by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is one of the highest paid actor in Hollywood. The Rock wasn’t an direct entry to Hollywood, he wrestled for WWE for a good amount of time, and had become quite famous around the world, so he used that opportunity and ventured into Hollywood.
The Rock was recently in “The Pivot” podcast, where he talked about his first wrestling paycheck
My first paycheck, in wrestling, my first paycheck was $40. That’s what our guarantee was. This was before WWE. As you’re starting out, I wasn’t ready for WWE. I made my bones down in Tennessee. I wrestled down there, USWA, everybody came through there, Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, everybody who became somebody went through there, and that’s where you made your bones and cut your teeth. The guarantee, every night, was $40. Didn’t matter where you were at on the card, that was your guarantee.
Additional money, there was the intermission and we’d go to the gimmick table. We’d have our polaroids. Anyone who wanted to take a Polaroid, you’d sign it, $5. Take [the photo], $5. Sign it, $10. That’s how we made additional money. On a good night, I could make maybe $80.”(H/T: Fightful)
