WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash has expressed frustration over a steep drop in his royalty payments, revealing on his podcast that his most recent check was half of what he typically receives — and suggesting he may pursue legal action against the company.
“I was talking to Mr. [Sean] Waltman this week. We had our weekly update. We both got our royalty checks, and I called him, and he’s laughing on the other side of the phone. He goes, ‘Obviously, you got your royalty check.’ I said, ‘Holy fck.’ I said the last one was good, I said this one was rotten. I mean, it was half,” Nash explained. “But hey, you know, what are you going to do? When I was making huge money in my royalties, it was broken down. It would say nWo t-shirts, nWo women t-shirts. Now it says nWo intellectual property, and there’s just a number. It’s going to be a forensic accounting, and I’ll fcking sue them, and I mean, that’s just the way it goes.”
Nash suggested the sudden drop may be tied to WWE’s merger with UFC parent company TKO Group Holdings, noting that the structure of royalty payments has become less transparent since the sale. “It got weird when they f*cking sold [to TKO],” Nash said. “I can only go by what I was making. I can only imagine what like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Rock—like if you take all those guys, I think Steve was at 50% of his merch. Some of mine was at 25%. So, I mean, when you take that and you cut that in half and put that back on the books, that’s several million dollars that were in the red that go back black on the books.”
The former nWo member also raised concerns about potential legal implications, particularly as both a talent and a shareholder. “I’m double jeopardied in that because not only are you fcking me and raising the price, but then I’m also a stockholder. So are you fcking inflating my stock by doing something that’s not, you know, particularly legal?”
Nash’s comments echo growing sentiment among veteran performers about changes in WWE’s royalty structure and financial reporting following its merger with TKO — with the Hall of Famer indicating that he’s prepared to investigate the situation further and potentially take WWE to court.
