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About Joe Burgett
Expertise
Anything regarding TNA, WWE, ROH, ECW, WCW, NWA, Japanese wrestling, mexican wrestling. If you want to know anything regarding news/rumors going on, I know what is true and false. I may be young, but believe me, I know what I am talking about. I feel I am know the wrestling scene as good as anyone out there today. And when you want to know something, you can rest assured coming to me will not disappoint you.

Experience
I have been writing about and watching wrestling for 16 years now. Ever since I knew what it was, I loved it. The molding of athletics and entertainment was just so interesting to me. As I said, I know about NWA, TNA, WWE, WCW, ROH, ECW, you name it, I probably know something about it.

Organizations
www.bleacherreport.com

Publications
pwrestlingnews.com bleacherreport.com sportsscribes.com wildtalkradio.com CBSsports.com

Education/Credentials
High School grad (2008) College student, TV Broadcasting

You are here: Experts > Sports > Wrestling > Pro Wrestling > i wants to b a rassler. how can dat happen?

Pro Wrestling - i wants to b a rassler. how can dat happen?

Expert: Joe Burgett - 11/2/2009

Question
QUESTION: sumbuddy on teh internet told me you are super smart. so i want to know how i can get be wrestler? does it cost lots? how much? how long does it take? if i go to wrestling school, will they give me a payment plan so i dont have to pay all at once? will they buy my lunch or do i got to bring that myself? if i go to wrstling schhool and graduate and then get a job with a company, will they provide me with good health insurance? i think that insurance would be important if i was gonna be thrown around alot like most wrestlers haha. and i also wanna know what the average starting salary is for a pro-wrestler alright? im depending on you for the answers to these questions since you are so smart, like you said you were.

ANSWER: Well first off, I am glad you have heard of me. But, I have never said I was smart or anything. I try to do my best at this job, and hopefully people think I am, but I would never go around saying I am the all mighty expert. lol.

Anyway, wrestling school is not like regular, run of the mill school. You do have payment plans, usually monthly, sometimes bimonthly, meaning every two. But, that depends on where you go, all have different rules. So, I cannot say that all of them are a certain way with payments. Not all ask for the same amount either.

Lunch is something I have no idea about. Usually you go for a few hours to the school, it is normally not an all day thing, but I'd assume unless they have a restaurant there, that yes you will have to pay for your own.

The pricing varies, sometimes it can be a few hundred a month, other times a few thousand. It usually takes about two years to complete, longer if needed.

NO Pro-Wrestler has health insurance. You are an independent contractor, meaning you are only signed to a promotion to perform and get paid for it, that is it. People are lobbying for the WWE and others to make a health plan, but the only place that gives anything is Wrestler's Rescue, which gives money to older and/or retired wrestlers but is not a promotion. No promotion has health insurance, as much as the wrestlers want them to.

The average starting price for a pro-wrestler also varies. In the WWE, once you make it to a main roster(RAW, SmackDown, ECW) you can make around 30 to 60 thousand a month to start. In TNA it is far lower at the start. There you only get paid by the match, there is no legit amount you get paid monthly starting out. For a match, it depends on its importance, timing, and who is in it with you, also who wins along with a few other variables like if its a title match, tag, single, hardcore.

Hope I answered everything, if you have any other questions, just let me know

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: ok, you said sunthin about the money you get paid depends on who wins. i dont understand that because i thought the winner is already decided by the company, so why would the pay be different based on who wins?

Answer
Now this is not always the case for any win of course, sorry I didn't make that clear, my bad there. Usually in the case of title matches, if you win a title from someone or retain, you will get more money than the other. Champions for a company make more money usually. It is like a couple thousand dollar pay raise in the WWE, it depends on the title in how much. Not sure about the price in TNA or other organizations.

Say you are the World Champion, you'll make more than the United States Champion. It all about the belt in most cases as well. Back in the 80s and early 90s, the World Champion was the highest paid man in the company. That changed when the development of contracts came in. Still, the WWE and others give a pay raise while someone is World Champion or any other type of champion mainly because they use them more than others.

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