A lil story i read on another site about the last outlaw gimmick
Funny Story on Why Recent WWE Developmental Cut & Northeast Indy Wrestler Ron Price Was Cut from the WWE, How Price Got His Job & More.
Funny Story About Ron Price
For those of you who don't know Ron Price, and that's probably a good percentage of you reading this, Ron Price used to wrestle in the northeast area. Price has decent size, but just a sloppy body. Price was one of the WWE developmental cuts this week. People weren't shocked that he was cut, but were shocked that he even got a developmental job to begin with, since he was just your generic indy cowboy, complete with Confederate apparel to match. Now, the story on how he got signed has leaked by many sources, including those in the WWE.
Again, when you look at Ron Price, he has nothing close to that "WWE look" and he wasn't unique like a Rey Misterio or a Bryan Danielson. He really looked like a generic indy guy who wouldn't even be ranked in the 400 section of the PWI 500. The only time his name only got real press was after fellow former WWE developmental cut (and according to NWS's Joe Panzarino "was personally fired by Vince McMahon") Kevin Matthews had an altercation with him at an ACE show a few years back.
Anyway, Ron Price used the moniker "The Last Outlaw" Ron Price. Apparently, Price also copyrighted the "Last Outlaw" name for wrestling purposes. According to a high ranking source in the WWE office, the WWE wants to use "The Last Outlaw" name for the Undertaker, because he doesn't have enough nicknames as it is already.
The WWE offered Ron Price $30,000 to buy the rights to "The Last Outlaw". However, Price turned the money down and asked for a developmental contract instead. So instead of a $30,000 lump sum, Price got paid $500 a week for three months or so. Price was never on FCW shows either, so he never even got a real look.
This was a great deal for WWE, because instead of paying $30,000 they hired Price for $6000 and then cut him. As part of Price's contract, he signed over the rights/intellectual property to the name "The Last Outlaw". WWE does stuff like this all the time. For example, the WWE also hired Greg Gagne and inducted Verne Gagne into the WWE Hall of Fame several years back, as part of acquiring the AWA library. When the 3 months were up, Greg Gagne was released.
So basically, WWE got what they wanted, the rights to "The Last Outlaw", for 1/5 the price they were willing to pay. For Price, he never had a shot to advance his career in FCW/WWE, because it was kept secret that they were just using him for the name.
Now Price returns to the indy scene, but can't call himself the "Last Outlaw" anymore. I guess for Price, at least he got $6000 and a 3 month vacation in Florida out of it.
