Why Pro Wrestlers Don't Have Health Insurance: It's On the Wrestler

From the title of the article most of you are going to want to lash out and say, "Joe you're nuts, how can you say that the reason pro wrestlers don't have health insurance is because of the wrestler themselves?"

But calm down, and just keep reading on. You'll see why I blame the wrestlers more so than the promotion.

First, let's talk about the WWE. As many of us know, the WWE is the most popular pro wrestling promotion on the planet. It is weird to say that they are the ones we think of every time we hear the word wrestling, simply because the CMLL, a promotion many haven't heard of unless you are a diehard pro wrestling fan, is the oldest promotion still around.

They have been there for over 100 years I believe, something the WWE can reach, but isn't close right now.

But in any case because the WWE is so popular, they have become a billion dollar company. They have the best production team, best marketers, etc. Everything you need for a business is there in the WWE, and they are the best you can possibly get.

The billions they have are fun to talk about, but that money disappears quickly after salaries are paid. Vince loves to call himself a billionaire, but he really is not when you think about it. All of his money is in the WWE really, and because the WWE is worth billions, he can say he is. 

Still though, all of that money doesn't go to Vinny Mac and his family, it is spread around into other things that help build the company and the people that work for the company too.

The WWE pays their talent well when they hit a main roster. I believe once you hit the main roster you make around $30,000 a month as a male talent, possibly more depending on the talent. Women are said to make a little less monthly. Over time that money increases if you are really good.

For all of you who are not mathematicians, $30,000 translates into $360,000 a year, which is a nice payday. The top talent earns far more than that, up in the millions. Randy Orton, Triple H, and John Cena make about $5 million or so. And other talent such as The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, and others also get a nice payday.

Not every promotion can offer this much money, which gives the WWE an edge over all of them of course. The talent loves to get paid a lot of money, and if you are a mid-card guy and can still get paid 20 to 30 thousand a month once you hit the main roster, then why complain, right?

The fact is that many are still complaining about how the WWE doesn't offer health insurance, especially past talent. Really? You got paid an enormous amount of money to wrestle, what are you doing with all of that money? Health insurance can also be bought too, so you don't have to live without it if you need it that badly. And the current wrestlers can afford it, as I mentioned above.

Also, many wrestlers out there are married. What, are they suddenly not on their wife's or husband's plan?

See, the wrestlers have a choice when it comes down to it. Get paid millions a year, or take a substantial pay cut to get health insurance. The reason the WWE can pay so much is because they don't have to buy health insurance for everyone.

If they did buy health insurance, then the millions you see the wrestlers make go to the mid-thousands annually at best. This is something that currently mid-carders make.

The wrestlers shouldn't complain, they should have used their money wisely instead of using it stupidly. The reason guys like Ric Flair still wrestle is not because they love it so much, but because they have to do so to pay bills half the time. And Flair himself will tell you that he wasted his money in the past, and it is not any promotions fault.

When it comes down to it, the wrestlers get paid a lot of money and this money doesn't just disappear. In a two income household, money should be pretty good. You add the money they make in their salary to merch sales and other things they do such as movies, and they get some serious cash flow in their homes.

The surgeries are not cheap, but they don't take a lot out of a wrestler's pocket simply because the WWE pays them so well. Guys like Orton, Cena, and Triple H get their surgeries paid for by the WWE most of the time, unless it is a small surgery in which they pay for it themselves.

The Wrestlers have to choose between making a good salary or health insurance, and because they make so much they will choose the big salary instead of the health plan. The WWE can't afford to pay their talent really well like they are now while also getting a health plan installed.

Now, we move on to the smaller promotions and the Independent circuit. This is the easiest one of all, no one pays health insurance for an Indy wrestler simply because they are not a member of their promotion, but someone they pay to come in and wrestle on a given night.

The smaller promotions like TNA and ROH sign their wrestlers to contracts, which mean they are are members of a promotion. TNA and ROH's talent also work in some Indy promotions to earn extra cash to add to their current cash flow.

Also, TNA and ROH does not pay their wrestlers as well as the WWE does. In fact TNA only pays their mid-card and jobbers by the match, even some of the main event guys like Matt Morgan had the same deal until he signed a new contract demanding to get paid whether he was wrestling or not.

ROH is a bit different, they pay their talent like the WWE does in which they pay them even if they are not wrestling, as long as they are under contract with them. If they are just someone who comes in to work a few matches, they will pay them by the match at that point.

The fact is that neither one of these promotions can pay their talent extremely well like the WWE does, what makes you think, they can pay for a health plan? Health insurance is not cheap, those who have to pay for people in their business will tell you it loses a ton of money the company could be using.

If you are a place who can pay your talent a pretty nice salary currently without a health plan, adding one will take a ton of money away not just for the business but for the employee. As a wrestler you'll lose thousands, and the business will lose millions, but you'll have your health plan, right?

For people to get all hyped up about the wrestlers not getting a health plan, think of this, it is the wrestlers who should be spending their money right to have enough to go the the doctor.

Also, I don't want to hear about a Union. Most of the time they cause more bad than good. I give you the writer's strike and lockouts in sports for a few examples, things that lost millions and solved nothing really, well I think the writers got a few more pencils, my bad.

But what do you think? Am I wrong for saying that the wrestlers have plenty of money already in the WWE, and the smaller promotions aswell as the top one in the WWE can't really afford to pay for a health plan and pay their talent the same they are now in the end?