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JBL believes WWE has every right to secure young wrestlers to lengthy NXT contracts, arguing that the company invests significant money into developing prospects who may never ultimately make it to the main roster.

The WWE Hall of Famer discussed developmental contracts and starting salaries during an appearance on Something To Wrestle (https://open.spotify.com/episode/0A1G1RMibfts1Dj70Pt1lq?si=8t7OPrJBRLiTnXpyVZR-Vg) . From JBL's perspective, the amount WWE invests across its entire developmental system helps explain why the company wants contractual security when someone does become successful.

“I don’t have any problem with the cuts and the releases and the salaries. It’s about what you negotiate, but WWE takes a lot of chances with a lot of people, and they pay people incredibly well to train there.”

JBL stressed that his argument was less about individual salaries and more about the sheer number of wrestlers WWE puts through its developmental system.

“They spend a lot of money that just goes out the door because the people don’t make it, so I think it makes perfect sense for them to try to lock them in because of the investments they make.”

Having visited WWE's developmental operation himself, JBL said the size of the classes demonstrates just how many prospects the company is investing in at any one time.

“I go down there, and I see these huge classes. Most of those people don’t make it, so you spend a lot of money trying to make whatever 30 or 40 percent that make it, or 20 percent. I have no idea what that percentage is, so I can see why they try to lock them in for long-term contracts because they need to make their money back for what all they’ve invested in. I think that’s fair and just for them to do that.”

JBL admitted he does not know WWE's actual success rate when it comes to turning developmental recruits into established talent, although he would be interested to see the company's figures.

“I’d love to see the ratio of how many people don’t make it at NXT. They probably know exactly what that percentage is. They’re good at everything else with percentages, so I’m sure they do. I’d love to hear what the percentage is out of 100 people, what they expect to make it, and how that’s scaling up or scaling down based on training.”

He also offered a firm assessment of the negotiating position occupied by wrestlers who are only beginning their careers.

“You’re a minus quantity at that point. You don’t have any leverage, and you don’t deserve much leverage. I’m sorry. But if you make it, you can end up making a ton of money.”

JBL acknowledged that his comments could easily be viewed through the lens of someone who came through professional wrestling during a completely different era. However, he argued that today's developmental wrestlers receive financial opportunities that were simply unavailable when he was attempting to establish himself.

“These people that are there training may think they’re not getting paid that well, but understand it’s apples and oranges. We weren’t making enough money to do anything.”

Recalling his own circumstances, JBL revealed that he relied on unemployment benefits following the end of his football career before making his way into wrestling.

“I was on unemployment for about six months when I got done with football. Thank God I played pro football, and so the only thing I had to take was a job that was comparable. So I didn’t have to apply for many jobs because the only thing I was eligible to do was play pro football. I coached one year, and I got like 250 bucks a week, or 220 bucks a week, or something. That’s one of the things I lived on when I trained.”

Despite using his own experience as a comparison, JBL made clear that he does not believe wrestlers today should be forced to endure the same financial struggles simply because previous generations did.

“Now people say, oh, that’s your old school, that’s your old ways. No, I get that. I understand all that, and I wouldn’t trade what I did for anything. But if I had the choice of saying, okay, we’re going to pay you whatever they pay them down at NXT, 40,000, 80,000, whatever it is, that’s a pretty good wage to start out to learn how to train, to see if you can make it in this business.”

Interestingly, JBL's defence of WWE's developmental contracts did not extend to some of professional wrestling's traditional training methods.

He questioned why aspiring wrestlers from previous generations were routinely ordered to perform enormous numbers of squats, push-ups and bumps when their time could have been better spent learning how to wrestle safely.

“I’ve never understood why you had so many guys do so many squats and push-ups and bumps and all that crap. I did it. You go to other places, and guys wanted you to train with someone there, and they say, “Okay, do 500 squats.” Why? Makes no sense to me. You’re either in shape, or you’re not. You’re there to learn.”

“We used to take so many bumps, and instead of learning how to be safe, you end up getting hurt by it.”

JBL also sided with Paul Wight's recent criticism of the traditional idea of "paying your dues." Wight argued that the phrase was frequently used by veterans as justification for bullying younger wrestlers, something JBL said he also witnessed as wrestling transitioned between generations.

“I saw what Big Show had talked about with guys that were saying it was old school, just a way of being a**holes, and I agree with that. I never thought these guys should beat people up. I was kind of in that intersection where I was still part of the old school when I broke in, then got into the new world. But I never thought that these guys should be mistreated like that.”

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