5 times WWE gave its Superstars a bonus
Similar to the vast majority of businesses, WWE does not typically publicly disclose amounts that it pays to individual members of staff, including its Superstars.
What we do know, though, is that most WWE Superstars have a baseline salary figure included in their contract - otherwise known as a downside guarantee.
In addition to this, WWE Superstars receive a percentage of revenue from any merchandise sold with their likeness on it. On occasion, Superstars are also rewarded when a WWE pay-per-view or special event performs particularly well.
On top of their contracts, though, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and his executive team have been known to give Superstars discretionary bonuses where they feel it is deserved.
The details of these bonuses have generally been kept confidential. But over the years, stories of the generosity shown by WWE in offering these bonuses have been openly shared. In fact, in one case, the bonus given does not appear to have been financial.
With that said, these gestures have really helped the individuals that received them, either from a health, morale, or financial standpoint. Here are five times that WWE gave a Superstar a bonus.
#5 Vince McMahon gave Madusa an $80,000 bonus when she first joined WWE to cover a tax debt
When Madusa first joined WWE under the name Alundra Blaze, she was not exactly doing well financially. The opportunity to work for the promotion in 1993 was a life-changing one for her - as she revealed during a 2016 interview for the WWE Network show, Legends With JBL.
Madusa admitted during her conversation with JBL that she had been living on the streets at the time that Vince McMahon called to offer her a WWE deal.
"I lived in my car. My car got repossessed and I was on the streets. People don't know that I've lived on the streets for awhile and I rose above that and I got a call."
Officially becoming a WWE Superstar was clearly huge for Madusa at the time, but McMahon would then go above and beyond to help his newest recruit, as the former WWE Women's Champion went on to explain.
"So when I finally got my contract, I was going into WWE, he says, 'is there anything I can do for you?' Anything this or that? And I said, 'yeah, you can pay off my IRS bill!' And he goes, 'how much do you owe?' I said, 'I paid everything off. I could have filed for bankruptcy, but I never did, sir.' He said, 'alright.' The next day, he sent a check and paid my IRS bill. He was amazing."
When asked, Madusa revealed that the tax bill amounted to $80,000. This signing bonus helped Madusa start her WWE career without the burden of issues with the IRS and is something she still appreciates today.
McMahon and Madusa would go on to have their issues over the years, caused by her jumping to WCW and literally throwing the WWE Women's title in the garbage on an episode of Nitro.
Thankfully the pair has since moved past the incident. Madusa was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame - under her Alundra Blaze gimmick - in 2015.