James Yun, better known by his former WWE ring names of "Akio" and "Jimmy Wang Yang," took to his Twitter account yesterday to broadcast his financial mistreatment following a one-off appearance for TNA "Impact!" back in June.
It has been over 6 weeks since i wrestles for tna and i still havent been paid and the check that they sent me 2 weeks ago bounced WTF!!!!!
TNA's scandalous low pay, non-existent benefits and poor working conditions have been well documented here on Cageside Seats. Most notably, we've highlighted the plight of Daffney who had to file a Workers Comp claim against TNA for their refusal to pay her medical bills for multiple injuries sustained while wrestling for them, and that of Jesse Neal who was so excited about qualifying for food stamps that he rather foolishly let the whole world know via Twitter.
Rumblings about TNA being behind on pay came out in February, when Mike Mooneyham claimed that his friend Ric Flair was owed a significant amount of money in back pay. However, this is the first time that someone has been so public about being owed money by TNA, yet alone about their paychecks bouncing.
Have no fear though, with TNA's new head of talent relations Bruce Prichard on the case, I'm sure this will be a momentary hiccup before their talent will reap the rewards of having the inventor of American Idol and incentive based pay working on their side.
Just read his online resume for Konstantine Creative Group:
Managed production of live domestic and international television programs weekly. Responsible for all creative content, production, and programming of WWE's multiple televison series. Managed all content from inception to execution of six hours of original programming weekly. Managed all talent, office staff, and 150+ independent contractors. Managed daily operation of event touring coordinating talent, travel, and production. WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. WWE programming is broadcast in more than 145 countries and 30 languages and reaches more than 500 million homes worldwide.
Wrote and produced over six hours of original programming on a weekly basis for 22 years. Programming was consistently rated in the top ten year round while occupying the number one slot for basic cable programming 90% of the year.
Worked with top executives Kaye Koplovitz and Bonnie Hammer at USA NETWORK, Dick Ebersol, President of NBC SPORTS to produce Saturday Night's Main Event and The Slammies on NBC and FOX. Worked briefly with Les Monsvees while providing programming for VIACOM on over 50 programs. Worked with producers at UNIVISION to create a telenovela wrestling show. Upon returning to the USA NETWORK once again worked with Bonnie Hamme and Jeff Zucker with Universal.
Along with Shane McMahon, Simon Cowell and Simon Fuller Bruce helped to create an entertainment vehicle for unknown singers called "American Idol". The story is documented in Mr. Cowells biography.
Restructured independent contractors pay basis to a performance based pay system. The contract system was revolutionary, and provided the opportunity for the talent to realize more income while significantly increasing the bottom line. This contribution enabled the company to go from losing money, to going public in a few years and being valued over $5B.
Created "Encore Pay Per View" events that enabled viewers to watch event programming at their leisure. This allowed the company to utilize its marketing and promotion for one live event to be extended to promote how great the event was versus how great it will be. This increased revenue 30-50%, by giving viewers the opportunity to view the events on their schedule if unable to view live.
Sounds like he'll have quite an "Impact."