The way the former contracts worked is that TNA paid talents a monthly fee and then paid them additional per appearance. So if a talent was booked ten times a month, they were paid that as well as their guarantee. If they didn't work at all, they still had the guarantee.
In some cases that we have heard of, TNA will now pay talents a little more per appearance than they were already receiving with the idea that it will make up for the loss of the guarantee and should the company start booking more dates, the talent could be in line to get even more money.
As you can imagine, we've heard from a number of talents who aren't thrilled about this. No one wants to see money they knew they had coming in suddenly disappear and become something they have to hustle to now make up for. It's entirely possible some of them could turn down the new deals and end up finishing up their TNA tenures abruptly.
Obviously, this is part of the new, changing financial reality of TNA as it changes it's model to fit what it's become: a company that produces a TV show, as opposed to what it was trying to be - a full fledged, touring pro wrestling company.
While I suspect certain top talents will be held to guarantees (Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy and if TNA is smart, EC3), the vast majority of the company will now be working on per appearance deals.
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