Jim Ross Claims WWE Paid Undercard Talent $500,000 When They Requested Release

In a interview with Busted Open Radio (via Fightful), Jim Ross claimed that WWE once paid an undercard talent $500,000 after they requested to leave the company, in order to convince them to stay. There have been reports that WWE is trying to keep talent happy and keep them from leaving, as they don’t want to be seen as the bad guy promotion. However, this hasn’t stopped the exits of Tye Dillinger, KENTA or more recently, Dustin Rhodes. Luke Harper recently asked for his release, but it doesn’t appear as though that’s going to happen.

When asked about Tony Khan being able to financially compete with Vince McMahon, Ross said: ““That’s a good point. I’m sure there is concern there. I heard the other day — someone told me in a meeting because I was asking about some talent — I’m not officially in that department but you know, I’m the senior advisor, so I want to advise. I wanna stick my nose where it doesn’t belong but at least you’re getting my opinion. I asked about one guy in WWE, who’s an undercard guy — been there a while, solid hand, could help the younger guys learn because he’s at that age now, early 30s, and they say, ‘Well he’s not available. He just signed for half-a-million dollars’. He’s not even on television. 500k Bubba [Bully Ray], just to keep him off the streets so to speak. So yeah, I would think there’s a reactionary phase of this deal that, ‘Hey, these guys got some cash and they’re willing to pay people’.“