Reports of Dolph Ziggler’s Salary & New Contract Not Entirely Accurate

We reported over the weekend that Dolph Ziggler reportedly signed a new deal with WWE after the company offered him a “big money” deal that he couldn’t turn down. Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated claimed on Wednesday that the “big money” offer that Ziggler received from the company was a 1.5 million dollar per year figure.

When asked about these reports on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez confirmed that Ziggler did sign a new deal but seemed very skeptical about $1.5 million figure. Alvarez believes there is a better chance that $1.5 million reflects the total amount for a two-year deal instead of one but he couldn’t confirm at this time if that’s correct.

“I doubt WWE released the numbers for his contract,” Alvarez explained. I don’t believe it. I’m very skeptical of those numbers.”

Dave Meltzer also chimed in on Barrasso’s claims and indicated that while it’s possible WWE could have offered him that number it seems very unlikely based off of WWE’s current structure for talent’s salaries.

“There are extenuating circumstances,” Meltzer said. “Based on the usual salary structure, that seems very unlikely “

Meltzer said that he would reach out to see if he can confirm the report but indicated that it’s very doubtful that he will hear anything back because WWE doesn’t like to give out those numbers.

It’s also worth noting that one of the “rumored” clauses in Ziggler’s new deal would allow him to leave after his matches and not have to stick around until the end of the show. X-Pac commented on these reports on his latest podcast and indicated that he has never heard such a clause in WWE contracts. In fact, X-Pac revealed that WWE made it mandatory for all talents to stay until the end of the show several years ago, after noticing that a lot of young talents were leaving early when they really could have benefited from staying and watching the main event guys.

(Please credit Wrestling Observer Live & Ringside News when using any of the quotes or story)