The Undertaker Reveals How Much Money He Was Making In WCW
The Undertaker has a new podcast where he opened up about what kind of pay he received while working for WCW before he joined WWE.
Like many of the successful pro wrestlers of all-time, The Undertaker had a bit of a journey before he got to WWE. Fans will remember his WWE debut at Survivor Series 1990 when he was a red-haired 25-year-old who stood out from the pack due to his size as a guy who was nearly 7 feet tall and had great athleticism.
At Survivor Series 2020, which was 30 years after his debut, The Undertaker retired as one of the greatest superstars of all time. He would go to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2022, which is when he delivered a memorable speech about his legendary career.
Prior to joining WWE, The Undertaker was known nationally as “Mean Mark” (his real name is Mark Calaway) in WCW. As the story goes, after his one year in WCW was up, his manager Paul Heyman reached out to WWE to let them know how talented this big Calaway kid was and the rest is history.
It was announced earlier this month that The Undertaker was launching a new podcast talking about his 30+ year career in professional wrestling. It’s the Six Feet Under podcast on Patreon where The Undertaker will pull back the curtain a little bit, share some interesting stories and let fans know about the man behind the gimmick, Mark Calaway.
On his podcast, The Undertaker spoke about asking for a raise from WCW after spending a year in the company.
“The meeting was to renegotiate my contract. I had asked for the meeting because my contract was coming due. I was on the standard entry-level contract, which was maybe $1200 a month. This is 1989, early 1990. It was time to renegotiate my contract.”
“I was, at that point in my career and life, I was a WCW guy. I enjoyed that product better. Being from Houston, we didn’t get a lot of WWF until Vince [Vince McMahon] went to cable. I was more drawn to guys like Flair [Ric Flair], Arn Anderson, Rock N Roll Express, Road Warriors, and those guys. I was happy there and where I wanted to be. I wasn’t going in to ask to break the bank. I knew it was going to be my second year with the company, I just wanted a little bump in pay.”
The Undertaker’s raise request was denied
As he continued, Calaway spoke about how his request for a raise was not granted and he was also left with an interesting comment by WCW management.
“I went in and meet with Jim Barnett, Ole Anderson, and Jim Herd. I give them my speech, ‘I love it here, I’ve learned so much this year and am really happy. My contract is coming up.'”
“I was at $1200, I was trying to get to $2000. I said a month earlier, it was a week. $2000 a week. I gave them my whole story and it was like crickets. It was quiet. Ole (Anderson) was the first one to speak and he’s like, ‘You know, kid, you’re a great athlete, but no one is ever going to pay to see you wrestle.'”
Obviously, that prediction by Ole Anderson was very wrong. It was at this point when Paul Heyman reached out to WWE’s Bruce Prichard to say that Calaway was ready to move on from WCW and a few months later he would debut as The Undertaker.