March 10, 2008 Observer Newsletter: Floyd Mayweather payday, Vince McMahon skips congressional hearing
The $20 million figure for Floyd Mayweather has pretty well been debunked at this point, even from inside the company, but not before wrestlers both past and present were very upset at the idea.
It’s understandable, because Ric Flair, who is finishing a 35 plus year career in just a few weeks (and boy is that a weird thought) likely made in the range of $13-16 million (and spent most of it) over the course of his career. He not only was one of the all-time greatest performers, with three decades plus as one of the game’s biggest stars, its record setting world champion, but during the course of his career, only one pro wrestler in history, Hulk Hogan, ever headlined more live events that drew in excess of 10,000 fans. Wrestling isn’t about being fair and Flair would have earned a lot more than that if he was born 25 years later, but that really put the $20 million figure into perspective.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.