cm punk milk carton

The average McDonald’s worker makes in 4 months what their CEO makes in an hour. Scary. Now on to the WWE.

Earlier this year the WWE salaries were reportedly leaked and there are some real surprises. Let’s take a look at the Big Show who works a limited amount of dates shall we. Show makes a cool 1,000,000 a year with his own personal tour bus. Flying is a tough deal for him due to size and paying for two seats I would guess. Now let’s compare that with a much less likable and marketable wrestler in the great Khali. Show is a fan favorite for the most part and makes them boo when he’s a bad guy – like a guy getting paid 1M a year should. Khali gets $974,000 to suck at everything, get booed because he is awful, and to stink up our TV sets. Comparing that to a top 5 worker like Dolph Ziggler who makes $540,000, I am guessing you want to vomit.

Imagine those compared to UFC contracts. What if the WWE awarded match of the night bonuses and Ziggler got that 50K extra a PPV? Dolph would net a cool $600,000 extra and that would give guys like Darren Young, who makes a dismal $80K a year getting decimated in under 5 minutes, an incentive to not suck. But, since some matches aren’t given the proper time to build due to scripting, and Darren Young gets squashed alot that probably wouldn’t work. All of the mid-card to main eventers would have the only shot.

Most WWE developmental contracts are said to be in the abysmal $24,000 to $25,000 per year range, with two or three year commitments. There may be exceptions if a talent has a strong name or if the company thinks they are a top prospect. 2-3 year commitments, let that sink in. No matter how much you rise above the others on NXT there is no hope for more money. Unless you have a name like the newly signed Kenta there are no exceptions.

Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler, the voices of the WWE, make just $100,000 roughly a year. I swore those guys would make more because they are who the WWE banks on to make the matches sound credible and exciting. Matt Bloom aka Tensai makes 500K a year and he doesn’t even wrestle anymore. Think about that one for a moment. Granted, the commentating sucks but you would have thought at least $200,000 a piece. Matt Striker who has been with the WWE far less than both of them tops the pair with his $112,000 a year.

Potentially the absolute biggest shock of all is Jack Swagger. He is in one of the hottest feuds of the year with Rusev and makes 72K. That is completely ridiculous. He is a former World Champion and makes less than Darren Young.  Absolutely shameful.

Legends contracts like the ones for guys like Shawn Michaels and Booker T are a way for WWE to keep them around and prevent them from helping a potential competitor with their star power. Booker makes $72, 520 a year with first class travel guaranteed and all he does is lend his raspy voice to a pre-show usually.

Below is apparently a full listing of what wrestlers make a year. What do you think of the pay differences. Don’t overlook the fact that John Cena gets over 6% of total merchandise sales and his stuff sells more than 5 times what the #2 guy does. He makes almost a million guaranteed on wrestling sales alone we figure.

NOTE: Some wrestlers like CM Punk are no longer being paid by the company. These figures were leaked around February of this year.

Wrestler Yearl Salary Bonus Contract
John Cena $2.75 million 6.25% Merchandise sales, Free travel/acc 10 years
Big Show  $1 million Personal tour bus 10 years
Kane $905,000 First Class Travel/Accomodation 5 years
Randy Orton $1.6 million Personal Travel tour bus 10 yeasr
CM Punk:  $1.2 million Personal tour bus & first class travel/acco 7 years
Cody Rhodes  $494,500 3 year
Daniel Bryan  $620,470 3 year
Sheamus  $1 million first class travel paid for 7 year
Rey Mysterio  $985,00 4% bonus for high merchandise sales 5 year
Brodus Clay  $170,000 2 years
Christian  $595,000 first class travel 3 years
Dolph Ziggler  $540,230 3 year
Darren Young  $80,145 3 year
Zack Ryder  $135,050 1.5% bonus on high merchandise sales 3 year
The Miz:  $712,000 5 year
The Great Khali  $974,000 5 years
Tensai  $520,000 3 years
Mark Henry  $877,000 First class travel 10 years
Kofi Kingston  $254,200 3 years
Alberto Del Rio $675,000 first class travel 3 year
Jack Swagger $75,000 3 year
Jinder Mahal: $75,000 3 year

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WWE Divas Salaries
Wrestler Yearl Salary Bonus Contract
Alicia Fox  $72,520 3 years
AJ Lee: $104,300 3 years
Beth Phoenix: $112,500 first class travel paid for 3 years
Eve  $109,475 first class travel paid for 5 years
Layla: $86,450 3 years
Natalya  $74,410 3 years

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WWE Announces/Commentators Salaries
Wrestler Yearl Salary Bonus Contract
Booker T $72,520 First class travel/accomodation 3 years
Jerry Lawler $104,300 First class travel/accomodation 5 years
Matt Striker $112,500 3 years
Michael Cole: $109,475 5 years

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20 thoughts on “Shocking WWE salary list revealed, dismal developmental contracts”
  1. Total 100% lies. CM punk for example openly came out and said his contract ended last July so to say he had a 7 year contract is absolutely ridiculous. Some of these people arnt even there anymore because their contracts expired so 2-7 years contracts are absolutely totally bullcrap. Its a known fact for most wrestlers its 1-2 years rolling contracts.

  2. horrible article…..when did a mcdonalds worker do anything to even come close to this level…………………quit writing shit articles thinking people are entitled to money just because they are alive…………..earn it………

  3. I’m guessing that has to do with contract options. (like the one they recently tried to exploit with Rey)

  4. These are downside guarantees you fucktard. If you are on a PPV you make thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses. Seriously, Sean McClure, you’re a moron.

  5. I’m surprised Christian is on that much when Vince McMahon hates him, but despite the lack of trust in these figures, Vince McMahon is a serial bully and will do anything to stop his employees discrediting his shit company, he’ll paint Seth Rollins in you sold out chants when the biggest sell out of the century is Mr. McMahon himself, for selling out the teenage fans that helped him against WCW, for PG merchandise sales. Paper chaser fan hater. Wouldn’t be surprised at awful contracts because people are desperate to make it in the company.

  6. Wow the stalker is a WWE fan. I should have known someone with your 10 year old mentality would be a FAKE WRASSLIN fan. You need to stay away from the REAL fighting websites because you are worse than stupid

    You have like 5 comments on a mma website and you think you know everything. Typcial FAKE WRASSLIN fan that pretends he knows something about MMA.

  7. You miss spelled wrestler. You see “wrestler”is someone who competes in a “REAL” sport. You meant WRASSLER which means “FAKE entertainer for little kids”

    For your INFO your boy Paul C. Ford brought me to this website because he was spewing garbage on a REAL fighting website

  8. Wow, what a huge difference between John Cena and Jack Swagger. Swagger is a legit wrestler and he gets paid peanuts compared to Cena. WTF

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