MR. TITO TOLD YOU SO: TKO Forcing WWE Wrestlers to Take 50% Pay Cuts, WWE Better During 2020s than 2010s, AEW’s Struggles, and More
Almost 2 weeks ago, I debuted my new themed column series entitled MR. TITO TOLD YOU SO which is an actual follow-up column to past opinionated stances that turned out to be true or still hold merit. Often with the various past topics brought up, I actually brought up the actual sources who either had an opposite opinion or who personally attacked my credibility when daring to have such an opinion (especially the “WWE using AI” topic).
Now, the ones who were called out insisted that good ol’ Mr. Tito was “crashing out”. If you have been following politics lately, many Generation Z (defined as being born between 1997 and 2012) commentators have been using that slang term to label how someone is reacting. For example, it’s often used to describe our current President of the United States and WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump when he posts over 50 times on his Truth Social account or when he goes on the attack during a speech or press conference. “Crashing out” is defined as a slang phrase by the Merriam Webster dictionary as ”to become suddenly, uncontrollably angry or distressed”.
When I wrote that column on 5/1, I was perfectly chill and calm when I wrote it… I never used vulgarity, personal attacks, or hatred within that column whatsoever. There were just a handful of stories that came out, based on past opinions, that validated what I said previously so hence why I wrote a column about it. The “Told You So” title came from my famous 2011 column, one of my highest drawing columns ever, when I hammered fans for not seeing the Triple H burial of CM Punk during their one-on-one PPV match that year. Every reaction by opposite parties was their actual quotes, as I wasn’t slandering anyone. YET, in return, those who were called out went NUCLEAR and posted a zillion times beneath my column.
Awwwww, poor babies… Does it suck when the shoe is on the other foot?
Look, folks… I’ve been writing these very columns since October 1998 and I estimate that I’ve written at least 4,000 to 5,000 times for LordsofPain, Top-Rope, and now NoDQ combined. Each of those columns have generated thousands or tens of thousands of page views and often come with loads of criticisms. I’ve even received death threats in the past. I always laugh when someone even suggests “Tito can’t take feedback”, yet when you look at the vulgarity and insults of said feedback, you wonder why I either ignore it or decide to hit back. But what I LOVE is when I turn the tables on the haters and it causes them to “crash out” in response.
If you ever notice, it’s the same 4-5 haters grandstanding in my comments section each and every time.
And if you notice, good ol’ Tito does NOT censor what they say. Their feedback is clearly posted without any censorship.
The “Mr. Tito TOLD YOU SO” column was just a means to hold people accountable and it worked very effectively. My 5/1 column was ranked #5 among ALL viewed NoDQ posts, and that includes news posts that normally draw much better than opinionated posts. Further, another NoDQ columnist tried to get a rub off my good name by writing a response column. Many haters claim that nobody reads my column, yet how is it getting enough page views to keep up with news posts? How is it generating so much feedback? Why is it prompting other columnists to respond to me with their own columns?
Like me or not, I still got it. Actually, I never lost it. Every website that I’ve posted a column on, it’s the most viewed opinionated piece by a margin.
And I’m BACK IN YOUR FACE today with more “I told you so” vindication based on past opinions that were heavily criticized.
If you don’t like what I’m posting, DON’T READ IT! You have my personal invitation to F off and never read my columns again. How can I be relevant if you’re not reading my columns? Ever think of that? Instead, the haters just keep adding fuel to the fire.
Let’s get into this week’s “told you so” topics.
Told You So #1 – TKO is greedy
Since late 2024, I’ve been HAMMERING the TKO corporation, holding company corporation of UFC and WWE, for their corporate greed whether that’s about their ticket prices, signing up for services that will price gouge WWE fans (like ESPN), or giving Saudi Arabia opportunities to host Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania before other deserving countries.
Yet in response, such as where my buddy Joe often posts, he asks “touch the doll where TKO touched you” or something to that effect. Many of you have felt that I’ve unjustly attacked TKO, even suggesting that Triple H has been behind much of TKO’s greed. Yeah, the EVP of Creative and Talent is making corporate decisions instead of the layers of executives above him in both WWE (Nick Khan) and TKO’s organizational chart and board of directors.
Let’s take this past week… Reportedly, multiple wrestlers were requested to take a 50% paycut by WWE or else become released. New Day, who were just 1 year into a 5 year deal with the WWE, refused to take said 50% paycut and were released.
Let’s review WWE’s revenue streams, shall we?
– Earning $500 million per year from Netflix
– Earning $280 million per year from NBC/Universal
– Earning $320 million pear year from Disney/ESPN
– Earning $100 million for Royal Rumble 2026, $250 million for Wrestlemania 43 to be hosted in Saudi Arabia
– Increased merchandise revenue from Fanatics deal
– Higher event revenue from cities paying extra to host + ticket sales
Per TKO’s 10-K report, WWE earned around $1.7 billion during 2025 alone. However, from TKO’s 10-K report, I cannot find a line-item expense report for WWE specifically. Rather just what is defined as TKO’s net income of $546 million from a $4.7 revenue pie for everything. In other words, TKO spent more than $4 billion in expenses for 2025!
While putting on a WWE show is capital intense and same with their marketing expenses, and the same goes for UFC… There’s no way that TKO isn’t netting a wider Net Income from their combined activities.
And WWE employees are not taking a large portion of WWE’s expenses, trust me on that one.
WWE has up to 200 wrestlers on their combined roster, if that. Some are like Roman or Brock and are breaking the bank, while others in developmental make up to $100,000 per year or lower card wrestlers on main WWE wrestles make up to $300,000. Fewer live event gates to payout versus before. No Pay Per View money to distribute, so less going on top of downside guarantees. We could be reasonable and suggest that WWE wrestlers, on average, make maybe $1,000,000 per year… So if we had $200 million in total WWE wrestler salaries among 200 wrestlers, that’s a lower expense digging into that $1.7 billion revenue number. In fact, that’s LOW in terms of total labor costs. NFL players, for example, earn 48% of the league’s revenues with other leagues being similar. We’re looking at maybe 12% for WWE wrestlers?
Thanks to TKO being a publicly traded company, you can truly begin to see where the money is REALLY going.
Publicly traded companies have to release a Proxy Statement each year that describes executive compensation.
If you add up the total compensation among the 4 top TKO executives, they are pulling in a combined $43 million (bonuses + base salary). That’s JUST the top 4 executives, as they have Senior VPs, Vice Presidents, and other levels of officers and staff reporting upward to them. It gets expensive, real fast. Plus Board of Director compensation and one board member that appeared was WWE CEO/President and TKO Board Member Nick Khan with his $24 million in compensation. We also have stock awards, on top of previous stock awards of offerings (like Rock begin given like $30 million in TKO stock for joining the TKO Board).
TKO reports $1.9 billion in operating costs and $1.5 billion in selling, general, and administrative expenses.
Then you go further into the well…
Endeavor, who bought WWE, had $5.7 billion in debt before they were acquired by Silver Lake and that investment group has a metric ton of debt due its fund being involved in various acquisitions such as purchasing Electronic Arts or a part of Intel. TKO, itself, is reporting $3.8 billion in debt.
Members of Endeavor operate as agents for WME, including TKO President/CEO Ari Emanuel. Pat McAfee, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and others are represented by WME… Hence, any money that they make in WWE goes directly back to the agent executives of TKO.
The FACT is that TKO is burning through cash on other expenses other than the WWE’s or paying off its executives other management. WWE is no longer a wrestling company but a money transfer service.
You’re getting ripped off as fans because of pure financial greed by those who founded Endeavor, those who just bought Endeavor, and those who use revenue streams to justify borrowing even more money from banks. Sooooooo much commercial debt on the balance sheets of the largest banks and I present that some day, an economic crash will come when these big corporations are totally unable to pay off these big loans to perform these acquisitions. Disney is like $40 billion in debt and there are many corporations like that carrying a ton of debt.
But as loyal WWE marks, you’ll somehow still defend TKO’s greed and be willing to pay $29.99 for ESPN Unlimited, high ticket prices, or enjoy seeing your Netflix subscription price increase.
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Told You So #2 – Triple H as EVP of Talent
This one will be brief… Besides New Day, who were both John Laurinaitis signings, the majority of WWE releases seem to be Triple H signed wrestlers.
I keep telling you, folks… Triple H’s biggest weakness is assessing talent. That, or he’s spread himself too thin that he overthinks or doesn’t think about talent signed. I also think that he has a WEAK head trainer in place with Matt Bloom who dazzled fans, for years, as A-Train, Prince Albert, or Lord Tensai.
Triple H’s system has struggled to groom and develop main event talent that are as great as what Jim Ross or John Laurinaitis signed. That’s just a fact. HHH’s best guys, pre mid-2012 signings, have been Kevin Owens and Gunther as wrestlers who developed in HHH’s system. Oba Femi and Bron Breakker, by the way, were John Laurinaitis signings…
I continue to maintain that WWE could instantly improve its developmental system by luring Jim Ross away from AEW. Be humble and praise Jim Ross, while letting him consult WWE’s management team on scouting, development, and getting the most bang for your buck. Let Ross hire new trainers on the male side, as the women’s wrestling side is pretty good in WWE developmental.
HHH just isn’t good at signing younger MALE talent and then developing them into bigger stars. The success stories for his system is less than what Ross and Laurinaitis signed.
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Told You So #3 – Vince McMahon should NOT return to WWE
Many wrestling marks, who love to nitpick what Triple H does or blame Triple H for TKO’s meddling have an odd affinity for wanting Vince McMahon to return. Sure, I’ll agree that Triple H isn’t perfect and yes, the past 2 years of Hall of Fame self-glazing has been ridiculous between him and Stephanie… But I’ll take WWE since mid-2022 versus ANYTHING during the 2010s when Vince McMahon micro-managed everything and tore up any script handed to him.
Let me remind you of the 2010s…
WWE tried to push Miz, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus, Finn Balor, and Jinder Mahal as World Champions. Seriously, WWE tried that… I could even argue that maybe Braun Strowman was a reach as champion.
Overpushing an inexperienced Roman Reigns from 2014 through 2019. And that was on top of destroying the John Cena cashcow at SummerSlam 2014 and diminishing CM Punk’s top spot role. Roman was not ready for the top role and headlined many Wrestlemania’s with BAD matches against exceptional opponents.
Brock Lesnar dominated everyone, yet had to lose to Seth Rollins twice in one year. Made zero sense.
As an older WCW fan, I was happy to see equity put back into Bill Goldberg… But damn did he get overpushed and looked terrible doing so.
Flushed the tag team division down the tubes. Yes, New Day beat Demolition’s record for a lengthy title reign, but who, besides the Usos, were actually considered as a great tag team as opponents? Go back and look who Demolition wrestled during their reign and it’s a literal who’s who of best of all time tag teams!
First half of the decade had awful women’s wrestling with no care or attention to it. This promoted “Give Divas a Chance” and then Triple H’s great crop of females arrived during 2015. However, Vince only pushed Charlotte while everyone else had to bow down to her. WWE had so much potential with Sasha Banks that they wasted, while it took years to recognize Becky Lynch’s talents. How Vince took a top merchandise selling Bayley and morphed her into what you see today is beyond me.
Remember Corporate Kane and the Authority? Ugh…
Summer of Punk ruined… Daniel Bryan marginalized by Randy Orton and the Authority (“B+ player”).
Ridiculousness of the Wyatt Family. Went from a cool stable that was feuding with the Shield to completely goofy. The Fiend was an awful gimmick change, especially when you set him on fire and he had to wrestle in a burned outfit for a while until miraculously healing.
Stardust, anyone? That was Cody Rhodes and that was how WWE used him during the 2010s. Drew McIntyre was in 3 Man Band as a jobber!
Jobbing great in-ring wrestlers like Dolph Ziggler.
Many, many poor attempts at comedy.
And remember with Vince McMahon, not only did he create trouble with women in the office space and backstage at arenas (allegedly with MDA payouts), he was the one who sold out to Saudi Arabia and also forced the sale to Endeavor.
You’re an absolute IDIOT if you want Vince McMahon to return. Things have been SO MUCH BETTER creatively for the WWE since June 2022 when Vince stepped down and Triple H took over without Vince micro-managing his job. HHH, for example, made the Bloodline angle better by adding Sami Zayn to it and made the Cody vs. Brock feud better and end strongly to continue Cody’s push. CM Punk has thrived working for the older Triple H, while WWE has a collective group of wrestlers who can draw and not just the top 1-2 guys that Vince pushed to the moon.
So STOP it with your Vince McMahon love. You’re a mark for the past, yet you don’t even realize how BAD the past was.
Let’s measure WWE in quality based on decades, shall we?
1) 1990s
2) 1980s
3) 2020s (so far)
4) 2000s
5) 2010s
FACTS since Triple H took over Creative during mid-2022: Attendance boomed, viewership went up, merchandise really went up, and new TV deals broke the freakin’ bank.
Want to know why TKO can price gouge on WWE events? Because Triple H’s creative puts on quality WWE shows and fans, with high demand for WWE products, are willing to fork over their hard-earned dollars.
Go ahead, deny my 2010s facts… WWE sucked during that decade and we’re much better off NOW than we were a decade ago. RAW went from 4 million viewers to less than 2 million, attendance dropped to below 5,000 often for shows, houseshows began getting cancelled, and Pay Per View buys dropped so much that the WWE Network was created.
TKO cannot price gouge if 2020s WWE lacked quality. Period.
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Told You So #4 – AEW still isn’t good
I need to give credit where it’s due about AEW… Through late 2018, I had it with WWE’s terrible creative (see above) and I seriously thought about walking away. Then, AEW arrived and created competition and made wrestling fun for a brief while.
Then, however, the wheels fell off… AEW was quickly exposed as a company with weak leadership under Tony Khan and a toxic workplace for many that has prompted the likes of Jade Cargill, Cody Rhodes, and CM Punk to leave the promotion and thrive in the WWE afterward. The backstage attacks by the Young Bucks and their flunkies really hurt things and their free agent signing spree has proven ineffective for drawing. Many consider their shows and matches great, but their bouts are often about shoving as many high risk moves per minute to keep that sugar high going of wrestling fans.
The end result is that AEW is consistently under 700,000 for its flagship AEW Dynamite show and most of its shows struggle to sell up to 5,000 with LOW ticket prices in place. Pay Per View buys have declined.
While most wrestling publications and YouTube channels are bashing WWE and trying to somehow encourage AEW, I find that a struggle… Yes, I even once advised to help AEW succeed by forcing yourself to watch them, but even I acknowledge that as a mistake. Their shows just aren’t good, and I don’t necessarily blame the wrestlers. I blame the guy at the top, Tony Khan, and the management team that surrounds him.
For Sting to go out there and compare Tony Khan to Ted Turner was insulting. Tony is a “maverick” just like Ted was, proclaimed Sting. Love ya, Sting, but maybe you’ve taken too many bumps inside that ring.
Without Ted Turner, there was no competition against Vince McMahon. Ted provided the channels to host wrestling, while buying an almost bankrupt NWA Mid-Atlantic to keep a promotion alive. That is way different starting up a promotion with lots of money behind it and being a distant 2nd place while being a place where ex-WWE free agents often struggle.
The NERVE of Tony to once say Ted Turner “didn’t know 1% of what I know about professional wrestling or WCW would still be on TBS/TNT”. Ted Turner’s WCW promotion defeated Vince McMahon and changed the business for the better. You never defeated Vince McMahon, EVER, and briefly helped wrestlers get paid. Now, WWE wrestlers are being forced to take 50% or else go to AEW to suffer.
Again, numbers don’t lie… Under 700,000 viewers for the flagship show, fewer tickets sold despite lower prices, poor merchandise sales (they closed the merchandise division!), and lower Pay Per View buys.
AEW is LUCKY to be in an environment where LIVE sports content is winning ridiculous sums of money by cable companies. That won’t last on the next contract, as the Ellisons are receiving TKO money for UFC being on Paramount+ and I fully expect them to get the WWE RAW contract and maybe the PLE one in 5 years. Enjoy the television money, while you can, because you’re day of reckoning is coming UNLESS you get your crap together and develop the next irresistible star… But you don’t have a developmental system that could create one.
Therefore, stop telling me “WWE sucks, watch AEW instead” when watching AEW is a less enjoyable experience than the corporate WWE experience.
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Told You So #5 – WWE is too veteran dependent
This relates to my “Triple H is bad at Talent Relations” argument, but we just saw a WWE Backlash event where (a) Oba Femi was left off the card, (b) Bron Breakker had a few botched moves, and (c) Jacob Fatu immediately lost to Roman Reigns.
That’s your next crop of wrestlers behind your Punks, Codys, Romans, and Seths…
This is the MAIN WEAKNESS of the WWE that if a competent AEW were in place, they’d exploit it and create a BETTER developmental system to create brand new younger stars to overcome WWE. Instead, AEW has a poor developmental system and relies on free agents to hopefully “save” them. Sorry, but nobody is tripping over themselves to see the latest Will Ospreay match and he is a great in-ring worker, I have to admit. But he, too, is a veteran and AEW is a roster loaded with veterans versus newer and exciting younger wrestlers who will be the big stars of tomorrow.
WWE will continue to push the same 4-5 guys at the top and they’ll get older, while their replacements are currently non-existent. Having a strong developmental system matters and the WWE just doesn’t have that under Triple H. I’ve been telling you so about him as EVP of Talent Relations for over 13 years now!
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LAST WORD: See, no “crash outs”, just ol’ Tito spitting facts and proving my past positions as being correct. Watch the usual suspects lose their minds in the Comments section because that’s what they usually do underneath popular columns. If what I do was so easy to replicate, why aren’t there more people trying this?
But go ahead, leave your comments… I always need new fodder to use for the next “Told You So” column.
So just chill… Until the next episode (or crash out, LOL)!
Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ