We are used to seeing professional sports teams overpay during free agency. It has become part of the norm for teams to do that so they can make a splash and get their fan base excited and hopefully make the team better. The same goes in the wrestling industry with the WWE and the now defunct WCW, who also went through this process most notably during the Monday Night Wars. Although, unlike professional sports, the contracts aren’t usually displayed to the public eye.
A WCW contract summary document surfaced over the internet about a year ago because of Sonny Onno’s racial discrimination lawsuit against WCW. All the contracts of WCW were finally open to the public and to no surprise, most of the roster was ridiculously overpaying . Some the contracts were extremely dumb, to be frank.
WCW isn’t only at fault with making bad contracts though, WWE has done that in the past and has a list of signings that were major failures. The money isn’t the only factor; if the signing was a failure it’s the longevity and impact the wrestler made during their run. Here are the worst wrestling contracts in history.
15. Disco Inferno
The comedic heel with subpar skill, Inferno made a very decent career out of his ridiculous gimmick; he is a two time TV champion and a one-time cruiserweight champion. Most wrestling fans hated Inferno, but for some odd reason Inferno was a guilty pleasure of mine, as I was actually a fan of his. Though, when I found out how much he was earning in WCW I was in complete and utter shock that he was that highly paid for his useless gimmick and playing the role of a lower card wrestler.
Contract: $300,000 (year 1-2), $350,000 (year 3)
14. Bam Bam Bigelow
He was a very talented wrestler for his size. Bigelow was one of the most natural, agile and physical big man in wrestling history. The money he signed for in WCW was ridiculous. He had a shot at the WCW championship once against Goldberg (as you might imagine he lost), and then was thrown into the Hardcore Division and never won the title. No surprise, the WWE didn’t take his contract when they purchased WCW.
Contract: $400,000 (3 years)
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