# What do indy wrestlers get paid on average?



## sXeMope

Probably $200-$300 for a top level indy guy. IIRC I read that the Young Bucks charge $1500, though I'm not sure if it's true. You'd have to ask every individual guy what he charges.


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## Taker-Tribute-Act

There is no such thing as an average as everyone works their own pay.


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## theanticanadian

From what I've heard, it can be surprising - in both directions. Remember for anyone who is a name from far away you usually have to factor in travel, hotel, etc - so it may be considerably more than just their fee.


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## NWA4LyFE

On average $25.00

Guys you've heard of $250 to 700.

Sabu was getting $500 plus an airline ticket


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## SOR

Depends on the guy, hypothetically lets say you want to have Colt Cabana go up against one of your local guys. Cabana would be a talent that comes for under 500 bucks. Probably looking at around 300-350 and you let him set up shop for free so he can sell merchandise and make money. Davey Richards, Kyle O'Reilly and Tony Kozina as a group package before they were contracted guys were like 400 dollars a night for all three so you've got 2 indy "names" there and an experienced vet for just 400. A lot of TNA midcarders you can get for around 300-400 bucks as well. I believe Robbie E was working some NWA Territories for 300, Gunner wrestled some NWA Territories for 500 a night as well.

If you wanted like a midcard ROH guy who isn't known too much you could probably get him for 100-150 bucks. An opening guy or job guy in ROH or whatever would be around the 75 mark. 

A "name" for the region such as a 20 year vet or something is most likely going to set you back around 50-75 bucks as well. Your average run of the mill independent guys who are looking to make it can work from as little as 0-25 bucks.

Also, Japanese guys work really cheap if you're into promoting that style. There was a local promoter here many years ago who booked a few Dragon Gate guys and he made it public in a blog that the Dragon Gate guys both got 250 a night guaranteed. Those two men? Top Dragon Gate stars Masaaki Mochizuki and Ryo Saito.


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## Lane

Depends on the guy. Most death match guys charge 100-200 at least a few years ago they did.
Ty;er Black when he was ROH champ charged 250 plus and airline ticket. 
(Source: I was helping out with a show and was trying to book talents. Show never happened.)Thankfully instead of being told to confirm them for the event I was just asked to ask what they charge.


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## BornBad

Top indy stars like Chris Hero are making good money IMO but don't talk about booking's price







I remember back in 2011 than John Morrison asked $5000 to do Indys but he was at Dragon Gate one year later...
:draper2


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## RyanPelley

How do Indy promoters who will draw 50 people afford to pay a few hundred dollars for well known guys? Seems like a guaranteed money loss.


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## MANTI TEO

RyanPelley said:


> How do Indy promoters who will draw 50 people afford to pay a few hundred dollars for well known guys? Seems like a guaranteed money loss.


It depends on whose running the event.

If they're losing money it's either a new promoter or a mark who wants to be part of the business. 

However I used to work for a city in the Parks Dept. and the VFW had a building on Park with a Gym attached and they would hold monthly Wrestling Shows. 

It was pure profit. 

The promoter was a VFW member and they used it as a fund raiser. 

No fees for the building and they took in all profit from food. 

So talent probably costs you $1,000.00 

You charge those 50 people $20 a head. Which covers the talent. 

A Keg costs you $60.00 and you can get 80 beers out of a KEG at $5.00 EA thats $400.00 
Throw in a $5.00 Pizza that you're making $16.00 on by selling a slice for $2.00 
Lets say 10 pizzas X $11 = $110.00 


Not to mention Photos and Merch that you get a cut of... 

Lets say $250 of merch is sold and you get 50%

Thats a well over $600 in profit you've just made


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## Saintpat

I would suggest starting local: a promotion here in Alabama got AJ Styles for a night, pretty cheap, because he could drive over and back from his home in Georgia. I don't know the exact cost but my information was it was a lot less than they expected.


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## SOR

RyanPelley said:


> How do Indy promoters who will draw 50 people afford to pay a few hundred dollars for well known guys? Seems like a guaranteed money loss.


Generally a lot of promoters out there view their wrestling company as a hobby and just something to drop money into. They'll save their day cheques up and bring in a name every few months to hang out with and wrestle.

A lot of potential for money in independent wrestling though. You can overcharge on food because people don't generally want to leave and go find food. 2 dollar cans of Pepsi that you pay about a dollar for, hot dogs, burgers etc. You can probably make a hot dog for about a dollar but at the show you can charge 3-4 dollars it all adds up. 

I used to know a company that drew about 75 people month to month and the guy would make money by selling vendor space to a table dealer. The dealer would pay like 50 bucks but he'd make a killing on merchandise. He had WWE stuff, TNA stuff, Independent stuff, Action Figures, Books. A lot of independent promoters just do company specific merchandise but selling stuff at a table that is related to WWE or whatever can help as well. Especially since you can buy old WWE DVD's for a couple bucks on eBay and could probably sell them back for 10-15 dollars.

With the name talent lots of profit to be made here. Hypothetically lets say you bring in Marty Jannetty and he's costing you 750 bucks including travel, hotel etc. You can run a seminar with all the local talent at 20 bucks a pop. Probably making 100-200 bucks right there. You can run a meet and greet before the show probably 5 dollars a ticket you get about 10-15 fans going that's about 75 bucks. Might sell some merchandise and then you pull out a camera and say anyone who wants a photo with Marty Jannetty line up, pay 5 bucks and you can take a picture. That's more money thrown in.

After that you have Jannetty sign some things, Action Figures, Magazines etc. This stuff is sold at future shows or on eBay. At this point you've probably broken even with your name talent. You produce a DVD later, get the talent to advertise it on their social media pages or what have you maybe you sell a few 20 dollar DVD's and walk away with a small profit and the experience of it all.

Wrestling being a dirty dirty business is what keeps most people away from promoting wrestling I think.


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## Lane

If you have to take into account though all the other cost
Ring rental if you dont have one
Chair rental
Renting a venue
Money for advertising
Railing rental
Security rental if the state athletic commission requires. 
Promoters license. Same as above
Paying to have your show filmed if you go to a company like SMV, HS or Swerve
Paying to have someone run music at your show or having to buy/rent the equipment to run music
Paying for wrestlers trans along with their pay for wrestling.
Renting lighting and whatnot if you go for a professional look. 
A few other things.

It's not impossible to make money but start off small with local talents and advertise the hell out of it and get sponsors and sell vendor space and then build up.


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## ROHFan19

There's a lot of false info in this thread lol

Most big time indy guys, Bucks, Steen, etc for example are 500 each + transportation. So Bucks would be 1000 + trans. Now that they've been to Japan there price may have increased, not sure.

Guys like AJ Styles get around $1500 per appearance.

Most big time indy guys get roughly 400-600 per show + transportation.


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## nwoblack/white

Thanks for all the information and thanks for the ideas, there were couple presented I had not thought of. As far as hardware we will own our own ring and security gates. We will however use dj services and a local filming crew. Our business plan is to do only 1 show a month for the first 6-12months and then do a review and see if we should hold shows more frequently. Also with the quoted prices even at the high end we could realistically have top guys at shows regularly, even contract them. We hope and are planning to hold our first show in November. Again thank you and Ill keep the forums posted. 

ps: I am a huge wrestling fan obviously but have no doubt I am in this to make money lol.


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## thearmofbarlow

Taker-Tribute-Act said:


> There is no such thing as an average as everyone works their own pay.


You don't know the meaning of the word "average." I suggest looking it up.


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## SOR

ROHFan19 said:


> There's a lot of false info in this thread lol
> 
> Most big time indy guys, Bucks, Steen, etc for example are 500 each + transportation. So Bucks would be 1000 + trans. Now that they've been to Japan there price may have increased, not sure.
> 
> Guys like AJ Styles get around $1500 per appearance.
> 
> *Most big time indy guys get roughly 400-600 per show + transportation.[.b[*


*

Not true, Davey Richards while he was in ROH was making I think either 250 or 350 per show. When he did the runner on the promoter that night his booking fee was mentioned for weeks afterwards.*


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## Zakerias

I'm actually surprised on how much indy wrestlers get paid. I know matches are relatively short but it isn't really great money is it.


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## NWA4LyFE

Zakerias said:


> I'm actually surprised on how much indy wrestlers get paid. I know matches are relatively short but it isn't really great money is it.


No thats why they usually have a real job and live at home with their parents.


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## stephsthemilf

there were some guys in Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling that used to get paid 300 bucks a night.


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## SOR

Zakerias said:


> I'm actually surprised on how much indy wrestlers get paid. I know matches are relatively short but it isn't really great money is it.


I know that I personally wouldn't do a 10-15 matches where someone stiffs me and risks injuries for 20 bucks a night, I guess it's a bit like community theatre or something. Doing your thing for fun or experience so that one day you can "make it"

A positive in the indy scene though is once you get the tiniest bit of exposure your fee goes up. I've seen a lot of indy promoters advertising indy guys as "Former WWE Superstars" when they've jobbed in a minute to Ryback on TV or something. Technically it's not a lie and those guys can put their rate up 50 bucks or so because they had a tryout with WWE.


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## ROHFan19

SOR said:


> Not true, Davey Richards while he was in ROH was making I think either 250 or 350 per show. When he did the runner on the promoter that night his booking fee was mentioned for weeks afterwards.



I know that when Davey was working in ROH in the 2010-2011 area...when he was really hot he was making 500-750 per show and was the top paid guy in the company. I think the 250-350 was a discount he'd give promoters who would use Kyle and Kozina on the shows with him.


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