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There is a belief surrounding WWE Superstars that they earn a massive amount of money throughout the course of their career. Of course, this isn't always the case. WWE Superstars are independent contractors which means that they have to pay for certain elements of their job themselves, including flights, car rental, and sometimes even hospital bills.
Whilst there are a handful of megastars in the company who earn enough to live a lavish lifestyle, this isn't a blanket rule and sometimes superstars struggle and are forced to ask for help.
The following list looks at just five times WWE Superstars reached out to help other wrestlers both inside and outside of the company, financially.
#5. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon helped Ric Flair numerous times
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is painted as a bad guy by former WWE Superstars most of the time, but there are a select few stars who have always been on the right side of the boss.
Despite his recent release from the company, two-time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair has always been good friends with McMahon and even noted that he was there to help him out a few times as well.
As part of an appearance on The Stone Cold Podcast in 2016, Flair recalled a time when Vince McMahon borrowed him £800,000 because he was heavily in debt, but he was then able to give it back to him following his WrestleMania appearance.
"He’s always been there. When I’ve had financial woes, through my divorces, he’s lent me money. But I’ve paid him back…One time, I was into him for $800,000. Eight hundred grand. He said, ‘I wouldn’t lend my kid this kind of money.' But I got my WrestleMania cheque [from WrestleMania XXIV]…I won’t tell you what it was, but it was a lot. Biggest paycheck I ever got in my life, right? ‘For Deposit Only.’ I handed it right back to [Vince].”
Flair was one of the stars who was surprisingly released from the company earlier this month and reports now suggest that when The Nature Boy is looking to join WWE's rivals AEW, as soon as he's legally able to do so.
#4. Yokozuna helped WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi
Yokozuna was a larger-than-life WWE character that was taken away from the world too soon. The former Champion not only made a name for himself in the wrestling world during his WWE run but also helped out several other WWE superstars.
One of these stars was WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, who noted in a recent WWE docuseries that when he was in dire need of money, Yokozuna handed him a blank cheque.
"Back in the day when I was a Headshrinker, Yoko was making a lot of money. And we were kind of doing so so. I just moved into this home, pretty much dumped everything I had into this home. And I needed heat in my home. I had no money and uh, Rodney. He gave me a blank check and he signed it, and I came home and put a new system in the home. My family and the kids, we had heat, and a house. And he was around, you know, when times are hard for me."
As noted, Rikishi isn't the only WWE Superstar that was helped by Yokozuna - the star had a big heart and was known to be charitable with his income.
#3. CM Punk helped fellow WWE Superstar Joey Mercury
CM Punk is considered to be one of the best wrestlers of the past generation and at one point was seen as one of WWE's biggest stars.
Whilst working for WWE, Punk was aligned with Joey Mercury as part of The Straight Edge Society, an idea that the former WWE Champion put forward in order to help out his friend.
As part of CM Punk's Best in the World Documentary, it was revealed that Mercury was struggling with some alcohol and drug problems which led to his WWE release. Punk then stepped in to help his friend when his house was foreclosed, by buying the property and then loaning him some money to get by.
Punk also convinced WWE to bring the former Tag Team Champion back to the company and make him part of the Straight Edge Society so that he had a regular source of income. Mercury continued to work for WWE for several years following Punk's departure, before being released in January 2017.
#2. John Cena paid a fine to help out several fellow WWE Superstars
WWE Superstars have a lot of fun during dark segments ahead of shows and at live events, but sometimes the company is not happy when these segments go off-script.
Former WWE Superstar Aiden English recently revealed on his Youtube Channel that when he was part of a segment with AJ Styles, Rusev, and The Usos ahead of WrestleMania 34, they decided to have a little bit of fun. This fun led to the company fining them £88,000 for burying the business.
“We get backstage and we get chewed and a new one. Vince McMahon wasn’t there, Triple H wasn’t there, but the producers, the TR people for some reason – I’m convinced because it was us and not some other major star – ‘that’s not how you do it, you buried yourselves out there, you buried the business.’ People are not gonna like this, and this was the SmackDown I believe before WrestleMania (34). We had to fly right down to New Orleans for WrestleMania, and we get sat down and we get threatened with release, with gigantic fines, 10,000, 20,000 dollar fines, all this stuff. The referee is gonna get fired and everything even though you’re all telling him ‘hey do it, this is great, this is fun.’ The poor guy, I think he got a fine. We got sat down at WrestleMania in the green room at the hotel. It was unbelievable for having some fun.”
After the interview was released, English revealed on Twitter that fellow WWE star John Cena stepped in to pay the fine on their behalf.
#1. Former WWE Superstar Jon Moxley helped out several wrestlers during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of financial damage to several wrestling promotions all over the world, including WWE.
Independent promotions were unable to run shows for more than a year and this left many promoters and superstars without any source of income. Several wrestlers set up GoFundMe pages in the hope that this would help to keep them adrift throughout this time of uncertainty.
Even though Jon Moxley wanted to keep it under wraps, it was reported by The Wrestling Observer that the former WWE Superstar donated to several of these pages in order to help out.
There were Go Fund Me’s set up for independent wrestlers who have lost bookings and income and significant donations were made by Jon Moxley. There are a number of people who have done things like this over the years with no fanfare and not looking for attention.
The report noted that Moxley is a very charitable person and wanted to help his fellow wrestlers remain afloat throughout the pandemic.
