Eric Bischoff has elaborated on the unique endorsement deal that enables WCW to sign Randy Savage effectively for free.
At a time when Vince McMahon was obsessed with reducing the number of older stars competing, Savage was relegated to commentary. Desperate to have one more all-time great match, the former World Champion pitched a programme with Shawn Michaels but was refused by McMahon. During this time, Savage acquired an endorsement with SlimJim. Angered because of the insinuation that he was old, Savage followed Hulk Hogan into WCW in late 1994. McMahon was upset at the departure because he and Savage had gotten very close doing commentary together, with Savage often visiting and staying at his house. Vince gave the farewell on the air, thanking him for his services.
During an episode of Strictly Business, the topic of Ric Flair signing a multi-year deal with AEW opened the podcast. Following on from the initial thoughts of Flair in AEW, the unique nature of the deal was brought up. As reported by Fightful Select, along with the signing of The Nature Boy there is also a partnership in place between All Elite Wrestling and Flair’s Woooooo! Energy drink. It is furthermore explained that the energy drink will cover most of Flair’s salary if not all of it.
Fghtful compares the Woooooo! Energy drink partnership to that of Savage’s endorsement with Slim Jim in the 90s, where it is stated that Slim Jim paid a large portion of The Macho Man’s WCW salary.
Bischoff was asked about the report and gave his take on it, as he was the one negotiating Savage to sign with WCW. Bischoff revealed that in fact, Slim Jim paid the entirety of Savage’s salary as part of the sponsorship:
Just a slight correction here. The Slim Jim deal covered 100% of Randy’s salary, covered all of it and did for a couple of years. So Randy, I got Randy for free. So and that’s why it’s a win it’s a win for Ric it gets him close to a business that is his life really, it’s in his genetic makeup, his DNA.
If some were someone were to take some of that DNA and replicate it and clone Ric Flair, or Richard Fliehr, it would end up being Ric Flair. And there’s no denying how much Ric loves the business. So it’s it’s it’s a win-win, and potentially a win win win. We’ll just have to wait and see how much of a win it is. For the AEW product.
Eric Bischoff Reveals Randy Savage’s WCW Salary
Bischoff elaborated further, explaining how the deal worked and how much Savage’s salary was:
Sure. It’s really simple in Randy’s case. Based on what Slim Jim wanted, in terms of product integration, we were able to afford that. When I say afford that we were able to execute what they were hoping to get but we put a price tag on it that was exactly the same as Randy Savage’s ask 750 grand from Slim Jim and 750 grand for Randy and WCW got Randy Savage, essentially with no impact at all on our budget.
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