Cameo, a Chicago-based startup that launched in early 2018, is a “platform where fans can book personalized video shoutouts from their favorite celebrities, athletes or influencers.” Cameo’s FAQ states that their mission is to “create the most authentic and memorable fan experiences in the world.”
For those who have never used the website, it’s simple. You head over to cameo.com, search for a celebrity or athlete and book them to record a video shoutout. Shoutouts can be used for birthdays, anniversaries or trolling… mostly trolling. Their FAQ not only addresses the ability to troll your friends, it seems to encourage it:
“Cameos are perfect for any occasion! Want to wish your friend Happy Birthday? Roast your buddy? Or just hear from your favorite talent? As long as the request is appropriate, talent will be excited to do your Cameo!”
You’re probably wondering why in the blue hell I’m writing about Cameo and why this matters to you, the pro wrestling fan. Well, it really doesn’t but I thought it would be fun to explore which current WWE superstars are on Cameo and investigate their rates, their current ratings and attempt to guess how much money they are making via the site. This really comes to light as a result of Sean Ross Sapp’s excellent piece on Fightful.com talking to WWE star Lio Rush and addressing Rush’s gripes with the company and its pay structure. Rush is one of the WWE superstars currently offering personalized video shoutouts on Cameo.com and has the distinction of being the lowest price current WWE superstar at only $20.
He's doing Cameos for $20. Nobody on the main roster (or otherwise) should be doing Cameos for $20. Pay these people.
— Voices of Wrestling (@voiceswrestling) May 2, 2019
Rush is one of 26 current WWE superstars on Cameo. There are dozens of other wrestlers on Cameo including legends of the past and no-name, what-would-possess-someone-to-have-him/her-do-a-personalized-video message-for-you as well.
As mentioned, Rush’s $20 is currently the lowest price for any current WWE superstar. But, that pricing structure may have actually resulted in Rush making a nice chunk of change on Cameo. I don’t have exact payouts or profit numbers but what I do have is the number of reviews posted for each wrestler on Cameo. After a celebrity/athlete has recorded and sent their Cameo to the purchaser, the person who ordered the Cameo has an opportunity to review the booked celebrity/athlete. It’s an incomplete and inexact science, of course, but it stands to reason that those with lots of reviews receive more bookings than those with only a few reviews. We’ll go under that assumption for the remainder of this piece but again.
While Rush ranks dead last out of 27 in terms of price, he ranks 3rd among current WWE superstars in reviews (50). Rush also carries a perfect 5.0 rating with reviews such as:
“That was awesome, thank you Lio!”
“OMG!!! Justin is so thankful and in such Surprise!! AWESOME Video Message!! THANK YOU, Lio!!! You went above and beyond! Justin hopes to meet you in person at a future event! Easter Blessings to you and your Family!!”
“Lio is great! Such a nice guy! He helped me alot with my situation I had going so Than You Lio!”
An example of one of Rush’s recent Cameos can be seen below:
Without knowing the cut that Cameo takes from each personalized video message we know that Rush has made at the very least $1,000 from the website, a total that ranks 6th among current WWE superstars (using our loss math of reviews + price).
So what about the other stars, who else is on Cameo and how do they rank?
The full list of current WWE superstars on Cameo is as follows:
- Drake Maverick
- Mickie James
- Luke Gallows
- Big E
- Billy Kay
- Peyton Royce
- Carmela
- Zack Ryder
- Aiden English
- Mandy Rose
- Sin Cara
- Mojo Rawley
- Sonya Deville
- Kalisto
- Aliyah
- Tyler Breeze
- Taynara Conti
- Kayla Braxton
- Corey Graves
- Shelton Benjamin
- Montez Ford
- Mike Rome
- Bianca Belair
- Dana Brooke
- Lacey Evans
- Tom Phillips
The list is diverse in terms of main roster members, NXT wrestlers, announcers, backstage interviewers and managers. I can’t say that any name jumped out at me initially. Of course none of the biggest stars—your John Cenas, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnars—appear on the list but names like Big E, current WWE Women’s Tag Champions The Iiconics and Mickie James initially stood out to me. What you’re really dying to know is how much each of these wrestlers cost and who is making the most money off these, so let’s get to that.
You see the list of names above. Now try to guess who has the highest price of those listed. I’ll spot you the price figure: $500.
Mickie James? Nope.
Peyton Royce? Nope.
Big E? Nope.
Mike Rome?!?! …actually that’s probably closer!
The most expensive current WWE superstar on Cameo is none other than expert pants pisser and current 205 Live general manager Drake Maverick. $500 for a personalized message from DRAKE MAVERICK. As you can probably predict, Maverick isn’t getting a ton of hits. He currently has only one review (tied for dead last). The high price point puts him in the top half of earners though at 13. Though I like Maverick’s hustle which he addresses in his sample video:
Maverick aint getting out of bed for anything less than $500. Can’t knock it.
Mickie James comes in second at a cool $250, Luke Gallows is third at $200, Big E hits the mark at $125 and Peyton Royce, Billy Kay and Zack Ryder round out our top five at $100 apiece. Other notable price totals include Mojo Rawley who is priced at $69. GET IT!? GET IT?! I should note that the former Enzo Amore and current nZ.0o! (or whatever the fuck) is also priced at $69. GET IT!? 69! GET IT?
I was a little perplexed to see Shelton Benjamin priced at only $30, the same as current NXT star Montez Ford and ring announcer Mike Rome but, then again, do you really want to pay $50 for a video message from Shelton X?
Let’s dive into the reviews because that’s where we see how well the pricing structure is working for each of these stars.
As mentioned, Rush is killing it with 50 reviews good enough for third among our crop of current WWE stars. The top star with 68 total reviews is Big E and c’mon, $125 for one of these is probably a steal.
I’d take out a second mortgage and give my friends Happy Birthday messages from Big E. If anything, Mr. E is underpricing himself. Either way, Big E is making some nice scratch on Cameo ranking as the highest earner (price + results) with a total of $8,500. Not bad.
Royce comes in second in terms of reviews at 66 (just two behind Big E). As a result of Peyton charging $25 less than Big E, though, the total made is only $6,600, which isn’t too shabby. A majority of Royce’s video as listed as private but I was able to find one public one where Royce wishes Alastair happy holidays and tells him to keep his head up during his recent mental health issues.
I’m joking around in this piece but stuff like this is super cool. I personally wouldn’t feel any better if my favorite wrestler talked to me via video message but if this is what gets you through the day and helps you with your challenges, it’s an invaluable resource.
Sticking with the WWE’s women’s division, Sonya Deville comes in fourth in reviews at 34 (a far drop from third place Rush). However, Deville ranks fourth in total made ($1,870) so she’s doing well for herself. Deville also has a perfect 5/5 rating.
Man up, Frank!
Current pushed commodity Lacey Evans rounds out the top five in reviews with 32 however her lower price point ($25) puts her eighth in total made at $800.
As far as wrestlers who are bringing in the highest totals we’ve addressed Big E as the top earner, Royce comes in second and third is someone who didn’t appear high in reviews at only 28 but with a higher price point ($75) Mandy Rose ranks third in total earned with $2,100.
Rose’s on-screen partner-in-crime Deville ranks fourth in total earned and Zack Ryder rounds out our top five with $1,800.
Those making the least amount of money from Cameo are Tom Phillips who has received only two reviews from his $25 price point ($50)—let’s hope Phillips has learned better phone video/photo etiquette in recent years, NXT’s Aliyah who has received only one review from her $50 Cameo price and finally, our Cameo Mr. Irrelevants Ford and Benjamin who have only one review each for their $30 price point.
You can view a full list of current WWE superstars on Cameo and their price point/reviews at the time of this publication below:
| Wrestler | Price | Price Rank | Reviews | Reviews Rank | Rating | Total Earned (Reviews + Price) | Total Earned Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big E | $125.00 | 4 | 68 | 1 | 5 | $8,500.00 | 1 |
| Peyton Royce | $100.00 | 5 | 66 | 2 | 4.9 | $6,600.00 | 2 |
| Mandy Rose | $75.00 | 8 | 28 | 6 | 4.7 | $2,100.00 | 3 |
| Sonya Deville | $55.00 | 13 | 34 | 4 | 5 | $1,870.00 | 4 |
| Zack Ryder | $100.00 | 5 | 18 | 8 | 4.9 | $1,800.00 | 5 |
| Lio Rush | $20.00 | 27 | 50 | 3 | 5 | $1,000.00 | 6 |
| Aiden English | $75.00 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 5 | $900.00 | 7 |
| Lacey Evans | $25.00 | 23 | 32 | 5 | 5 | $800.00 | 8 |
| Mickie James | $250.00 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 5 | $750.00 | 9 |
| Corey Graves | $35.00 | 19 | 20 | 7 | 5 | $700.00 | 10 |
| Tyler Breeze | $50.00 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 5 | $600.00 | 11 |
| Carmela | $75.00 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 5 | $525.00 | 12 |
| Billy Kay | $100.00 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 5 | $500.00 | 13 |
| Drake Maverick | $500.00 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 5 | $500.00 | 13 |
| Kayla Braxton | $40.00 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 5 | $440.00 | 15 |
| Bianca Belair | $25.00 | 23 | 16 | 9 | 5 | $400.00 | 16 |
| Gallows | $200.00 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 5 | $400.00 | 16 |
| Dana Brooke | $25.00 | 23 | 14 | 10 | 4.9 | $350.00 | 18 |
| Taynara Conti | $50.00 | 14 | 6 | 15 | 5 | $300.00 | 19 |
| Kalisto | $50.00 | 14 | 3 | 18 | 5 | $150.00 | 20 |
| Mike Rome | $30.00 | 20 | 4 | 17 | 5 | $120.00 | 21 |
| Sin Cara | $70.00 | 11 | 1 | 22 | 5 | $70.00 | 22 |
| Mojo Rawley | $69.00 | 12 | 1 | 22 | 5 | $69.00 | 23 |
| Tom Phillips | $25.00 | 23 | 2 | 20 | 5 | $50.00 | 24 |
| Aliyah | $50.00 | 14 | 1 | 22 | 5 | $50.00 | 24 |
| Shelton Benjamin | $30.00 | 20 | 1 | 22 | 5 | $30.00 | 26 |
| Montez Ford | $30.00 | 20 | 1 | 22 | 5 | $30.00 | 26 |
Yes, this may be the dumbest thing I’ve ever written on this site. I know.
