Vinny Lupton
Superstar
bonus Observer news
Spoiler: NXT star possibly coming up soon..or not
Women have been contacted for a new WWE tournament for the Network. This was the one originally set for January through March, but moved back when WWE prioritized the U.K. tournament due to the ITV television show. Talent has been called about clearing their calendars for a first round of tapings in the latter part of May
Bryan and Brianna Danielson announced that their daughter would be named Birdie Jo Danielson
Ray Leppan, 37, better known as Adam Rose, said on Twitter that “This will be my last year wrestling. Thank you to those who got it. Thank you even more to those who didn’t. You pushed me harder.” He’s worked very little on the indie scene since leaving WWE
Vince, Shane, Stephanie, HHH salaries/earnings:
JeanPaul eating good 
Spoiler: NXT star possibly coming up soon..or not
Right now the plan is for Nakamura to debut on the main roster very shortly. I’m not sure what date it will be, but the likely scenario is he loses to Bobby Roode at Takeover and starts immediately after, with Raw after WrestleMania being a good bet. There are others who may be brought up as well. Asuka is likely not one of them because the posters for the U.K. tour are built around Roode, Asuka, Kassius Ohno, Dillinger, Aleister Black and Sanity
Women have been contacted for a new WWE tournament for the Network. This was the one originally set for January through March, but moved back when WWE prioritized the U.K. tournament due to the ITV television show. Talent has been called about clearing their calendars for a first round of tapings in the latter part of May
Bryan and Brianna Danielson announced that their daughter would be named Birdie Jo Danielson
Ray Leppan, 37, better known as Adam Rose, said on Twitter that “This will be my last year wrestling. Thank you to those who got it. Thank you even more to those who didn’t. You pushed me harder.” He’s worked very little on the indie scene since leaving WWE
Vince, Shane, Stephanie, HHH salaries/earnings:
The WWE’s annual stockholders meeting will be on 4/20, and with the retirement of Joe Perkins, who has been on the Board of Directors since 1999 and been affiliated with the WWWF since the 70s, the board members will be Vince McMahon, 71, the CEO and Chairman of the Board; Stephanie McMahon Levesque, 40, the Chief Brand Officer; Paul Levesque, 47, the Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative; Stuart Goldfarb, 62, Patricia Gottesman, 58, Laureen Ong, 64, Robyn Peterson, 41, Frank Riddikk, 60 and Jeffrey Speed, 54.
Besides Vince, Stephanie and Paul Levesque, the rest of the senior executive team is composed of Michelle Wilson, 51, the Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer; George Barrios, 51, the Chief Strategy and Financial Officer; Kevin Dunn, 56, the Executive Producer & Chief of Global Television Production, Blake Bilstad, 47, the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; Casey Collins, 44, the Executive Vice President of Consumer Products, Basil DeVito, 62, the Senior Advisor of Business Strategy and Michael Luisi, 51, the President of WWE Studios.
For 2017, the base salaries for Vince is $1.4 million, Wilson is $791,044, Barrios is $783,510; Levesque is $650,000 (as an executive, not including his salary as talent) and Dunn is $909,560.
It’s interesting that in management goals for 2017, the stated goal is not based on adding new subscribers to the network, but based on adding the average hours consumed per subscriber, which was a number that declined in 2016 from 2015.
As far as total pay for last year, not including dividends, Vince McMahon earned $3,071,600 ($1,313,462 in salary, $1,739,063 in incentive compensation and $19,075 in matching 401K plans and life insurance payments). That was down from $3,308,998 from 2015 but up from $2,413,865 in 2014.
Wilson earned $4,317,617; Barrios earned $4,311,056; Levesque earned $3,993,417 (which was $601,933 for executive salary, $499,992 in stock, $419,531 in incentives for company performance and $2,471,961 as talent for his matches and television appearances and he also missed football season as talent this past year); and Dunn earned $4,637,652.
Like Vince McMahon, all the executives earned less in 2016 based on lower revenue coming from meeting incentives, with the exception of Paul Levesque, and that’s because his money for being a wrestler increased from $1,713,360 in 2015.
Stephanie McMahon earned about $2 million between executive pay and talent, not including stock. Shane McMahon earned about $2,150,000, all as a performer, for his role on television as commissioner as well as for his main event money from WrestleMania and Survivor Series.
Listed as the company’s key goals in 2017 are to grow the WWE Network, although as noted, the main goal listed is to grow the average amount of hours consumed per subscriber, and not grow subscriber numbers; increase international revenue; increase “certain television ratings, social media metric; sponsorships and net promoter score,” increase revenue from new product initiatives and come up with actionable business initiatives to generate new revenue and social media followers in certain new markets.
Vince McMahon received an additional $17,056,020 in stock dividends. Linda McMahon received $272,050 in stock dividends. Stephanie McMahon received $919,079.52 in stock dividends in 2016. Paul Levesque received $30,803.52 in stock dividends in 2016.
Like most of the biggest stars, even though he far out-earned that figure even working nine matches for the year and missing several months of television due to storyline reasons of wanting to keep him off, Levesque’s downside for 2016 was $1 million. I believe with the exception of Brock Lesnar and maybe John Cena, nobody has a downside greater than $1 million, even though the headliners earn multiple times that.
Besides Vince, Stephanie and Paul Levesque, the rest of the senior executive team is composed of Michelle Wilson, 51, the Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer; George Barrios, 51, the Chief Strategy and Financial Officer; Kevin Dunn, 56, the Executive Producer & Chief of Global Television Production, Blake Bilstad, 47, the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; Casey Collins, 44, the Executive Vice President of Consumer Products, Basil DeVito, 62, the Senior Advisor of Business Strategy and Michael Luisi, 51, the President of WWE Studios.
For 2017, the base salaries for Vince is $1.4 million, Wilson is $791,044, Barrios is $783,510; Levesque is $650,000 (as an executive, not including his salary as talent) and Dunn is $909,560.
It’s interesting that in management goals for 2017, the stated goal is not based on adding new subscribers to the network, but based on adding the average hours consumed per subscriber, which was a number that declined in 2016 from 2015.
As far as total pay for last year, not including dividends, Vince McMahon earned $3,071,600 ($1,313,462 in salary, $1,739,063 in incentive compensation and $19,075 in matching 401K plans and life insurance payments). That was down from $3,308,998 from 2015 but up from $2,413,865 in 2014.
Wilson earned $4,317,617; Barrios earned $4,311,056; Levesque earned $3,993,417 (which was $601,933 for executive salary, $499,992 in stock, $419,531 in incentives for company performance and $2,471,961 as talent for his matches and television appearances and he also missed football season as talent this past year); and Dunn earned $4,637,652.
Like Vince McMahon, all the executives earned less in 2016 based on lower revenue coming from meeting incentives, with the exception of Paul Levesque, and that’s because his money for being a wrestler increased from $1,713,360 in 2015.
Stephanie McMahon earned about $2 million between executive pay and talent, not including stock. Shane McMahon earned about $2,150,000, all as a performer, for his role on television as commissioner as well as for his main event money from WrestleMania and Survivor Series.
Listed as the company’s key goals in 2017 are to grow the WWE Network, although as noted, the main goal listed is to grow the average amount of hours consumed per subscriber, and not grow subscriber numbers; increase international revenue; increase “certain television ratings, social media metric; sponsorships and net promoter score,” increase revenue from new product initiatives and come up with actionable business initiatives to generate new revenue and social media followers in certain new markets.
Vince McMahon received an additional $17,056,020 in stock dividends. Linda McMahon received $272,050 in stock dividends. Stephanie McMahon received $919,079.52 in stock dividends in 2016. Paul Levesque received $30,803.52 in stock dividends in 2016.
Like most of the biggest stars, even though he far out-earned that figure even working nine matches for the year and missing several months of television due to storyline reasons of wanting to keep him off, Levesque’s downside for 2016 was $1 million. I believe with the exception of Brock Lesnar and maybe John Cena, nobody has a downside greater than $1 million, even though the headliners earn multiple times that.
