More Staggering Details Of The Rock’s WWE Deal Revealed

The Rock has carved out quite a deal for himself upon his return to WWE and now new details about just what that deal entails have been uncovered.

The road to WrestleMania 40 became a convoluted one when The Rock returned to WWE apparently to finally go one-on-one with Roman Reigns. However, fans revolted against that idea with Cody Rhodes the people’s choice to go up against Reigns and finally finish his story by becoming WWE Champion.

Cody Rhodes did just that against Roman Reigns one night after The Rock defeated Rhodes in a huge tag team match to ensure it would be ‘Bloodline Rules’ for the title match.

An SEC Filing uncovered just what The Rock earned for competing at WrestleMania and it’s sure to make your eyes water. On the 7th of April, Dwayne Johnson was awarded 96,558 shares of TKO Group Holdings Class A common stock. Those shares have an approximate value of $9.4 million.

The Rock Receiving Hefty Equity Payment At The End Of 2024

The Rock returned to WWE as part of the TKO Board of Directors in early January 2024 and was able to carve out quite a deal for himself as a result. Now Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics has delved deeper into The Rock’s deal with WWE and revealed some key points:

• The contract allows Dwayne Johnson to hire “third party service providers in connection with developing concepts, scripts, storylines” with WWE’s approval. WWE will reimburse Johnson’s Seven Bucks Entertainment for those costs. A name was redacted in this section but could refer to former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz who works for Seven Bucks and has had input in Johnson’s return to WWE.
• The deal is worth $30 million in TKO equity (“the Johnson Equity Award”) that vests on a schedule through the end of 2025. Most of that award will be doled out by the end of 2024.
• Part of that equity is for Johnson licensing his name, likeness and “certain other intellectual property rights to WWE for use in connection with certain categories of licensed products related to professional wrestling for up to 10 years, subject to certain earlier termination rights.”
• That IP, which includes The Rock and nearly all of his famous catchphrases, cannot be used on things like political ads, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, porn, or pop-up ads without Johnson’s approval.
• Johnson received almost $491,000 in royalties at the end of 2023 and will continue to receive annual royalty payments for the sale of products with his IP.