CJ Perry's Brand Army Success Shows That WWE Needs To Pay Female Talent More
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Over the past few years, the entire wrestling landscape has undergone massive changes. With the arrival of AEW, popularization of Japanese promotions such as NJPW and Stardom, and Vince McMahon retiring from his role in WWE, the world has changed. For women's wrestlers, there have been new avenues to success on top of in-ring performances. Stars have found added income in the form of Twitch, OnlyFans, Fantime, and Brand Army, as a number of women's wrestlers have begun making incredible paydays through these avenues. From the likes of Paige VanZant, Toni Storm, Allysin Kay, and formerly Zelina Vega on OnlyFans, to Mandy Rose making over a million dollars on Fantime, these have become legitimate alternatives for women's wrestlers to make even more money than in wrestling. Looking at a name that is regularly talking about a future WWE return, CJ Perry has found massive success with Brand Army, and it is a sign that WWE needs to pay their female talent more.
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In 2015, AJ Lee Exposed WWE For A Pay Disparity Between Women & Men
Despite being featured as the biggest women's star in the company before she retired in 2015, AJ Lee was incredibly underpaid by WWE during her years on top of the Divas Division. Following Stephanie McMahon making an extremely poorly-planned statement, supporting women in Hollywood for trying to fight for better pay, AJ Lee took to Twitter to expose WWE and make Stephanie look like a major hypocrite as the former Divas Champion would tweet, "Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise & have starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times, and yet they receive a fraction of the wages & screen time of the majority of the male roster". While it is possible that some of the bigger female stars in WWE, such as Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, are making more money than some of their male counterparts, it seems that women in WWE still are incredibly underpaid, as Sasha Banks reportedly was only making $250,000 a year compared to Seth Rollins' $3 Million annual salary.
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In 2022, Mandy Rose Was Fired For Her Fantime Page Despite Her Being Sexualized By WWE For Years
Looking to one of the major controversies of 2022, Mandy Rose was shockingly released from WWE following her loss of the NXT Women's Championship in a match that was never advertised. This was due to her apparently refusing to stop posting on her Fan Time account, where she was posting provocative images and videos while under contract with WWE. While some fans will surely jump to the company's defense of saying that they put on a family product, keep in mind that since Mandy was first called up to the main roster, she has been sexualized by the company, from having her appear on SmackDown in lingerie to try and seduce Jimmy Uso, to her run in NXT 2.0 where her entire character was sex appeal.
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It was reported that Rose's WWE contract saw her making between $150,000 and $250,000 a year, which again is incredibly low for what these women's wrestlers are worth. In turn, it was revealed by Fantime that in December 2022, Mandy Rose made over $1 million dollars through her page. So while some may try to judge the women, the judgment should instead be thrown at WWE for shamefully underpaying their women's wrestlers.
According To CJ Perry, In Her First Year Of Brand Army, She Made More Than Her Best Year In WWE
Despite teasing joining both AEW and WWE over the past several months, nothing has come of those teases from the former Ravishing Russian. Instead, she has been working on her Brand Army page since the Summer of 2022. Breaking the record for most earnings in a day shortly after joining, CJ Perry made over $20,000 in a single day, making $100,000 by the 2-month mark of her using the service according to the former wrestler. By the end of the year, Fightful would release the report that CJ Perry had made more money on Brand Army than she did during her most profitable year in WWE, once again raising eyebrows towards the manner in which women in WWE are vastly underpaid compared to the men working in the same company.
