Colt Cabana is best known for his time helping revolutionize the world of independent wrestling, but in 2007, he made the decision to sign with WWE, where he performed as Scotty Goldman.
The star had already made a name for himself on the independent scene, rising to prominence in Ring of Honor as well as competing internationally. Speaking on a recent episode of Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, Cabana revealed that he made far less money when he signed his WWE contract than he had been making on the independent scene, but he saw the pay cut as a way to invest in his future as at the time, the sports entertainment giant was the only place a wrestler could make serious money.
“I knew it was an investment in my future. That’s the only place you can make millions of dollars, so I went to OVW for a year [and] I got over … I wasn’t set up to have the best situation [when I got called up to the main roster,] so I had six matches of losing very quickly. [But] it led to the most success I’ve ever had in my career, which was my post-WWE career [where], I made ten times what I made in WWE.” (h/t WrestlingInc)
Colt Cabana Was Released From WWE In 2009 And Now Works For AEW
After working in OVW and later FCW, Cabana made his main roster debut as Scotty Goldman on the August 15th, 2008 episode of SmackDown. Though he did host a webseries for the company, he didn’t find much success on the main roster, and after numerous losses, he was released from his contract in February of 2009.
Despite the setback, Cabana found even more success on the independent scene following his exit from WWE, returning to ROH as well as becoming a featured star in PWG, NWA and later NJPW.
In February of 2020, it was announced that he’d signed with All Elite Wrestling, and he is still employed by the company today.