Details Of The Rock's WWE Talent Contract Revealed

More details about Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s WWE contract have come to light. The 51-year-old signed a talent contract when he became a member of the TKO Board of Directors in January. 

Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics did some digging into the contract, which was published as an exhibit with WWE’s annual report in February. 

The deal is worth $30 million in TKO equity, which is referred to as ‘the Johnson Equity Award’ and vests on a schedule through 2025. The majority of that $30 million will be doled out to Johnson before the end of 2024. Part of the equity is for Johnson licensing his name, likeness and other certain intellectual property rights for a period of up to 10 years (subject to certain earlier termination rights).

The contract stipulates that The Rock’s IP cannot be used for things like tobacco and alcohol products, marijuana, pornography, pop-up ads or political ads without his approval. 

At the end of last year, Johnson received $491,000 in royalties and will continue to receive royalties yearly. 

Interestingly, the contract allows the former WWE Champion to hire “third-party service providers in connection with developing concepts, scripts and storylines” (with WWE’s approval). WWE will then reimburse Johnson’s Seven Bucks production company for the costs of those service providers. Johnson has already done that, though the person’s name was redacted in the contract. 

The Rock is currently taking time away from WWE following WrestleMania XL. There is a possibility, however, that he will have another match in 2024.