WWE is unlike any sport or form of entertainment. Like a circus act, the company is constantly traveling with its plethora of employees. Unlike professional sports, the company has no off-season. In one year, WWE Superstars were even asked to work during Christmas Day for a RAW event in Chicago!
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Looking from afar, the life of a WWE Superstar might seem like a dream, especially to fans. However, it is far more grueling than most realize. When RAW is done with, most of us click the TV off and head to bed. For a WWE Superstar, things are just getting started. Following a show, they will usually take their rental cars and drive to the next destination. On the norm, they will probably hit their pillows at two or three in the morning. It is a tough life and one we have seen a lot of former employees walk away from.
Travel for the WWE roster has changed over the years, but pros and cons of being a couple on the road and collaborating with friends remain unchanged.
Travel is a big part of pro wrestling, and that’s especially the case for WWE’s talents. The company has toured aggressively over the years, including criss-crossing North America and voyaging overseas. Along the way, romantic couples have developed different preferences about how much time they spend with their partners. Moreover, unique bonds have formed between friends that have, at times, spilled over to the on-screen product as the ideas they develop in the close quarters of a hotel room or rental car are too good not to share with the world. A lot has changed with improved technology, new ideas, and, perhaps most importantly, a new regime under Triple H. Nonetheless, the core elements of life on the road remain largely the same.
There are quite a few couples in modern WWE, ranging from Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch to Montez Ford and Bianca Belair to Corey Graves and Carmella. In contrast to old ideals, which had men like Kevin Nash extolling the virtues of keeping his spouse far away from the business, more and more modern talents have thoroughly integrated their personal and professional lives.
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Several WWE couples have taken their relationships to the next step; some of them are currently engaged, while others are already married.
Some of these couples have been public about the joys of hitting the road together, and WWE even got glimpses of what it looked like for couples like Jimmy Uso and Naomi and Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella to do so on WWE’s reality series, Total Divas and Total Bellas.
However, other wrestlers are more particular. One of the things many fans don’t realize about Matt Cardona–the former Zack Ryder–was that for the periods when he and Chelsea Green worked for the same promotions, he preferred to still have separate hotel rooms on the road. Cardona explained he liked his routines of how laid his personal things out in the hotel, and it was better for him and the relationship for them to each have their space in this context.
Given the intensive nature of the travel schedule, it’s no exaggeration to say that some wrestlers have spent more time with their colleagues than their own families for extended stretches. Particularly for those talents who are truly wrestling obsessed, the extra time has given way to spending even more time talking and thinking about wrestling while they’re on the road.
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The Kliq was notorious for playing backstage politics – particularly with those they didn’t like. But those they got along with did just fine.
Members of The Kliq famously “booked the territory” on long car rides–their idle fantasy booking would, in time come to impact what actually happened in WWE as their political power grew in the 1990s. That’s not to mention that Kevin Nash found himself booking WCW for a time years later, and Triple H is currently the creative head of WWE, while Shawn Michaels oversees NXT.
On a more microscale, wrestlers have come up with ideas based on their travels together, too. Mick Foley has told the story of bunking with Diamond Dallas Page. The eccentric DDP made a habit of thumbtacking the window curtains to the wall to seal out light while he slept. This idiosyncrasy inspired Foley to start using tacks in his hardcore matches.
A lot of WWE fans have expressed their pleasure with WWE’s creative direction since Triple H took the reins as Chief Content Officer. That satisfaction carries over to the roster as well. Bayley cited that The Game took seriously her pitch for a female faction that wound up being Damage CTRL, where Vince McMahon had not. Other wrestlers have articulated that The Cerebral Assassin is less inclined toward last-minute changes that throw off the wrestlers than his predecessor was.
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AJ Styles has voiced his opinion most recently on improvements to working for WWE since Triple H took over, citing points like talents getting time off to recuperate or to reinvent themselves to ultimately be the best versions of themselves on screen and in the ring. As another gesture, The Cerebral Assassin notably gave talent extra time off during the holiday season in 2023, which was also seen as a sign of him wanting to look after his wrestlers as whole people, ensuring they could spend time with loved ones and recharge.
On a visit to This Past Weekend with Theo Von, Hulk Hogan discussed how one of the most challenging parts of his old travel schedule with WWE and WCW stemmed directly from main eventing night after night for the company back in the 1980s and 1990s.
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To hear Hogan tell the tale, he frequently found himself closing shows, then getting back to his hotel after room service had already closed down for the night, meaning he had had few-to-no dining options available to him–let alone healthy ones. Fortunately for modern wrestling talents, an expansion in delivery services, eateries open later, and opportunities to use technology to one’s advantage for meal prep have improved this set of circumstances for the modern main eventer. Nonetheless, it’s a wrinkle of travel–especially for tip-top stars–that fans may never consider.
One of the hardships that wrestlers often comment on regarding life on the road is the frequent stretches of time they have to spend apart from their families. At different times, the WWE schedule has entailed working one to three TV tapings in a week, in addition to house show matches and public appearances. The time away is only exacerbated by international tours.
It might seem like one antidote to being away from family would be to bring them on the road, and that has worked for some wrestling couples who’ve wound up married, as well as some talents who successfully navigated balances between the business and their personal lives. However, there have been far less successful instances. For example, Bret Hart wrote in his book about bringing his wife at the time along for WrestleMania 10, only for the shared travel experience to exacerbate issues in their marriage. That included The Hitman describing himself as on top of the world when he won the WWE Championship in the main event, only to wind up miserable afterward following another argument with his spouse.
A number of wrestlers have cited car travel as one of the hardest parts of their tenures in the business. From the rigors of getting from town to town, to wrestlers often having big enough bodies to not fit comfortably in normal automobiles for long stretches, to wrestling backstage culture dictating that everyone stayed awake on long drives, it’s little wonder that a lot of talents have legitimate complaints.
Advances in technology and a little ingenuity have changed the game for some wrestlers. The Big Show, CM Punk, and Randy Orton are among those wrestlers known to have at different points chartered private buses to manage their travel. Buses afford them room to stretch out, the ability to manage their own travel schedules, and the capacity to grab some shut-eye while someone else navigates the road. Orton in particular is famous for taking advantage of old wisdom and new technologies to ice immediately after matches and get full nights of sleep on his bus before rolling into a new town on tour, which were keys to his body aging gracefully over the years and extending his career.
In the past, WWE has mostly opted to tape events which occur around Christmastime, but there has been the odd occasion in which wrestlers have had to compete on a live Christmas edition of Monday Night Raw, with one year seeing the employees forced to be away from their families on Christmas Day.
As a consolation, WWE had a Christmas party behind the scenes that night. They also paid for all the hotel bills for both the RAW and SmackDown shows. Despite the company’s bonuses, it was likely tough for all the superstars to be away from their families. Of course though, from Vince McMahon’s standpoint, the most important thing is “putting smiles on faces.”
According to a WWE contract, the wrestlers aren’t regarded as employees but instead, as independent contractors. That means limited privileges as opposed to other lines of work. Given the travel schedule, WWE can’t provide everything. The wrestlers and other employees need to take care of certain things themselves while on the road. One of those things happens to be ground travel.
WWE doesn’t rent a wrestler a car nor do they provide a tour bus – something they used to do back in the day. These days, WWE talent must book their own rental cars or means of transportation once they arrive at the destination. WWE has produced some Network shows such as Ride Along to document these journeys, but they feel more like a glorified version of what real life is like. One minor positive is that WWE pays for air travel. It must be noted that for PR work, wrestlers sometimes get their travel and accommodation sorted, though they don’t receive extra pay.
Similar to renting a car, WWE Superstars are also in charge of booking their own hotels. This has always been the case, even back in the ’90s. Some wrestlers were cheaper than others when it came to hotels. Who can forget the likes of Mick Foley trying to save every penny by sleeping at a cheap Motel or at times, his own car. The playing field has definitely changed nowadays. In addition, the talent can expense a portion of their hotel stay. Some save a buck or two by rooming together while on the road. The same goes for renting a car. We have seen groups of four ride together and book a hotel together.
It is hugely important for WWE’s wrestlers to stay in great physical condition – which can be tough. It is up to the wrestlers themselves to sort this, with them needing to find their own fitness facilities, sort their own food, and make sure that they keep in strong shape without help.
Since RAW or WWE PPVs usually finish at 11:00pm, most fans just shut the TV off and head to bed following the shows. However, that is not the case for a WWE Superstar, although they wish it would be. For WWE employees, once a show is done with, it is time to head towards the next destination. Wisely, WWE usually books the next show nearby, so it’s usually a drive to a different town a mere couple of hours away. Still, it isn’t the easiest part of being a WWE Superstar.
However, the schedule is something which is supposedly made apparent in WWE contracts prior to signing, which is why upon extensions, some wrestlers tend to make some amendments that promise better travel, limited dates, and better accommodation. It is no surprise that big names take a huge payday and see their schedule is so reduced, much like Roman Reigns.
For some long-distance traveling and for some overseas events, WWE used to use a private plane to take their superstars from destination to destination. However, after the infamous Plane Ride From Hell following a UK PPV event, this perk was scrapped, and it is no surprise as to why.
From legitimate fights to drug use, to alleged sexual abuse involving the likes of Brock Lesnar, Scott Hall, and Ric Flair, this was a huge scandal and WWE made the correct call to change up how they took wrestlers to different locations.
Just imagine traveling somewhere for work and just chilling with your co-workers at the event. Now the real kicker is you aren’t asked to work or help in any way at the event. Basically, you were just asked to make the trip nonetheless.
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These wrestlers were very talented but didn’t reach their full potential in WCW because the company failed them creatively.
That’s a reality with WWE. Back in the WCW days, as noted in the book The Death Of WCW by R.D Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez, the company would buy tickets for the entire roster all the way until the year 2000. While WWE may not buy tickets for their entire roster, they will fly in more people than they need. At times, WWE has opted to make talent stay at home, such as Aleister Black and Mustafa Ali, but many undercard talents do fill up catering at different arenas.
When the company travels abroad, things are quite different as various countries have different norms in comparison to Canada and the U.S. We have seen in the past, that security isn’t exactly top of the line when it comes to overseas shows. Randy Orton grew frustrated at all the fans approaching him during one visit. We saw a similar occurrence with Triple H. He was basically mobbed by fans in and out of the airport, with security seeming like an issue.
In addition, the schedule isn’t lighter on these overseas tours either, with WWE visiting different cities and countries every day during their European tours. To make matters worse, the wrestlers often have very little time to even sight-see and properly experience these places that they go to.
WWE employees aren’t working a show a week. On average, a WWE Superstar travels to three different shows a week. Usually, the schedule features a TV taping along with two live events. It is also common for a wrestler to work four shows, in four different cities. At least once a month, WWE holds a PPV event too.
For a Superstar on RAW this means a hectic schedule. The schedule consists of a live event Thursday, Friday or Saturday along with back-to-back shows Sunday and Monday. Now that’s some crazy traveling. Due to this, wrestlers very seldom have full weeks where they are at home, with them perhaps managing to spend just two or three days with their loved ones and families.
Given the demanding travel schedule, some might be asking, why don’t the WWE Superstars start a union? Zelina Vega was someone who discussed this, but the union discussion seems to have died down in recent months. Unionization could improve the travel schedule a great deal. However, it really feels impossible due to their status as “independent contractors.”
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This likely won’t change any time soon. New employees are typically so blinded by living their dream with the company that they will sign just about anything, no matter how one-sided the terms are.
Vince McMahon is no longer at the top of WWE, but his sometimes weird way of running things will be hard to forget. McMahon always traveled via his own private jet, which is to be expected, but he had rules about non-wrestlers who traveled with him.
McMahon allegedly disliked anyone falling asleep on his private jet. It isn’t clear why, though McMahon is known to have very odd rules, likes, and dislikes, such as hating sneezing and a bizarre sense of humor.
