Colt Cabana Says He Made 'Ten Times' His WWE Pay Following Release

Colt Cabana has wrestled just about everywhere over the course of his nearly 25-year career. The veteran performer has traveled all over the world with promotions like ROH, NWA, and NJPW. When he had the chance to go to WWE in 2007, he decided to make the switch despite taking a fairly large pay cut from what he was making on the Indies. 

Similar to Sami Zayn, Cabana revealed recently on an episode of "Stories With Brisco and Bradshaw" that he also signed a deal with WWE where he would be making considerably less money than if he just continued to do independent wrestling shows. However, he looked at the situation as betting on himself.

"I knew it was an investment in my future," he said. "That's the only place you can make millions of dollars, so I went to OVW for a year [and] I got over ... I wasn't set up to have the best situation [when I got called up to the main roster,] so I had six matches of losing very quickly. [But] it led to the most success I've ever had in my career, which was my post-WWE career [where], I made ten times what I made in WWE."

After he was released from WWE in 2009, he followed the trends of alternative comedy and used new media of the time like YouTube, podcasts, and social media to become the blueprint for how modern wrestlers could put themselves out there for their audience, even if they're not on weekly television. 

In 2010, Cabana started the renowned podcast "The Art of Wrestling" and became the godfather (or podfather, if you will) to the new status quo where nearly every wrestling personality has a podcast of their own to try and replicate his success.