The Rock’s ‘Unbelievable’ TKO Salary Broken Down by Wrestling Insider
The Rock is still pocketing an absolute fortune from his role as a WWE executive, it has been revealed.
The 53-year-old's last match in WWE came back at WrestleMania 40 when he teamed with Roman Reigns to defeat the team of Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins in the main event of night one.
He interfered in the night two main event in Philadelphia but that wasn't enough to prevent Rhodes from dethroning Reigns and becoming undisputed WWE champion.
The Final Boss sided with a heel John Cena and Travis Scott at the Elimination Chamber back in March and executed a brutal beatdown on Rhodes.
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That was to be the Smashing Machine star's most recent WWE appearance but despite a lack of involvement in storylines, The Rock, real name Dwayne Johnson, has still been paid handsomely.
In January 2024, he joined the board of directors at TKO Group Holdings, the parent company which houses WWE and UFC - penning a mammoth deal "that provides for his promotional, licensing, and other services".
The Rock's WWE earnings explained
He was also granted full ownership of 'The Rock' trademark. But beyond that, the Fast and Furious is understood to have made eight figures through his significant equity.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, The Rock has made roughly $80 million in stock - without factoring any sizeable bonuses or appearance pay.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer said: "I haven’t calculated what Dwayne’s probably fixing on—80 million dollars over. This will be the end of the second year of that deal. "Because he signed that deal on… was it January 3rd, 2024? Right. So two years—80 million dollars, roughly. Unbelievable.
“Not even including his merch money. Not even including his WrestleMania and live appearance pay. Which were probably adding like several more million.”
Meltzer had previously reported that The Rock earned $30 million upon joining the TKO board - adding to a handsome pay packet which has seen him rake in money from his lucrative film career in Hollywood.
But for his TKO earnings, Meltzer credits WWE's president and a key member of the TKO board, Nick Khan, with helping The Rock when it comes to finances and status.
"He should be in love with Nick Khan," Meltzer added.
"Just telling you that. And basically, what Nick—Nick Khan should be in love with him too. Because those two—they’ve really… they’ve really taken care of each other financially and status-wise.”
Given 97,000 shares in 2024, The Rock has acquired further shares this year. As per an SEC filing in September, he now owns 354,045 shares in TKO - said to have a total value of around $76 million.
It is a drastically different sum to the $7 he once had to his time and even his first $150,000-a-year contract in WWE back in the 1990s.
Josh Lawless