Maven Says He Made About $800,000 For Entire WWE Run, Best Year Was $430,000

Maven discusses pay in WWE. 

Maven won Tough Enough season one in 2001, leading to him getting signed by WWE. Maven went on to work for the promotion until July 2005. Maven was largely used as a midcard performer, but did have memorable matches and moments with the likes of The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Shelton Benjamin, and more. 

In his latest YouTube video, Maven broke down his career WWE earnings. 

First, Maven explained the differences between “downside guarantee” and “pay sheets,” saying that a downside guarantee is how much you get no matter what while pay sheets were what you got based on ticket sales, pay-per-view sales, place on the card, and more. 

“The first ever downside guarantee I ever signed, right after Tough Enough, was for $50,000,” he said.

Maven noted that most midcard guys got around $6,000 for pay-per-views while main event guys could consistently get $100,000. 

“The most I ever made on a pay-per-view, I forget which one is was, was $30,000,” he said. 

Maven then went on to answer how much he made during his best year. 

“How much did I make in my best year? Right around $430,000. That was my best year on pay sheets. That was a year I remained injury free, that was a year I was on one all the house shows, the overseas trips, pay-per-views, I had a good storyline. The writing staff really utilized me for the entire year. The key to that is remaining injury free. The moment you get injured, the moment you go back to your downside guarantee, you don’t have the possibility of earning this much,” he said. 

He continued, giving his worst year total. 

“What was my worst year? A year that, for more than two-thirds of the year I was nursing a broken leg, and my downside guarantee being at $75,000 at the time, a little over $80,000. That was my worst year,” he said. 

He then explained that after taxes and expenses, the money made was gone just as quickly as it came in. 

Even though Maven has been out of WWE since 2005, he still receives royalty checks, but they’ve gone way down since The Network. 

“I still get four quarterly checks from royalties. The Network killed our DVD sales, so royalty checks went down dramatically over the years. On average, my royalties, pre-Network, was around $5,000 every quarter. Today, it’s different, my royalty now per quarter is $300,” he said.

Finally, Maven answered the question of how much he made for his entire WWE run. 

“About $800,000,” he said.

There you have it, folks. 

Money Maven explaining how the pay structure worked during his time in WWE and how much he was able to earn. 

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.