Much in the same way that one doesn't ever have to purchase an item off any wrestler's Amazon Wish List, one is not obligated to donate to a wrestler's GoFundMe (or Patreon, or whatever) once it's been set up. However, I honestly can't blame any wrestler for wanting supplemental income. Indie wrestlers get paid like dirt. Unless they can demand huge appearance fees like AJ Styles or move tons of merch like the Young Bucks, the wrestlers are the biggest victims of the margin game. Oftentimes, they don't get the payment commensurate with their notoriety, so if fans want to help support them in their endeavors outside of a booking fee or without the added cost to the actual wrestler via merchandise, why should anyone have a problem with them?
Oh, that's right, the faux-centrist right wing establishment in Western nations has conditioned people to hate others for taking or wanting "handouts." Forgetting for a moment my own commie pinko leanings, calling what these wrestlers are asking for "handouts" is totally discounting the actual work they do in the ring. It's the best way that a fan can directly support a wrestler whose work they only watch via DVD. Wrestlers get flat fees per live appearance; DVD revenue goes straight to the distributor and promoter.
OF course, the biggest counter to that is most of the GoFundMe crowd is female, and the donors may or may not be donating because they've ever seen them wrestle. It's a gross generalization, but it's also one that I don't doubt is true in some cases. It's also one I don't really care about. Let these performers make as much money as they can before their bodies are used up by wrestling for peanuts. Fuck, it beats them making customs.
