Salary
Average Salary: $50,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $2,087,400
Your salary will depend entirely on your level of success, but on the whole, you'll make way less than you're thinking. There aren't any easy averages for professional wrestling salaries, but a good guess is under $50,000 per year (source).
Sorry, were you hoping to get the millions that Big Show and John Cena get (source)?
Here's the thing: The majority of wrestlers that score developmental contracts with the WWE through their promoters are paid around $25,000 per year for a two- to three-year commitment while the execs figure out if they're worth keeping around.
That's a low salary to begin with, and these contracts are extremely hard on the wrestlers. They contain strict demands in terms of exclusivity, intellectual property, merchandising, number of days worked, and a hefty number of "Wrestler's Responsibilities," such as doing their own training, conditioning, and providing their own costumes, props, and makeup (source).
That's right. You've got to pay for your training, conditioning, and gear. Even for wrestlers with a salary in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, that's a huge uppercut to their income. Home gyms don't come cheap.
Before you can land one of these draconian contracts, you've got to catch someone's eye. How do you do this? Brace yourself—it's not pretty.
When you're first starting out, expect to be making $25 per night—and that's if you're lucky—wrestling in small gigs that won't ever be publicized. Those twenty-five bucks won't even cover the cost of the cross-country bus to get there and the three days off work (yes, you're going to have to get a day job just to get started on the circuit).
Oh, and are you a female wrestler? Don't even get us started. Some of the biggest WWE Diva names, like Alicia Fox and AJ Lee, barely reach $100,000 per year (source). It's tough out there for a Diva.