WWE: 10 Most Overpaid Wrestlers Of 2013

The WWE is so vast nowadays that its performance is increasingly hard to analyse. The company share price has doubled in 2013 and Wrestlemania 29 grossed a new company record for a live event at $72 million. Despite this, there are several downwards trends in wrestling, including the lowest rated Raw for over a year and the lowest bought Survivor Series event since the cartoon era. WWE Superstars made considerable downside guarantee pay cheques throughout the highs and lows of 2013. But is there any meritocracy in the WWE? There are many top performers who are walking away with less money than wrestlers who rarely feature. Some talent are drawing nothing but still getting paid among the highest salaries in the company. This feature will look at the overpaid wrestlers in WWE. We will look at a wrestlers guaranteed salary, and then analyse it against PPV's featured in, main events they worked, if they drawn, and merchandise sales. The question will be asked - are they worth the money? Honorable mention .... Brock Lesnar. 'The Beast' is raking in $5 million a year and wrestled just 3 matches in 2013 with the odd television appearance thrown in. In comparison, most WWE full timers wrestle 4 times a week, and the top paid full timer (John Cena) only makes $3 million guaranteed a year. Is Brock overpaid? I don't think so. His name brings in fans who don't normally watch wrestling and he garners mainstream exposure. There is value in the Lesnar franchise beyond the tradition buyrates he draws. Speaking of buyrates, he does spike the business. He main evented 3 times in 2013 to the tune of 1.5 millions buys (mostly down to Mania 29 where he shared the spotlight). How much of the $72 million Mania gross can be credited to Brock? It is difficult to say considering The Rock, Cena, Undertaker and the Mania brand itself sells the event ... but that figure more than secured Brock for the year.