TNA Wrestler TJ Perkins, better known as Manik took to his Ask.FM page to set the record straight on some recent questions about TNA pay rates and AJ styles contract negotiations with TNA Wrestling. Perkins also gives a rather blunt comparison of TNA Wrestling contracts to indy bookings. Below are the questions (in bold) and his answers.

Thoughts on Styles leaving TNA? (It's inevitable, the pay there is terribly low, lol)

Oh yeah? You work there lol?I guess you haven't seen my paychecks or Samoa joe's house....or the second house he bought for his parents...I wonder what that says about what a guy like AJ makes..



The guy who told you The Bucks and Nigel said they were underpaid is lieing. Both said in interviews they didn't like the pay per appearance because they weren't being booked regularly, they never said anything about the amount.

"Well there we go then.

Also many guys that get out and insist that they can make more money on the Indys leave out the fact that the only reason they can make great money is because of the exposure TNA/WWE gave them. 99% of people don't command the same salary on the way in as they do when they are on the way out, they have TNA/WWE to thank for that.

When I started taking more Indys coming off of CMLL and New Japan I instantly commanded a higher price tag.The other thing that people leave out and fans don't think about is not only are these guys newfound asking prices a gift from the company they are aggravated with but in order to make better money elsewhere they have to do a SHITLOAD of work to network their own appearances and setup accommodations and it never ends. The business end of wrestling is far more tiresome than the physical part. Those guys leave out the fact that they no longer have peace of mind, while bragging about how much better they'll do.

Also I don't understand the logic of being paid per appearance on worldwide television being such a burden....but being paid per appearance on the Indys with NO EXPOSURE AT ALL and twice the stress is somehow better.

One thing I learned about being homeless is that you can't possibly place a high enough value on peace of mind.

None of the gripes people use against major league wrestling make sense if you think about it.But then again, there's a small percentage of people/fans that simply just want something to hate. It romanticizes dreaming in conjunction with laziness."

Go TJ!

How big is Joe's house?

Can't be as big as Cena's, so I'm thinking of Cena's place and scaling back a few acres.

Ɖaŋte Cғoss wrote:

Can't be as big as Cena's, so I'm thinking of Cena's place and scaling back a few acres.

He IS good friends with Cena. They should have SOMETHING in common other than wrestling.

What i find funny is how he said people shouldnt be taking the whole "pay per appearance" thing as a burden. It IS a burden when you figure into the fact that, the talent that are under those agreements arent getting paid at ALL if they ARENT on television. So if you arent getting booked for 2 months straight, yet you have no injuries, no backstage heat with the management and are just sitting there losing money, then yeah, it becomes a burden. You arent working, you arent getting paid. Simple logic, really, doesnt matter if the company you work for is on mainstream television or not.

Samoa Joe probably has a nice house due to the notion that he probably saved up his money and was able to afford one, as well as being able to buy his parents a nice house.