#wario does care about his friends at least slightly more than money (even if he forgets that sometimes) and i will die on that hill

[duckapus]

Headcanon that contrary to what you'd expect, Wario actually does pay the crew properly most of the time. The only times he actually did try to stiff them are the three we're explicitly shown or told about.

First off, the end of the original Mega Microgame$. The reason this happened is mostly because it was only a few months after his "Villain Living in a Castle" era and he'd forgotten what it was like to have actual employees who expect proper compensation for their work. He did end up properly paying them and apologizing(well, at least an apology by his standards) after they fished him and Crygor out of the ocean.

Then the incident that happened that caused about half the team to leave WarioWare in favor of Diamond Software before the events of DIY. That was a massive wake-up call for him that prompted quite a few changes in his management style and the company structure as a whole. He doesn't want to lose the few people who actually like him ever again, and everybody involved knows it.

And then the Wario Bowl incident. To his credit, he was only trying to stiff them for their work on the tournament. He'd already factored the earnings from the actual game into their paychecks. Plus, it was partly because he didn't want them to know he'd fucked up and spent most of the tournament earnings on enough balloons to hold up Wario Deluxe, and considering the full extent of his abilities he could've easily got out of Cricket's grasp (and without hurting him even) so clearly he wasn't trying that hard to make off with the loot.