How much money do WWE wrestlers get for participating in Wrestlemania 40?

The 40th annual WrestleMania event is upon us as, over two nights at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania fans will enjoy two nights of top class WWE action. The event will be available via pay-per-view (PPV) and live-streaming platforms and will feature wrestlers from the promotion’s Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This will be the second WrestleMania to be held in both the city of Philadelphia after WrestleMania XV in 1999.

For four decades, WrestleMania has delivered joy to countless generations of WWE fans and is one of the biggest wrestling promotions in the world generating a multi-million dollar Business and creating a legion of household names in the stars that have graced the ring from Hulk Hogan, John Cena to the likes of Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.

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WWE wrestlers payment

Wrestlers are self-employed contractors who sign exclusive obligational contracts with the World Wrestling Entertainment corporation. While under contract, the wrestlers are not allowed to be involved with other market promotions, something WWE is very strict about and does not hesitate to initiate a legal battle against it.

Contracts

The prevalence of contracts also distinguishes between Wrestler IP and New IP. The former includes rights that will revert to the performer upon fulfilling their agreement (or, if necessary, the stated sell-off period). Though those rights return to the performer, WWE and its sub-licensees maintain the rights to use footage from a wrestler’s tenure. New IPs, or trademarks and other properties developed by WWE during a wrestler’s term of employment, are retained by WWE in perPetuity. The main exceptions are when a wrestler’s legal and ring names are identical (think Brock Lesnar or John Cena).

Booking contracts typically grant performers a base salary plus a share of other revenue streams like merchandise sales and gate receipts. Wrestlers on WWE’s main roster make an average of $500,000 annually, while top performers are well into the seven figures. But specifying an individual wrestler’s pay is far more challenging. Internet gossip fixed one of Lesnar’s former contracts at $5 million for a single year, while other rumors indicate the new one is a three-year deal worth $3 million.

During the time, some contracts acquired by the press as part of the legal documents in some of the WWE court cases illustrated that wrestlers are paid a base salary plus shares of WWE revenue streams such as merchandise and gate receipts. However, that bonus money is nearly impossible to discern because the wrestlers’ revenue share is allocated as a portion of sales costs in WWE’s financial filings. In the available contracts, annual base salaries range from $52,000 to $1 million per year, though based on a small sample.