Kevin Nash would like to see WWE wrestlers earn a larger share of the money they help generate, though the Hall of Famer made clear he won’t be the one leading the charge.
Following WWE’s post-WrestleMania 42 roster cuts, Nash called for the company’s wrestlers to unionize by joining SAG-AFTRA, the labor organization representing film and television workers. The idea drew support from former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who argued that WWE talent should already be SAG-AFTRA members given that they appear in some of the most-watched scripted entertainment on television each week.
The subject resurfaced on the latest episode of Nash’s Kliq This podcast, where he pointed to the disparity between WWE talent and athletes in other industries. Nash noted that NBA players receive roughly 50 percent of league revenue through their collective bargaining agreement, while WWE talent, who have no CBA, took home a far smaller cut, reported at around 15 percent as of 2022.
“I just wish that the WWE guys were getting a bigger percentage of what was being brought in than they are,” Nash said. “I’d like for it to be an open door, to sit down, and it’ll never get there. Because, you know, I made some inroads with SAG and it’s just…”
While Nash explored the issue, he ultimately concluded that there was little personal incentive for him to pursue it now that his in-ring career is over. He noted that SAG membership comes with dues, and he still pays $800 to $900 quarterly out of his film residuals. “I wanted to get involved, and it was one of those things where, just like, as I started to dive into it, I sent a message to Andrew Yang, and he got back to me, but I didn’t get back to him because it was just like, what benefit does this do to me? I’m done,” he said.
Nash also believes unionization would have been far more impactful for his generation than for today’s stars, pointing to how much the business and top-tier pay have grown. “The top talents’ pay has grown substantially, tenfold from when I was there,” he said. “There wasn’t the Netflix money. There wasn’t the ESPN money. You just have to look at it from both sides.”
The conversation tied into comments Nash made a week earlier about his own legacy. While he once believed his lasting impact alongside Scott Hall was normalizing large guaranteed contracts, he clarified that the real difference was their transparency in the WCW locker room.
“It wasn’t the fact that we got the deals. It was the fact that we went into the WCW locker room and made our deals well-known to every top guy in that locker room. That’s the difference,” Nash said. “People have always gotten paid, but nobody knew what Hogan got. They could always suspect. We went to the guys and I would just say, ‘Dude, how much you making? You need a f—-ing raise. We’re working in the same f—-ing matches.'”