TAKE PWTORCH
WITH YOU! Get our iPhone App (FREE!): Click Here Or enter "PWTorch.com" on your Blackberry or other Smart Phone browser for mobile-version of PWTorch.
Guest Editorials
EDITORIAL: JBL/Shawn Michaels "con" argument - Insulting to fans with real economic issues Dec 17, 2008 - 2:16:57 PM
Editor's Note: At PWTorch.com we strive for our content whenever possible and practical to be original and unique (i.e. not published on other sites), therefore Guest Editorials submitted to PWTorch.com should be submitted only to PWTorch.com. If you submit a Guest Editorial for consideration, please state at the top of your editorial that you submitted it only to PWTorch. com. For more details on submitting Guest Editorials, check out a detailed submissions guide following today's Guest Editorial below.
GUEST EDITORIAL
By Daniel J. Patrick of Vernon Hills, Ill.
PWTorch.com Reader
After months of greatness with the Shawn Michaels-Jericho feud, we are now treated to his latest feud with JBL. On paper, this looks like the makings of a great feud. JBL has needed some fire for a long time and given Michaels's ability to rekindle Jericho's stalled return, Michaels looks like the perfect guy to bring heat back onto JBL after months of shoddy failed title shots.
Again, what looks great on paper is a feud based on the real-life economic troubles. People are losing their jobs, their houses, and their livelihoods thanks to an economy in serious trouble. But where paper disconnects with reality is the income level of a top-level wrestler like Michaels who has been a main-eventer for over 20 years.
Michaels's so-called "money troubles" is a crass and downright insulting storyline to real wrestling fans who have real money troubles. Most of us have no tolerance for professional athletes such as the Jose Cansecos and the Mike Tysons of the world who spent away more money than most will see in a lifetime. And if Michaels truly spent away his considerable money, I would have no tolerance for him either.
So, just for fun, let's do a little math. Based on what Kurt Angle said when he jumped to TNA, Angle said the most money he ever made in the WWE was about $2.5 million in a year. So, for the sake of argument (and easy math), let's assume that Vince McMahon ignored the excellence of the Michaels-Jericho feud and paid Michaels "just" $1 million in 2008.
According to a 1040 Tax Calculator, the federal income tax rate for a person at Michaels' income level is 35-percent. Since his family's home state of Texas has no state income tax, we can assume that Michaels has about $650,000 left in his pocket every year after taxes. Again, for the sake of argument, let's say that Michaels spent an additional $150,000 (which is a crazy number, but hey, it makes for easy math) on food, insurance, and the travel expenses. That leaves us with a nice round number of $500,000. This gives him a monthly income of $41,666, a weekly income of $9,615, and a daily income of $1,373.57.
I don't know about you, but Michaels makes more in one day than I do in a week as a newspaper reporter. If he put half of his remaining wages in a college fund, our "broke" superstar could put both the Hickenbottom children through Harvard at $47,215 a year with just over 18 months of savings. With Michaels undoubtedly making more than the numbers I've suggested, such a storyline becomes even more unbelievable.
Part of what makes wrestling enjoyable is its escapism. But to bring a serious topic like a failing economy into a storyline, especially with one of the promotion's highest profile (and therefore highest paid) stars, it becomes not only insulting, it becomes disgusting.
You are invited to submit a "Torch Guest Editorial" for possible publishing on this site in future days. For submission guidelines and the current email,click here.
[Shawn Michaels art by Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]
Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business...
Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?
AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?
