The Rock revealed his first salary from wrestling, surprising everyone

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, one of the biggest names in the history of professional wrestling, recently revealed his surprising first paycheck from wrestling.

The Rock is currently one of the highest-paid actors in the world. However, the 51-year-old made a nаme for himself in professional wrestling before moving to Hollywood. Referred to as The People’s Champ, he was perhaps the biggest star in WWE alongside Stone Cold Steve Austin during the Attitude Era before he left the Stamford-based company in 2004.

The former World Champion has returned for brief stints since 2011. His most recent appearance on WWE television was during the September 15 edition of SmackDown earlier this year. He confronted the former United States Champion Austin Theory in an in-ring segment.

The Rock recently made an appearance on The Pivot Podcast. The wrestler-turned-Hollywood star talked about many things, including his vulnerabilities, parenting his daughter, how wrestling saved his life, and much more. He also revealed his first paycheck from wrestling.

The Rock stated that his first paycheck was $40. It was the guaranteed amount for every wrestler at USWA, the company where he wrestled before making it to WWE. He also revealed that the wrestlers could make additional money by clicking Polaroid pictures with fans and signing them.

“My first paycheck, well, 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. And so I started, I made my bones down in Tennessee.There is a wrestling company down there. It was called the USWA, famous. 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,” Dwyane Johnson said.

The Rock further stated:

“You made additional money when there was the intermission. We’d go to what’s called the gimmick table. So, we’d have our polaroids. Sаy we already wrestled for the night, you get $40. That’s guaranteed. We can stay till intermission. The four of us, as wrestlers would go to the gimmick table, we’d have our polaroids, and anyone who wаnted to take a Polaroid with you, you’d sign it, $5. Take it, $5. Sign it, $10. That’s how we made additional money. That’s how we made our additional money. On a good night, I could make maybe $80.”