The staff cuts at WWE not only eliminated names from the depth chart: in some cases, they also erased million-dollar salaries from the books. According to Sean Ross Sapp, among the wrestlers released in recent years there was talent that earned between 2 and 3 million dollars annually, while others who were cut were surprisingly making less than what was believed to be the minimum salary for the main roster.
Sapp broke down the numbers during a Q&A on Fightful Select, after being asked how much some of those affected by the recent cuts were actually making. His response showed that WWE managed radically different salary situations at the same time. At the lower end, at least two wrestlers released this year were making less than the supposed minimum salary for the main roster, leaving many wondering why WWE couldn't find a use for them at that price. "I know there were at least two talents who were released this year and, when other talents found out how much they were making, they were shocked, because they were earning below what was supposed to be the minimum on WWE's main roster," explained Sapp.
On the other end, Sapp revealed that some wrestlers released in the last two or three years had multimillion-dollar annual contracts. "There were a couple more talents who were making good six or seven-figure salaries. Sorry, I'm talking about 2 to 3 million a year in some cases, in releases from the last two or three years that were in the millions, many millions," he said. These figures provide serious context to WWE's contract purge: the company was tasked with cutting "millions" from its talent roster in 2026, even asking some wrestlers to accept seven-figure reductions to remain under contract.
WWE wasn't just cutting costs and leaving those spots empty. Sapp indicated that the company was able to bring in or bring back names like Big Cass, Zilla, and Baron Corbin for a fraction of what some of the released wrestlers were making. "They got those three people for less than 30 or 40% of what some of the people who were fired were making," he stated, describing the new deals as a "veteran minimum deal." This aligns with previous information that only a limited number of WWE wrestlers were approached to accept reduced contracts: the company was carefully selecting its moves while trying to trim millions from the payroll.
Sapp didn't name the released wrestlers who were making between 2 and 3 million dollars a year, but the numbers alone paint a brutal picture of WWE's new equation. When a single contract can cost more than several combined replacement deals, a wrestler doesn't need to be bad to become expendable: they just need to be expensive while creative doesn't have plans worthy of that price. With TKO clearly uninterested in paying premium prices for wrestlers without significant plans, cutting a multimillion-dollar contract and replacing it with several cheaper ones is the kind of cold business decision that can change a locker room very quickly.
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