I remember a time where Triple H was on D-Generation-X and made fun of the corporate people like Vince McMahon. Then he married Vince’s daughter, Stephanie, and over time, became a part of WWE corporate. Now, Triple H is making more money than his father-in-law.
In public SEC filing, it was revealed that Triple H (aka Paul Levesque) made more money from WWE than WWE owner Vince McMahon in 2016. Triple H made $3,993,417 as “Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events & Creative” and Vince McMahon made $3,071,600 as “Chairman & Chief Executive Officer.”
While that sounds insane, there are some things to point out that kind of explains the numbers. First, you can also see the salaries of three other WWE executives and all three made more than McMahon and Triple H. Granted, most of that was in stock awards but the bottom line showed them making more than the two more famous executives.
That being said, it also makes sense for Triple H to make more than McMahon because the 71-year-old McMahon has been scaling back his work and leaving it more to Triple H and Stephanie.
In addition, Triple H has been doing more and more behind the scenes and has had more of a footprint on the business. We can debate about the quality of the main shows like Raw, SmackDown and the pay-per-views but Triple H has been notable for starting and running WWE’s developmental organization NXT, as well as the various tournaments like the Cruiserweight Classic and the U.K. Championship. Triple H also expressed wanting to do a women’s tournament this year and creating exclusive content for WWE Network.
While this may have been Vince McMahon’s WWE, it seems like the torch is slowly being passed to Triple H. While no one really wants to acknowledge this, there is a transition going on from one to the other. And in terms of pay, it seems like the guy who was in DX 20 years ago is now running the show.
[SEC/Photo: Will Ragozzino/Getty Images]
