Mace and Mansoor explain the WWE's bucket payment system to former WWE Superstar Maven.
Plenty has changed in WWE since Maven was last a WWE Superstar in 2005. Mace and Mansoor, who were WWE Superstars until they were cut in 2023, recently talked with Maven in one of his YouTube videos about how things have changed in the decade-plus since Maven was last with the company.
One of the major changes concerns the payment system in WWE. The former Maxximum Male Models explained to the inaugural winner of WWE Tough Enough that unlike in his era, they get a guaranteed payment amount regardless of how much or how little they work.
"We do get a check in the mail every week, but it's the same number every time, no matter how many shows you work, no matter how many times you wrestle, even if you don't wrestle at all, you get the same payment every single week, we get guaranteed money no matter what," said Mansoor.
Mace added, "In a way, you're actually not incentivized to work because when you're working House shows, you're doing all of these dates [and] you have to pay for your car, pay for your hotel, and the only thing we don't pay for are the flights. If you were just sitting at home hurt, you're just getting your weekly paycheck."
Mace and Mansoor explained to Maven that everything is based on their downside guarantee and for any excess you make beyond your guarantee, that all goes into a bucket payment system.
"It's a little bit different now because what they have now is it's called the bucket system, which does this is that is completely different. So we do still have a downside, okay, and everything you do, actually, you get paid technically and it goes into this bucket. As long as your bucket doesn't overflow, you just get your downside," said Mace.
Mansoor added, "It's very complicated, but this is basically what it means. It's every time you work a show, you get an invisible payment that doesn't actually go into your bank account. It goes into a metaphorical bucket. The top of the bucket is your downside. So, if your downside is $120,000, and let's say every time you work a show, they make an invisible payment of $1,000. Now you don't see that $1,000 Until you make $125,000 worth of bookings on top of your downside. So anything above $125,000 that you made is extra as a bonus for you."
Mace also confirmed that you don't get royalties unless it completely outsold the amount of your downside guarantee. Pay-per-view payments worked similarly as well.
"You get paid the exact same amount whether or not you're on the pay-per-view," said Mace.
Mansoor added, "Unless they decide to pay you more than your downside for our pay-per-view. If my downside was $125,000, and I work a Saudi show which is KA-CHING, KA-CHING, and they decide to pay you $150,000, well then you're going to make $25,000 bonus on top of your downside."
Mace and Mansoor also talked about talents potentially getting pulled from house shows just as it appeared that they would be making more money than their downside guarantee.
"Get this. So, if you were working a lot of house shows, if you were on TV every week, if you were on every pay-per-view, and if you were selling a lot of T-shirts, something that happened pretty frequently is all of a sudden you stopped going on house shows," said Mace.
Fans can learn more about how Maven was paid and how much money he made during his WWE career at this link.
Fans can learn how much Maven was specifically paid for his video game appearances at this link.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Maven's YouTube channel in addition to linking back to this article and giving Fightful credit for transcription.
