In regards to injuries, WCW would pay you your full guaranteed money for 30 days but if the injury extended past that they’d cut that pay in half. If you were out for an extended period of time, youd have to pay back your medical costs upon returning to the company.
Russo says that there’s a general consensus stating that when wrestlers get injured they might lose their spot on the card. Russo recalls working for WWE and when injuries happened, the creative team would write them out of their storylines and then write them back into the program when they were healthy enough to return.
The creative team would often get a heads up a few weeks prior to the Superstar’s return date so they could build the storyline around the returning Superstar. He says that injured Superstars would never lose their spot on the card during that time.
Russo admits to having a real hard time watching injured Superstars panic over their fear of losing their spots. A lot of injured performers would simply take painkillers and continue to work night after night, and this led to them developing severe addictions to these painkillers.
