They wanted to stretch me out in the ring, but after a week of giving it back to them, they accepted me and everything was cool. Now 34 years later, I'm still wrestling at 55 and training people for wrestling. I've done numerous TV commercials and films where a Wrestler was needed. Most wrestlers know, it's a labor of love. Pay scales have gone up and down over the 34 years.
Some guys work for free just to be seen.
I have my own Federation, AWF, American Wrestling Federation and run shows as fund raisers for schools. Now it's major cities all over the place 300 days a year. Things have changed immensely. You can't work small towns through them now. Not enough money for them.