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It is no secret that WWE creates multi-millionaires.
2018-05-30
Professional wrestlers in WWE are known as "superstars" because the company produces some of the biggest icons in sports entertainment. The biggest WWE athletes also tend to attract massive net worths.
But what about the current crop of WWE superstars?
Forbes has released a list of the 10 highest-earners in WWE based on estimated earnings for 2017, including salary, cuts from WWE revenues, and each wrestler's own merchandise sales throughout that year.
Here are the 10 highest-paid WWE stars in 2018, ranked by earnings in ascending order.
10. Kevin Owens — $2 million (£1.43 million). This is Kevin Owens' first ever appearance on the Forbes list of top-earning WWE stars, but the 33-year-old's activity in the ring and reign as Universal Champion helped him crack the top 10 in 2018.
9. Dean Ambrose — $2.2 million (£1.57 million). Dean Ambrose is one of the most charismatic wrestlers. He is also one of the busiest WWE athletes and was the second most active wrestler last year.
JP Yim / Getty
Source: Forbes.
8. The Undertaker — $2.5 million (£1.79 million). The Undertaker has been around for almost three decades and is beloved for his spine-tingling ring entrances. He is a smash hit with WWE fans, which means he hardly has to wrestle to feature in the top 10 as his merchandise sales still earn him a pretty penny.
AP Images
Source: Forbes.
7. Seth Rollins — $2.7 million (£1.93 million). Seth Rollins is a staple of WWE main events and overcame knee injuries to return to the big matches last year. Forbes says Rollins' popularity with fans means he gets a good salary from merchandise sales.
AP Images
Source: Forbes.
6. Randy Orton — $2.9 million (£2.07 million). Sports entertainment is clearly in the family blood as Randy Orton is a third generation professional wrestler. A nine-time WWE champion, Orton has one of the most iconic in-ring poses and made 11 pay-per-view appearances in 2017.
AP Images
Source: Forbes.
5. Triple H — $3.2 million (£2.29 million). Triple H now wrestles less frequently than he has in previous years, but the 48-year-old, an executive vice president since 2013, receives a base wrestling salary as well as a $1.7 million executive salary, including bonuses and stock awards.
Getty Images
Source: Forbes.
4. AJ Styles — $3.5 million (£2.5 million). AJ Styles has featured for many professional wrestling brands like Ring of Honor, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He moved to WWE in 2016, worked more WWE dates than any other wrestler in 2017, and is the current WWE champion in his second reign.
AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura versus Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens match at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on January 30, 2018.AP / MediaPunch
Source: Forbes.
3. Roman Reigns — $4.3 million (£3.08 million). Roman Reigns is one of the biggest names in WWE and this alone means he polarises fans. Some loathe him, some love him, and others love to loathe him. Regardless, he has headlined four WrestleMania events in a row — an impressive feat.
AP Images
Source: Forbes.
2. Brock Lesnar — $6.5 million (£4.65 million). After a stint in UFC where he became world heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar returned to WWE in 2012. Lesnar is a five-time WWE world champion and has headlined some of the biggest events WWE has staged, including the most recent — WrestleMania 34.
AP Images
Source: Forbes.
1. John Cena — $10 million (£7.15 million). A 16-time world champion with WWE, Cena has followed The Rock to Hollywood. He still competes in the Raw and SmackDown brands for WWE, but has featured in movies like 'The Marine,' 'Trainwreck,' and 'Ferdinand.'
AP Images
Source: Forbes.
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Alan Dawson is Insider's combat sports correspondent.He moved to Las Vegas indefinitely after being shortlisted twice for Sports Journalist of the Year in 2020. He has twice been credited by the Boxing Writer's Association of America, is a Hall of Fame voter, and an MMA Journalists Association member.He joined Insider in 2017 as a reporter, was promoted to senior reporter in 2019, and then again to a correspondent in 2020, after establishing Insider Inc. as one of the best independent publications to follow in the fight sports industries. He is read by millions of people around the world every month.He has investigated the intersection of organized crime and boxing, uncovered possible bribery in sport, and has been ringside for some of the most iconic moments in combat sports including Fury-Wilder 2, Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement, and Davis-Garcia.He has taken assignments in Europe, the Middle East, and across the U.S., and was one of the few credentialed reporters to cover the UFC during the pandemic era of sports when the company held MMA events behind-closed-doors in a bubble environment on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.Dawson has been featured on Morning Kombat on Showtime, on BBC and GB News in the UK, and The Sun in Ireland. His work has been cited by CNN, The Telegraph, Forbes, USA Today, IB Times, Boxing Scene, World Boxing News, Sherdog, Bloody Elbow, The Sun, The Mirror, and Metro, as well as national media in Finland, Ukraine, Russia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam.Follow him on Twitter at @alandawsonsport.
