) but his 2nd sucked cos of politics...

Remember Ricky is also the guy who WAAAAAAYYYY back when fucked the IC title and Vince off to go and babysit Richie... Sure Vince isn't THAT vindictive, but when Richie didn't pan out as hoped and there's a "legend" or staff member to be cut, that 1987 period will come into Vince's mind before Malenko, Arn etc...

 

[Slash-LN]

What are they paying guys like Hogan and Flair? Enough that it would make a difference if they weren't there? More than Steamboat I'm guessing.

As oldschool4ever said what's the point of paying guys like Lesnar and The Rock large sums of money to come work part time. Surely they're making more money than Steamboat.

Does their presence on a pay per view boost sales enough to make up for their salaries? Could the company do around the same number if they aren't there? Did people buy Wrestlemania for no other reason than to see The Rock, Hogan and Stone Cold stand in the ring to talk?

Obviously if WWE actually makes money on the money they pay out for part timers then by all means they should continue paying them those large sums.

If not then that's where they should have started with the roster cuts.
Then off camera people that are doing nothing for the company and are just there to collect a check.
Then the wrestlers that don't bring much if anything to the company's bottom line.

That's probably why I don't run a business though.

 

[therockiswwf]

This is due to the network and nothing more. Saying it is due to Rock or Lesnar (or other part-timers) is a bit misguided.

WWE is a multimillion (billion?) corporation. Rock and Lesnar probably both make around 5 million. I don't think the other-partimers come even close to that.

With the loss of PPV revenue to offset the cost of the Network, they lost (according to the reports) I think around 350 million dollars so far. The ten million that Lesnar and Rock make (though don't forget, Rock did not wrestle this year and was probably paid way less than normal for his appearance at Wrestlemania 30) are definitely not enough to cause massive, widespread budget cuts.

Once the Network finally launches worldwide, the WWE should become more stable. But in my mind, this has nothing to do with the part-timers. As their contracts in the large scheme of things, are absolutely nothing.

 

[Slash-LN]

This is due to the network and nothing more. Saying it is due to Rock or Lesnar (or other part-timers) is a bit misguided.

WWE is a multimillion (billion?) corporation. Rock and Lesnar probably both make around 5 million. I don't think the other-partimers come even close to that.

With the loss of PPV revenue to offset the cost of the Network, they lost (according to the reports) I think around 350 million dollars so far. The ten million that Lesnar and Rock make (though don't forget, Rock did not wrestle this year and was probably paid way less than normal for his appearance at Wrestlemania 30) are definitely not enough to cause massive, widespread budget cuts.

Once the Network finally launches worldwide, the WWE should become more stable. But in my mind, this has nothing to do with the part-timers. As their contracts in the large scheme of things, are absolutely nothing.

I'm not saying it's due to those guys. I'm saying Ricky Steamboat probably made less than those guys.

So unless those guys are bringing in more than what they're being paid then it would be logical to not spend the money for them.

Steamboat's salary vs. Let's go with the 5 million for Brock. Steamboat could work for the company another 10 years and not make what Brock is likely making in a year.

Plus the Rock is talking about wanting to have a match at some point and I'm sure he'll get paid more than whatever Steamboat would have made this year.

You have Brock, Jericho (who I doubt is making what Brock is but is probably making more than Steamboat) whatever Hogan and Flair are making for whatever they're doing for the company. PR and stuff. The Undertaker if he wrestles at Mania again. Add pay per view bonuses. That all stacks up a lot. If they don't make the money back they spend on those guys then there's no reason to keep them.

If they are making they're getting a good return on their investment then by all means keep those guys around.

After that part is figured out. If it's beneficial or not then move on to the backstage people and full time wrestlers who aren't bringing in business or contributing too much.

 

[Navi]

Shame to see that someone like Ricky Steamboat has to pay with his job for the WWE's stupidity.

I think it is the network that is causing all of this crap, and a lot of it could have been avoided if they had made it available to everyone, and not just the US. I live about 2 hours north of the US border and can't get the network. By all reports by the time it is available the price will have doubled.

All they've done is just piss people off immensely by geolocking it. When they saw they weren't going to get the amount of subscribers they needed it should have been rolled out to other countries.

A lot of people I know who live overseas have said, if it had been available right away they would have joined. Now, screw the WWE, they will continue to download the shows and PPV's, so even if they get the network tomorrow, the WWE can pound sand.

It wasn't a great business decision. Sorry for the rant, but it is a shame that wrestlers who have devoted a large part of their lives to this company, have to pay for their bad decisions.

 

[therockiswwf]

Shame to see that someone like Ricky Steamboat has to pay with his job for the WWE's stupidity.

I think it is the network that is causing all of this crap, and a lot of it could have been avoided if they had made it available to everyone, and not just the US. I live about 2 hours north of the US border and can't get the network. By all reports by the time it is available the price will have doubled.

All they've done is just piss people off immensely by geolocking it. When they saw they weren't going to get the amount of subscribers they needed it should have been rolled out to other countries.

A lot of people I know who live overseas have said, if it had been available right away they would have joined. Now, screw the WWE, they will continue to download the shows and PPV's, so even if they get the network tomorrow, the WWE can pound sand.

Just a quick note here, the WWE Network did not launch worldwide because they didn't want to, it is because they couldn't.

The Network couldn't even handle the beginning launch in the US (but that was to be expected as these type of things always do that at launch). They need to get more servers or whatever in order for it to handle a worldwide release. Doing that takes a long time and is not easy. Plus it is very costly to do so.

Do you really think a businessman like Vince would only launch the Network in the US and miss the opportunity to have the world buy the Network, by choice?

 

[WarroBODFan]

That's a shame to hear it's had to come to this. Meanwhile, I don't even want to know how much money Flo-Rida will be getting for performing on Raw tomorrow. I'm not pinning it all on that believe me, but it's one example of an unnecessary expense that the WWE will be spending on.

 

[therockiswwf]

I'm not saying it's due to those guys. I'm saying Ricky Steamboat probably made less than those guys.

So unless those guys are bringing in more than what they're being paid then it would be logical to not spend the money for them.

Steamboat's salary vs. Let's go with the 5 million for Brock. Steamboat could work for the company another 10 years and not make what Brock is likely making in a year.

Plus the Rock is talking about wanting to have a match at some point and I'm sure he'll get paid more than whatever Steamboat would have made this year.

You have Brock, Jericho (who I doubt is making what Brock is but is probably making more than Steamboat) whatever Hogan and Flair are making for whatever they're doing for the company. PR and stuff. The Undertaker if he wrestles at Mania again. Add pay per view bonuses. That all stacks up a lot. If they don't make the money back they spend on those guys then there's no reason to keep them.

If they are making they're getting a good return on their investment then by all means keep those guys around.

After that part is figured out. If it's beneficial or not then move on to the backstage people and full time wrestlers who aren't bringing in business or contributing too much.

I don't know how PPV bonuses will even work anymore due to the Network. I wonder if they even still give them now.

Bringing those part time guys back is a great a move as it compels people to buy the Network in order to see guys who don't appear a lot and only wrestle on PPVs. Would Rock/Lesnar vs Cena compel the casual fan to buy the Network or would Cena vs regular roster guy be more compelling? That is a huge plus for the part-time guys. Instead of compelling you to buy one PPV now, you will buy six and subscribe. The WWE hopes this would lead you to getting hooked on the Network and become a continuous subscriber.

If the WWE were constantly losing money like this then I would start cutting the part-time guys. As of right now, the part-timers other than Rock and Lesnar probably are not making any noticeable impact on WWE's financials. Put it this way, before the Network, WWE was able to both have extra non-used talent and part-time guys with no problem. Since the Network, the budget became a problem. I'm sure WWE is not in a position where they have to choose between Rock or a bunch of non-used guys/behind the scene guys.

The Network lost 350 million dollars. The part-timers cost at the very maximum (lets say Hogan, Jericho, Lesnar, Taker, Rock, Flair) 15-20 million dollars top.

Take the end of year revenue from 2013 for the WWE (keep in mind this included costs of preparing the Network for launch). The revenue was 508 million and profit was 2.8 million. That included the costs of Taker, Lesnar, Rock, Hogan, Jericho and Flair. The Network is the main reason for that low profit (they had 31.4 million in profit in 2012). The part time guys are helping bring in money but the Network lost a lot of the money those guys brought in. WWE is not in any sort of financial trouble (unless the Network flops worldwide) and it is not like getting rid of unimportant employees is going to hurt.

Again, once the Network launches worldwide and at least breaks even, the benefit of the part-time guys will start to show again.

For a little more data. Wrestlemania 28 brought in 75,180,000 million dollars from PPV buys (assuming that the PPV was 60 dollars a buy). That would be way more than enough to cover the part time guys from one PPV alone. Considering Wrestlemania 26 brought in under 1 million buys, I would say Rock did bump that number up a little bit. I'm not saying it is all on him, but part-time guys like him do help.

 

[d_henderson1810]

The writing was on the wall for Ricky when his kid got injured... then released.

Ricky was "good" at what he did but now the Performance Centre and recruitment model is in place they don't NEED a guy like him to go and actively recruit talent... anyone with half a brain ( more than Sid anyway) and a real desire will WANT to go there... even guys like KENTA and Devitt, for all their posturing were chomping at the bit, they just didn't want to go in on the bottom rung.

Ricky has had a good career with WWE all told, his in ring time was great first and third time (real inspiration to a lot of guys in the locker room to do what he did with Jericho) but his 2nd sucked cos of politics...

Remember Ricky is also the guy who WAAAAAAYYYY back when fucked the IC title and Vince off to go and babysit Richie... Sure Vince isn't THAT vindictive, but when Richie didn't pan out as hoped and there's a "legend" or staff member to be cut, that 1987 period will come into Vince's mind before Malenko, Arn etc...

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat is my favourite all-time wrestler. Perhaps the greatest in the ring ever (Ric Flair, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and Randy "Macho Man" Savage have all said that their favourite all-time match that they had was with Ricky Steamboat). When greats say that you are great, you need to sit up and listen.

However, Steamboat has never got a fair shake in WWE. He never got a title match against Hogan, or a WWE Title run (even as a transitional champion or fairytale run). He won the IC belt in the greatest WM match ever, yet his opponent in that match got the World Title and WM main-events, not him (so much for burying an opponent). He then lost the belt quickly to the biggest joke of a wrestler ever, the Honky Tonk Man. At least let him lose it to Savage, Jake Roberts or even "Million-Dollar Man" (I wouldn't like it, but could accept it), but he lost to a poor Elvis impersonator. Then, when he came back, he didn't get a rematch, and was given the gimmick of a fire-breathing dragon (which made him look like a joke).

WCW treated him better, and he even won the WCW Title. But, even then, he only held it a short time, and his opponent in that feud got the main-events and Title reigns, instead of him.

You say he screwed the title by wanting to babysit his child. No, he actually wanted to be at his child's birth, which I find admirable. On Steamboat's DVD, Richie said that he will always love his father for being at his birth, despite what it cost him. Ricky and Richie are very close, and I bet Ricky's relationship with his son is better than Vince's is with his children, where he worked all the time, missed their births and growing up, because he is a workaholic who has his priorities wrong, and expects everyone else to sacrifice his own family like he has (the only reason his family probably have anything to do with him is because of his wealth and it gives them jobs. Shane finally woke up and did his own thing).

The reason Steamboat never got a fair shake was because he has too much honesty and integrity. That doesn't mean much in wrestling, where being on top is by burying others beneath you. Steamboat always tried to make others greater, and didn't mind being in other's shadows. Wrestling-wise, he was perfect for wrestling, character-wise, he was too good for it.

The problem is, that the good people are the ones trodden on. Steamboat got cut, because he isn't the type to kick and scream, but just accept it. Maybe if he were a politicking prick and used steroids, he would have got the main-events, World Titles and respect. He would threaten to dump the bucket on the WWE in his book, or bitch and moan like Bret Hart did. Rather, he takes his medicine and moves on.

It doesn't help that he is in his 60's, and had medical problems a couple of years ago. Besides, they don't want their wrestlers wrestling the "Steamboat way" but the "WWE way" which involves limited moves and a lot of posturing and pandering to the crowd. Too bad his son never made it, but then, maybe he would be given a gimmick, and they would pretend he wasn't Steamboat's son, like how WWE deny Rotundo's sons the chance to fight under their father's name.

Farewell, Ricky Steamboat. Your contribution to wrestling will never be forgotten (by me at least). WWE may have tried to bury and disrespect him, but they can never stop the fact that he wrestled the best WM match ever, or that, at WM25, he wrestled better than 90% of the talent that night, including many of those who are 30 years younger than him.

As for the WWE Network, when Australia finally gets it, guess whose matches I will be watching?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat is my favourite all-time wrestler. Perhaps the greatest in the ring ever (Ric Flair, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and Randy "Macho Man" Savage have all said that their favourite all-time match that they had was with Ricky Steamboat). When greats say that you are great, you need to sit up and listen.

However, Steamboat has never got a fair shake in WWE. He never got a title match against Hogan, or a WWE Title run (even as a transitional champion or fairytale run). He won the IC belt in the greatest WM match ever, yet his opponent in that match got the World Title and WM main-events, not him (so much for burying an opponent). He then lost the belt quickly to the biggest joke of a wrestler ever, the Honky Tonk Man. At least let him lose it to Savage, Jake Roberts or even "Million-Dollar Man" (I wouldn't like it, but could accept it), but he lost to a poor Elvis impersonator. Then, when he came back, he didn't get a rematch, and was given the gimmick of a fire-breathing dragon (which made him look like a joke).

WCW treated him better, and he even won the WCW Title. But, even then, he only held it a short time, and his opponent in that feud got the main-events and Title reigns, instead of him.

You say he screwed the title by wanting to babysit his child. No, he actually wanted to be at his child's birth, which I find admirable. On Steamboat's DVD, Richie said that he will always love his father for being at his birth, despite what it cost him. Ricky and Richie are very close, and I bet Ricky's relationship with his son is better than Vince's is with his children, where he worked all the time, missed their births and growing up, because he is a workaholic who has his priorities wrong, and expects everyone else to sacrifice his own family like he has (the only reason his family probably have anything to do with him is because of his wealth and it gives them jobs. Shane finally woke up and did his own thing).

The reason Steamboat never got a fair shake was because he has too much honesty and integrity. That doesn't mean much in wrestling, where being on top is by burying others beneath you. Steamboat always tried to make others greater, and didn't mind being in other's shadows. Wrestling-wise, he was perfect for wrestling, character-wise, he was too good for it.

The problem is, that the good people are the ones trodden on. Steamboat got cut, because he isn't the type to kick and scream, but just accept it. Maybe if he were a politicking prick and used steroids, he would have got the main-events, World Titles and respect. He would threaten to dump the bucket on the WWE in his book, or bitch and moan like Bret Hart did. Rather, he takes his medicine and moves on.

It doesn't help that he is in his 60's, and had medical problems a couple of years ago. Besides, they don't want their wrestlers wrestling the "Steamboat way" but the "WWE way" which involves limited moves and a lot of posturing and pandering to the crowd. Too bad his son never made it, but then, maybe he would be given a gimmick, and they would pretend he wasn't Steamboat's son, like how WWE deny Rotundo's sons the chance to fight under their father's name.

Farewell, Ricky Steamboat. Your contribution to wrestling will never be forgotten (by me at least). WWE may have tried to bury and disrespect him, but they can never stop the fact that he wrestled the best WM match ever, or that, at WM25, he wrestled better than 90% of the talent that night, including many of those who are 30 years younger than him.

As for the WWE Network, when Australia finally gets it, guess whose matches I will be watching?

No the reason he has a problem and Vince a long memory is because he was the first guy to EVER ask for time off and get it... he wanted 6 months paternity leave when the son who later joined WWE was born... this was right after he won the IC title and why he dropped it to Honky Tonk Man so cheaply.

In those days NO ONE took time off ever... They worked when Vince said so, jumped how high he said. Now it's the norm for guys to take time off, it's in law etc.. but back then it wasn't. Ricky got what he wanted so I can't feel he was hard done by... but this is an organisation where even 6 years ago a guy got banned from a locker room for eating some chicken... It was FAR more insular and political in the 80's.

 

[d_henderson1810]

No the reason he has a problem and Vince a long memory is because he was the first guy to EVER ask for time off and get it... he wanted 6 months paternity leave when the son who later joined WWE was born... this was right after he won the IC title and why he dropped it to Honky Tonk Man so cheaply.

In those days NO ONE took time off ever... They worked when Vince said so, jumped how high he said. Now it's the norm for guys to take time off, it's in law etc.. but back then it wasn't. Ricky got what he wanted so I can't feel he was hard done by... but this is an organisation where even 6 years ago a guy got banned from a locker room for eating some chicken... It was FAR more insular and political in the 80's.

It doesn't make what Vince did, right.

It is an appalling way to treat an employee, even back then. It is not ideal that he was taking time off soon after winning the title, but why have him win it back off Honky Tonk once his time off was done?

It shouldn't take the law for Vince to allow this. I think that Vince McMahon's problem was that he let down his own children and wasn't a model father to them (working too hard, the affairs etc), and he projected his guilt onto someone who had more moral fibre and his priorities in order.

Someone was banned from a locker room for eating chicken? Just how petty was Vince.

If TNA has any sense, then they will hire Ricky Steamboat as a trainer, roadie or even on-air authority figure (fast fact:- Ricky Steamboat was the inaugural TNA Commissioner when TNA ran weekly PPVs, and refereed the main event of the first ever "Impact"). But TNA don't do what makes sense, so maybe he could retire, run a gym again (which he did very successfully) or even train in ROH (where their styles of wrestling mesh more with his). If Vince doesn't want him, I'm sure that others will. It's WWE'S loss.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Wow, a lot of people are jumping to conclusions here!

It's very rare that a multi-million dollar company like WWE makes decisions like these without thinking them through, assessing many factors. What role does Steamboat fulfill that can't be done by others? Does he personally bring any standout value to the role? How about they touted redundancies and asked for volunteers, perhaps the Dragon mutually agreed to this - his advanced age has already been mentioned (the majority of WWE trainers and producers are younger than him)

To put it down to vindictiveness over an incident nearly 30 years ago is ridiculous - if Vince was that petty, he wouldn't have had Steamboat on the payroll at all over the last decade, and certainly not featured him in marquee matches at Wrestlemania 25 and the following pay-per-view...

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

D_henderson: not everyone can be world champion; the 80s were the era of muscular giants in WWF, hence why Hogan was champion for most of it, and Savage - small yet ripped - had it in 1988-89. Look at the list of champions from inauguration until 1992, when smaller wrestlers like Ric Flair and Bret Hart had runs. Now look at the corresponding list of Intercontinental champions over the same time period. Notice anything?

There's a reason the IC title was often known as the 'worker's belt' in that era

 

[d_henderson1810]

D_henderson: not everyone can be world champion; the 80s were the era of muscular giants in WWF, hence why Hogan was champion for most of it, and Savage - small yet ripped - had it in 1988-89. Look at the list of champions from inauguration until 1992, when smaller wrestlers like Ric Flair and Bret Hart had runs. Now look at the corresponding list of Intercontinental champions over the same time period. Notice anything?

There's a reason the IC title was often known as the 'worker's belt' in that era

Funny, because most of the mid-card, as well as the top guys have had a WWE or World Title run.

In the 80's, people like Christian, Rey Mysterio or Dolph Ziggler would never have held the main belt. But they have, yet Steamboat hasn't.

Like I said, if the WWE Title was the hot potato in the 80's it is today, where it changes almost monthly, the WWE could have done worse than have "The Dragon" have the big belt, even transitionally, or even as a fairytale story of a worker achieving the ultimate dream.

 

[Slash-LN]

No the reason he has a problem and Vince a long memory is because he was the first guy to EVER ask for time off and get it... he wanted 6 months paternity leave when the son who later joined WWE was born... this was right after he won the IC title and why he dropped it to Honky Tonk Man so cheaply.

In those days NO ONE took time off ever... They worked when Vince said so, jumped how high he said. Now it's the norm for guys to take time off, it's in law etc.. but back then it wasn't. Ricky got what he wanted so I can't feel he was hard done by... but this is an organisation where even 6 years ago a guy got banned from a locker room for eating some chicken... It was FAR more insular and political in the 80's.

He might have been the first under Vince "jr." to ask for time off but don't forget that Hogan asked Vince's dad for time off to go film the Rocky movie and had his contract terminated. Then when he became a star in AWA Vince saw potential in him and brought him back in.

Also Steamboat has alluded that Hogan politiced against him because he upstaged Hogan at WM3.

If Vince really held a grudge against Steamboat he wouldn't have hired him back in the first place. He had no obligation to.