8 Incredible Wrestling Paydays You Won't Believe

5. Floyd Mayweather ($2m+ - 2008)

Floyd Mayweather would follow Tyson's lead a decade later and pocket a sweet $2m+ for his appearance at WrestleMania XXIV.

Rumours at the time guessing how much Mayweather was paid were wild. Some reports pegged Floyd's pay check as around $20m, which is a pretty astounding thing to even type now. The Wrestling Observer cleared things up a little by shrinking that number to $2m, then speculated that 'Money' Mayweather would get residuals on the backend.

Still, those royalty payments wouldn't take the fee to $20m. They would however further the notion that Floyd was a box office sensation, and WWE's corporate financial reports later said 'Mania XXIV flooded company accounts with an extra $23.8m in revenue from pay-per-view buys alone. Mayweather, to his credit, was part of that.

His boxer vs. wrestler match opposite Big Show is one the giant talks about today as his biggest payday ever. If he was paid handsomely, then it makes sense to believe that Mayweather (an outside celebrity brought in for hype) earned in excess of his $2m base salary.