Explosive $50k WWE contract clause shared in social post as star claims deal shatters 30-year claim
A former WWE star has shattered a long-held belief about wrestling contracts by sharing his deal in unprecedented detail.
For decades, the accepted story of wrestling’s financial revolution has centred on two names and one moment: Scott Hall walking through the crowd on WCW television, and Kevin Nash following him weeks later.
The sight of those two WWE megastars switching allegiances and companies was a bombshell for fans who, at first, struggled to separate storyline and reality, convinced the corporation was somehow invading its rival.
But the moves were real, backed largely by WCW’s financial clout at the time and, crucially, by the fact the company was offering stars guaranteed contracts.
That alone bucked the long-held industry standard, where wrestlers faced reduced pay or no money at all if they were injured, unavailable, or simply not booked.
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Nash has long claimed his move to WCW featured the first guaranteed contract of its kind, and that his decision to jump from one major company to the other helped pave the way for those that followed, and for the many millionaires the wrestling business has produced since.
But a newly shared WWE contract has complicated that version of events.
The paperwork, posted on social media by former WWE star Marc Mero, offers a rare and unusually candid glimpse inside the inner workings of a wrestler’s deal at a time when fans were never meant to see behind the curtain.
Signed under the company’s former WWF name, the contract reads like a window into a promotion already experimenting with a different way of doing business. Guaranteed salary was written in. Multi-year security was spelled out.
For a wrestler in the mid-1990s, that alone marked a significant departure from the norm.
The deal also included a $50,000 sign-on bonus, clearly listed as a one-off payment rather than part of the guarantee itself. It was a sweetener, not the foundation of the agreement, and one that helped underline how unusual the contract already was.
The real shift sat elsewhere. The guaranteed downside salary ensured Mero would continue to be paid regardless of injury, availability or booking, at a time when most wrestlers lived with the constant risk of earning nothing if they could not perform.
For modern fans, accustomed to seven-figure deals and long-term security, the figures may not sound extraordinary. In the mid-1990s, the protection they represented was almost unheard of.
According to the contract and its accompanying paperwork, Mero had signed his deal and was appearing on WWF television by March 1996.
Scott Hall would not debut in WCW until May of that year. Kevin Nash, still wrestling as Diesel, remained an active WWF performer until May 19. That timing matters.
It places guaranteed money inside WWF before the most famous defections in wrestling history had even taken place. Not as a reaction to WCW’s spending power, but as part of a quieter, internal shift already underway.
None of that diminishes the impact of Hall and Nash’s moves, or the role their WCW contracts played in escalating the Monday Night War.
Their jumps changed the industry, that’s undoubted – but this contract points to something more gradual. An evolution happening on paper before it played out on live television.
It also reframes Mero’s place in that history. Before arriving in WWF with his then-wife Rena, who would become known as Sable, he was not an untested gamble.
A Golden Gloves boxing champion, he brought legitimate sporting credentials alongside national television experience from WCW, star power that saw him crowned Intercontinental Champion in his debut year.
Former WWE champ drops 30-year contract bombshell
Mero, fully aware of the significance of the revelation to those who relish the detail, wrote on X: “Here’s a rare piece of WWF history. In March of 1996 I was granted the first ever guaranteed contract, breaking the glass ceiling and helping open the door for wrestlers who came after me.”
“It also came with a $50,000 signing bonus, something unheard of at the time,” he added.
Hinting there may be more discoveries still to come, Mero wrote: “I’m really enjoying going through the boxes in my storage and rediscovering moments like this.”
“For collectors looking for truly rare items, this contract is in mint condition and signed by Linda McMahon.”
Mero’s post-wrestling life as a motivational speaker exudes modesty, which may help explain why it’s taken decades for him to make a claim that others have wielded so freely.
He remained in WWE well into the Attitude Era after signing in 1996 – WWE might consider that guaranteed money well spent.
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