News On How Much Money Sasha Banks Is Being Paid By NJPW

WWE

With Sasha Banks set to appear at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17, there’s been much talk of what New Japan Pro-Wrestling could offer over WWE.

Previous reports had stated that it wasn’t just a one-and-done for Mercedes Varnado to appear in NJPW.

Now, Voices of Wrestling (subscription required) has provided further insight, which Dave Meltzer succinctly discussed on Wrestling Observer Radio, saying:

“Voices of Wrestling said that it was a per-appearance deal at the highest price that Bushiroad has ever paid anyone, and they said it was more than Chris Jericho.

“Which to me sounds… I don’t know.

“Chris Jericho made $100,000 a shot when he was working for New Japan, and, man, $100,000 a shot, she’s gonna have to… with Chris Jericho he was actually underpaid because of how much revenue he drove between New Japan World and ticket sales at the different shows and things like that.

“But I don’t see her driving that revenue, but I guess we’ll find out.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

Looking beyond Wrestle Kingdom, Meltzer talked about the issues he sees with Varnado’s deal with NJPW, explaining:

“The Tokyo Dome may be one thing, but for other shows, and a lot of them in the United States, I don’t see where she’s gonna drive $100,000 of extra revenue.

“But time will tell.

“I think everyone in the world expects that she’s gonna confront KAIRI (Kairi Sane) after the KAIRI/Tam Nakano match, and set up an IWGP Women’s Championship match.

“I can’t say that’s gonna happen, but that certainly is the speculation.

“But there’s multiple dates.

“Don’t know about AEW.

“This was a Takaaka Kidani (founder and president of Bushiroad) move more than Rossy Ogawa (co-founder and executive producer of Stardom).

“He (Kidani) wanted the big WWE star and was willing to pay a lot of money

“Whatever the number is, it’s a lotta, lotta, lotta money.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

Meltzer would compare the details of Varnado’s NJPW deal with what WWE could have paid, saying:

“On a per-appearance basis, obviously tons more than she would have made in WWE, but in total, they’re not gonna book her on enough shows to where she would make in the long run what she would make in WWE.

“It’s only a few shows, she has plenty of time to do other projects, perhaps work for AEW.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

Returning to his comparison between what NJPW was paying Chris Jericho compared to what they’re paying Mercedes Varnado and the potential value of the former Sasha Banks, Meltzer concluded:

“We’ll see how the rest of that goes, but for a company that wouldn’t bring Jericho back because of the cost, it is interesting that they’re doing this, but they do feel the need to get that championship in a spotlight and I think they feel the need to have strong women’s matches for the US market, feeling that they need women’s matches in this market.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

It had previously been reported that, whilst negotiating a return to WWE, Varnado and WWE had been “very far apart on money.”

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• Mercedes Varnado
• Wrestle Kingdom
• NJPW
• Sasha Banks

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