WWE News: Forbes Reveals The 10 Highest Paid WWE Superstars – John Cena Falls Out Of Top Spot
The world of professional wrestling is one that is a lot different than it used to be and there is a lot more money involved than in years gone by. With more money coming in from around the world, that allows for superstars to have bigger contracts and get paid thousands and millions more than from years ago. Forbes has now released their estimated list of the 10 highest paid WWE superstars for 2016, and “the champ” is no longer at the top.
Every year, Forbes puts together a list of the estimated 10 highest paid superstars in WWE and it is a rather interesting list. While WWE doesn’t necessarily put out exact salaries for the world to see, they do have different booking contracts, pay documents, and some public filings, according to Wrestling Inc.
The 2016 estimate list of the 10 highest paid superstars in WWE has now been released and there has been a change at the top. John Cena is no longer the highest paid star in the company and as a matter of fact, he is not even close to the beast on top.
According to Forbes, by way of Wrestling Inc., Brock Lesnar was the highest paid superstar in WWE for 2016 after having his 2015 salary doubled. Yes, the “Beast Incarnate” ended up making a massive $12 million in 2016 to lead all superstars and leaving the rest of the company far behind him.
John Cena did end up in second place with $8 million, which is an estimated $1.5 million less than he made in 2015. Now, Cena did take a good bit of time off due to injuries and doing some other work outside of the ring with movies and TV shows.
Here is the full list of the 10 highest paid WWE superstars in 2016:
- Brock Lesnar – $12 million
- John Cena – $8 million
- Triple H – $3.5 million
- Roman Reigns – $3.5 million
- Dean Ambrose – $2.7 million
- AJ Styles – $2.4 million
- Shane McMahon – $2.2 million
- The Undertaker – $2 million
- Seth Rollins – $2 million
- Randy Orton – $1.9 million
As you can see, there is a huge separation between the salaries of Brock Lesnar and John Cena as compared to the rest of the company.
Coming in third for 2016 was Triple H who made $3.5 million and that isn’t overly surprising considering he is an in-ring performer, backstage executive, and does so much with NXT. Shane McMahon also made the list of highest paid in WWE and that isn’t a shock either as the Inquisitr recently reported that Trips and all three members of the McMahon family have big salaries.
One interesting thing to notice is that all three former members of The Shield are on the list and it goes to show you how much hard work pays off. Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins all work a lot of dates and through injuries to perform for the fans, and that has them rewarded for their efforts.
In 2015, Cena was on top of the 10 highest paid WWE superstars list with Lesnar coming in behind him. All of the same names are on the list from 2015 except for one and that is Kane who Forbes had at number nine in 2015 with an estimated salary of $1.3 million.
For 2016, Kane’s spot was taken by AJ Styles who arrived in the WWE a little over a year ago and it is no big surprise that he received a big-time deal.
John Cena is still considered the “face of WWE,” but there is going to come a time when he just can’t do it anymore. This will likely be the last year The Undertaker is on this list of the 10 highest paid superstars in WWE as time takes its toll on everyone. The Shield has every member represented and two top executives are in the top 10, but it is Brock Lesnar topping the list from Forbes and that isn’t bad for a part-time star.
[Featured Image by WWE]
