Vince McMahon ‘paying WWE stars less money on new contract’ as coronavirus takes financial grip on promotion

VINCE MCMAHON is reportedly offering new WWE stars salaries “way, way below” the figures he was last year.

The company is feeling the pinch of the coronavirus pandemic due to the loss of live crowds and house shows.

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Vince McMahon, pictured with Triple H, is offering new talents much less money [/caption]

That led to billionaire boss McMahon laying off a large number of both in-ring and backstage talents in a huge April staff cut.

Now Fightful Select claims that WWE is not offering new contracts to wrestlers who have recently moved from NXT to Raw or SmackDown.

They have allegedly been told they would enter discussions over new deals and pay soon, but those talks are yet to take place.

Both Matt Riddle and Keith Lee have moved up to the SmackDown and Raw rosters respectively over recent months.

As well as the Covid-19 financial impact, the less chaotic travel schedule has also been cited as a reason for the lower pay.

However, other forms of compensation are also being offered, although they are still not as attractive as before.

The Rey Mysterio situation is a perfect example of this, with the legend working without a contract for several months.

McMahon turned down the masked luchador’s request for a pay rise in April.

But amid interest from rival promotion AEW, he continued to work on a regular basis on a pay-per-appearance basis.

Mysterio eventually agreed a new multi-year deal in August after his son Dominik made his impressive debut at SummerSlam against Seth Rollins.

WWE are believed to have only dedicated eight per cent of its revenue towards salaries.

This is much lower than UFC fighters, who get approximately 20 per cent, with both being dwarfed by the near 50 per cent paid out in sports such as NBA and NFL.