The top 10 list for WWE’s highest-paid wrestlers for 2020 was released on Forbes this month, and one quick glance at the list shows just how much WWE values former WWE Champion ‘The Beast” Brock Lesnar. “The Beast” stands atop the list with $10 million, which doubles the second-highest paid Superstar in Roman Reigns. Lesnar kicked off 2020 with his latest run as WWE Champion and appeared on nearly every episode of Monday Night Raw in some form or fashion for the first two months of the year, which is noticeably more frequent than his previous title reigns. He dropped the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre in short fashion at WrestleMania 36 and hasn’t been seen since.
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The rest of the top 10 list includes Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Triple H (which counts his salary as a WWE executive), Becky Lynch (the highest-paid woman on the roster), Goldberg, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Universal Champion Braun Strowman. It’s worth noting that non-active wrestlers like John Cena and Ronda Rousey were exempt from the list, along with heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury — who reportedly earned $15 million for his match with Strowman at Crown Jewel in October 2019.
Since returning in 2012, Lesnar has wrestled a total of 64 matches for WWE (including live events). He’s held the WWE Universal Championship for a combined 688 days and the WWE Championship twice for 408 days.
Heading into their WrestleMania match, McIntyre praised Lesnar in interviews for helping him look like a star in the build-up.
“I’m still trying to get over the fact that a few weeks ago that they pointed out that Ricochet gave me the assist at the Rumble, they ran me down on the microphone a little bit. Generally, Paul Heyman builds them up to sell the opponent for Brock’s match, but it was the opposite this time. Paul ran me down, almost like ‘wait a minute, are we worried about this guy?’” McIntyre told TalkSport. “Then I walked out, looked Brock in the eye and dropped him three times. And, I’m sure you probably noticed, one of those kicks wasn’t necessarily planned! He went out of his way — he felt the crowd because that’s how good he is and I’m a professional.
“There were no physical cues so we just kept going,” he added. “And I was like, ‘Wow, this guy is unbelievable’ and I’m glad I’m at a level where I can read him at the same time. We’re working together here and he’s more than willing to go overboard to make me look as good as possible and make me.”
