WWE's Highest-Paid Wrestlers 2017

Forbes Reveals Updated List Of Ten Highest Paid WWE Stars, John Cena No Longer Tops The List

Forbes once again published their estimated list of the ten highest paid WWE wrestlers. The estimates are for the 2017 year, and use data compiled from "WWE's public filings, booking contracts and pay documents as well as interviews with industry insiders." It was noted that wrestler pay is comprised of base salary, as well as bonus payments from merchandise and live events.

In their list last year using data for 2016, Forbes had John Cena as the highest paid WWE star with $9.5 million, followed by Brock Lesnar ($6.0 million), Triple H ($2.8 million), Randy Orton ($2.7 million) and Seth Rollins ($2.4 million).

 For 2017, Lesnar's pay doubled to $12 million, making him the highest paid WWE star of that year. Cena followed with $8 million, down $1.5 million from 2015. Below is the top 10 list for 2017.

10. Randy Orton

 Earnings: $1.9 millionLike Rollins, Orton was also the victim of injury last year, and he didn't make his return until the end of July. He's still able to rank among the company's top earners thanks largely to a sizable downside and a main event match against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.

9. Seth Rollins 

 Earnings: $2 millionLast year Rollins ranked fifth on our list and was the top-earning member of the Shield trio, but a knee injury knocked him out of commission for the first five months of 2016, costing him a lucrative WrestleMania payout.

 8. The Undertaker

 Earnings: $2 millionA legend 33 years in the making, The Undertaker cleared $2 million last year despite working just five events (and only wrestling once), but there's no doubting he's earned it. The 52-year-old is so popular that only a few wrestlers outpace his merchandise sales even though he's off TV for the vast majority of the year.

7. Shane McMahon

 Earnings: $2.2 millionLast February the elder child of WWE chairman Vince McMahon made a surprise return to the company after six years away. He followed that surprise with an even bigger one: A match against Undertaker at WrestleMania 32. WWE reported his income as $2.15 million in their 2016 proxy filing.

6. AJ Styles 

 Earnings: $2.4 millionIn January WWE was able to lure Styles from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and since his debut at that month's Royal Rumble he's been one of the company's busiest stars. He joins Reigns, Ambrose and Kevin Owens as the only wrestlers to work a dozen pay-per-view events last year.

5. Dean Ambrose 

 Earnings: $2.7 millionNobody in WWE put in more time than Ambrose last year. By our count he worked 194 events last year, 9% more than anybody else. That schedule doesn't only rack up lucrative performance fees, but it's also made his merchandise some of WWE's most popular.

4. Roman Reigns 

 Earnings: $3.5 millionReigns is an incredibly divisive character among wrestling fans, but there�s no debating that he's quickly becoming one of the company's top draws. The 31-year-old superstar was involved in the main event of the first seven pay-per-views of 2016, and only Cena sold more merchandise last year.

3. Triple H 

 Earnings: $3.8 millionThe in-story COO is also a real-life WWE executive - executive vice president of talent, live events and creative - and that dual role has been tremendously lucrative for Triple H (real name PaulLevesque). His executive pay, including salary, cash bonuses and vesting stock, earned him $1.3 million last year.

 2. John Cena

 Earnings: $8 millionNobody in WWE comes close to moving as much merchandise as Cena, but his earnings are down - and he's ceded the No. 1 spot on our list - largely because of a reduced schedule. He lost the first five months of 2016 to shoulder surgery and then took off the last three months to film the upcoming second season of American Grit.

1. Brock Lesnar 

 Earnings: $12 millionJuly�s UFC 200 marked a return to the octagon for Lesnar, who earned a then-record $2.5 million purse for his fight against Mark Hunt (he later lost 10% of that amount for failing drug tests). Including his cut of the event�s PPV buys, we estimate that one fight was worth as much as everything he did in WWE last year.