According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter the salaries of WWE’s executives look like this:
* CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon – $1,184,500
* Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer George Barrios – $700,000
* Executive Producer Kevin Dunn – $700,000
* WWE Studios President Michael Luisi – $600,000
* Executive VP of Talent, Live Events and Creative Paul “Triple H” Levesque – $550,000
If Triple H’s salary looks like that’s only because he also has a $1,000,000 talent contract as well.
Triple H’s actual earnings in 2013 as a wrestler between match payoffs and merchandise licensing was $1,868,639. In 2012 he made $2,912,231, of which $488,482 was from salary as an executive, $305,000 was in profit sharing bonuses and $2,118,769 for being a wrestler. In 2011 he made $336,538 in pay as an executive, $74,100 in stock grants, no profit sharing and $2,074,042 as a wrestler for $2,484,680 total.
For 2013, Triple H’s $1,868,639 came from his role as an authority figure on TV, merchandise and five matches during the year – two matches with Brock Lesnar and three RAW matches with Curtis Axel, two which were on the same night. For 2012, his $2,118,769 in wrestler pay was a combination of his work as an authority figure and three matches – a Madison Square Garden live event match and pay-per-view matches with The Undertaker and Lesnar. For 2011, his $2,074,042 from wrestling came from nine different matches. Triple H’s downside as a performer for all of those years was $1 million, so the over and above is based on pay-per-view payoffs and merchandise.
