Tyler Reks Talks Low WWE Pay, Reveals His Salary When He Left The Company
I recently spoke with former WWE star Gabe Tuft, f.k.a. Tyler Reks. The first part of the interview will be posted here on Wrestling Inc. this Tuesday. During the interview, Reks discussed breaking into the company, appearing at WrestleMania, his issues with John Cena, finally getting a push right before he quit the company and more. He also discussed wrestler pay, and noted how difficult it was for lower level talent.
"It [pay] was getting crappy when I left, and the guys I've talked to now say it's beyond crappy," Tuft said. "People assume you once you're on TV you make a load of money and drive Lamborghinis and stuff, and that's just not the case. Here's a perfect example: I hate to spill my salary on the internet, but when I left I got a bump to $100,000 a year. But a third of it goes to road expenses. The only thing they pay for is your flight. You pay for your own hotel, and car, and food. Could you imagine trying to eat out five times a day? As a body guy, you have to maintain your physique and that means eating five times a day. Spending all your money trying to maintain that? Good luck. Then Uncle Sam takes 20%-30%. You guys do the math and see how much I walked away with, which was next to nothing. I was making more money fresh out of college as an engineer fresh out of college in an entry level position than being on TV.
"That's gotten worse from what I hear. They do a ton of tours, and some guys would be making $30,000-$40,000 in the day. I went to Europe and I think I brought home $5,000. Then there was one tour I flew overseas and did a ten day tour and made less than $2,000. I made less than $500 a show. The video games are getting worse – guys use to get paid up to $100,000 for being in the video game and now it's much, much less. The reading audience will think that's a lot of money, but when you're on the road it's not. We don't all have busses like John [Cena] and [CM] Punk and [Big] Show. You're breaking your body to barely pay the bills."
You can check out Tuft's fitness website, Body Spartan, by clicking here. Tuft also appears in a submission for the 2015 Doritos Super Bowl Commercial, which you can check out in the video above. The commercial entry needs to have the most five-star ratings possible to win, and you can rate the video by clicking here.