Colt Cabana On Taking a Pay Cut to Sign With WWE, Being Named Scotty Goldman, His WWE Debut

Colt Cabana was on the AEW Unrestricted podcast and talked about his brief WWE run and how he took a pay cut to sign with the company. Cabana had a famously short run in the company as Scotty Goldman, signing with the company in 2007 to a developmental deal and debuting in August of 2008. He wasn’t around long, mostly being used as an enhancement talent before being released in February of the next year.

Cabana talked about his WWE debut, how he was took the pay cut as an investment in himself and more. You can see highilghts and the full audio below:

On taking a pay cut to work at WWE: “I was doing the life of an independent wrestler who didn’t need a job, you know? At 23, I was able to quit my job as a teaching assistant and do this full-time on very little money, but enough money that it’ll get me by so I could do it full-time and I can chase my dream. I said to myself, ‘I’m gonna do this and when I’m 30, if nothing’s happening, then I’ll go and get my teaching degree. But I’m giving myself till 30 to at least do something, figure out something.

“And you know, luckily — not even at 26 or 27, when I signed my WWE contract. Because even before then, I was doing great. I was doing wonderful. I actually took a 50% pay decrease to wrestle for the WWE when I signed my contract, but I said to myself, ‘This is an investment in my future. There’s only so much you can make on the independent scene. Yes I’m taking a 50% decrease, but the possibilities to be a millionaire are there. And so that’s the gamble I’m willing to take.'”

On being named Scotty Goldman: “I tried to show up and be Colt Cabana. My name was quickly changed. At that point, they were changing a lot of people’s names. I got a couple stories of where Goldman came from. I heard Vince was like, ‘Is he really Jewish?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, I guess.’ And so, ‘All right, Goldman.’ I don’t know why Scotty. I mean, I know why Scotty, but I don’t know why that was the name.”

On his WWE debut: “And Scotty Goldman appeared, losing his debut match to Brian Kendrick in under 2 minutes as a platform for Brian Kendrick to move into a match against Triple H, I think. And so, you know, that was the spot I was given. Maybe other people will succeed in that manner, who knows? You know, the next match it was me and Kung Funaki vs. Kozlov in a handicap match. And again, that was the spot I was given. You know, I was happy to do it. But you know, in my head that’s not how you debut wrestlers or ones that you think highly of. And that’s, I think of think how I was thought of.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.