People from other businesses or other sports crossing over to the professional wrestling world are not rare sights. The YouTuber-turned-wrestler Logan Paul is the current example of this. Usually, this move comes with several controversies because of the non-wrestling backgrounds of the stars. But when it comes to the stars from other sports of martial arts industries, both the star and the company get huge benefits. WWE is the prime professional wrestling company that keeps on bringing big names from other sports inside the ring to fetch more audience.

Among all athletes that WWE has approached, Floyd Mayweather is one of the biggest ones. And the main reason behind this is the amount that fans believe the company reportedly paid him for his appearance.

It was rumored that WWE paid Mayweather a whopping $20 million for just one WrestleMania match. However, is this true, or just an exaggeration? Well, that’s what we are going to discover here. So without further ado, let’s dive right into it.

Did Vince McMahon pay a big amount to Mayweather for his WrestleMania match?

In 2008, rumors of WWE paying $20 million to the former professional boxer for his match at WrestleMania 24 were all over the place. He faced the former WWE champion The Big Show. The match got a huge hype because of the amount of money that Mayweather received. 

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However, everything collapsed when a decade later, the former senior vice president of the WWE Bruce Prichard revealed the truth behind it. In an episode of his podcast “Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard”, he said that Mayweather didn’t get the rumored money for his WWE appearance. He mentioned that $20 million is a lot for a single match and it could have affected everyone’s paycheck who was working that night.

The former Vice President even mentioned that the move was only to create hype around Mayweather’s WrestleMania appearance.

Bruce Prichard said, “If you will at WrestleMania all that comes out of a different account, all that comes out of a completely different part of the company. Not associated with the boys’ pay. So when they’re talking about this was a big deal, especially with Floyd Mayweather, because guys got $20 million. That’s gonna affect my payday. No, it doesn’t. It wasn’t $20 million. It’s hype, it’s press…..”

Floyd Mayweather’s WrestleMania appearance was not an all-of-sudden event. WWE created a perfect storyline around it and kept executing it for a month before the real encounter.

How WWE crafted Mayweather’s storyline

It all started in February 2008 during the WWE PLE ‘Now Way Out’. During the show, Floyd Mayweather was present in the audience. He didn’t just attend the PLE but also attacked Big Show who was feuding with WWE legend Rey Mysterio at that time.  

As a result of the attack, Show broke his nose and on the very next Monday Night Raw, the former WWE champion challenged the former professional boxer for a ‘no Disqualification match’ at WrestleMania 24.

Mayweather accepted his challenge and WWE started to create the hype around the match. The story of paying Mayweather with the 20 million bucks was also a way to promote the clash 

At WrestleMania 24, both wrestling and boxing fans were ready to witness how WWE would present a match worth more than $20 million. However, the match was not as amazing as expected. The Big Show dominated Mayweather mostly, but at the very end, the Olympic bronze medalist hit ‘The Giant’ with brass knuckles and emerged victorious.

That year, WWE earned $23.8 million from WrestleMania 24, which made the story of him getting paid a big amount more interesting.

Mayweather after WrestleMania 24

A year after WrestleMania, Mayweather once again feuded with Big Show. He helped MVP and Mark Henry in a match against the Big Show and Chris Jericho. This event cost ‘The Giant’ an opportunity for the title match. 

The fans were once again expecting a clash between both stars. However, nothing like that happened and after appearing in a few backstage segments, WWE Universe never saw the former professional boxer again inside the squared circle.

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Floyd was not the only boxer who made an appearance in the WWE. Professional boxers appearing in the WWE ring have a long history. Several big names from the boxing industry like Evander Holyfield, Butterbean, Tyson Fury, and Mike Tyson have also made a brief appearance in front of the WWE Universe.

But Floyd Mayweather will always remain special. First for his rumored paycheck and now, for the amazing benefits that WWE and he received because of the hype they generated. Neither WWE nor Mayweather has yet revealed the real figure in front of the fans and it seems like they are going to keep it a secret for a bit longer.

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