Backstage Update On How Much WWE Pays NXT Top Stars

A new report details the current pay on the table for the NXT brand's top stars.

Finn Balor NXT Champion
WWE.com

In a new report from Dave Meltzer over at the Wrestling Observer, there’s some details on the current pay of certain NXT stars.

When asked about the pay on table in NXT these days, Meltzer explained how nobody in the gold and black brand – bar NXT Champion Finn Balor – is making anywhere close to the $250,000 - $300,000 range.

Instead, the belief is that the majority of NXT’s top talents are making somewhere in the low $100,000s – although Meltzer did single out one particular, long-standing unnamed NXT star as making around $130,000 per year. It was also speculated that Adam Cole is around that $130K number, too.

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The starting pay for NXT stars is between $50,000 - $60,000 a year, with raises given as talents progress through the system. There have also been rumblings that certain recruits – such as football players – may be offered a slightly higher basic deal upon signing with the company.

With Triple H forever pushing the narrative of NXT being a fully-fledged third WWE brand, one would imagine that the status of being a bona fide third prong of WWE would be reflected with contracts and pay to mirror those wrestlers in similar positions on the Raw and SmackDown brands – but clearly that is not the case just yet.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.