The Rock’s WWE Payday Soars Past $80 Million and That’s Before Merch and Mania Bonuses

The Rock is cashing in big time on his WWE executive deal—and according to Dave Meltzer, his profits from TKO stock alone are staggering.

On a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer broke down how much Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has likely made since joining WWE’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings, as a board member and equity partner. Spoiler: It’s eight figures and counting.

While discussing the long-term impact of John Cena’s retirement tour and whether The Rock might consider his own farewell run, Meltzer dropped the bombshell estimate:

“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.”

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And that’s just stock value. Meltzer made it clear that The Rock’s real payday is even larger once you factor in other income streams:

“Not even including his merch money. Not even including his WrestleMania and live appearance pay. Which were probably adding like several more million.”

He went on to say this kind of payday doesn’t happen by accident. There’s one key person behind The Rock’s WWE empire move—Nick Khan.

“What a… you know, he should be in love with Nick Khan. 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.”

The Rock’s deal with TKO has become one of the most lucrative wrestling-business crossovers in history—and he didn’t even need to wrestle a match in 2025 to cash out.

As WWE gears up for its Netflix era and prepares for WrestleMania 42, all eyes are on whether The Rock will make a full-circle return to the ring. But based on this payday alone, he may not need to lift a single eyebrow.