Merch sales in pro wrestling are a great way to gauge a star’s popularity, as evidenced by the success of Danhausen in WWE as a recent example. In the world of WWE, though, there needs to be some convincing that wrestlers have to do to get their merch ideas okayed by management, which Braun Strowman experienced.
Strowman recently recalled how he came up with the catchphrase “Get These Hands,” revealing that it originated during a WWE match against Rhyno, when he directed the phrase at Rhyno’s tag team partner, Heath Slater.
“So, Heath Slater’s his tag partner at the time, and Heath’s running around on the floor, running his mouth, doing this, and I’m thinking on the fly, on the fly, get the microphone. I was like, ‘Look, Heath, there’s two things that you can do. You can sit on this floor and shut up, or you can get in this ring and get these hands like your partner.’ And we came in the back, and it was trending worldwide, ‘Get These Hands,’ all this stuff. And then I had to fight tooth and nail for like two weeks to get them to do merch with it. They didn’t want to do merch with it. And then it was the number one-selling piece of merch for a year and a half,” revealed Strowman on “Matthew Del Negro’s 10,000 NOs” podcast.
Merch sales can be a lucrative source of income for WWE stars, and Strowman revealed that wrestlers receive a 5% cut from every t-shirt sold.
“Five percent [is what wrestlers earn]. I mean, $1.13 off of every T-shirt, but when you sell half a million T-shirts,” he said with a chuckle.
Strowman is currently away from the wrestling scene and is busy with his television show, but he recently discussed the possibility of returning to WWE, where he may once again get to use his “Get These Hands” catchphrase, and perhaps some new merchandise to go with it.
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