Kevin Nash just put TKO and WWE on notice. On a recent episode of Kliq This, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed that his latest royalty check came in way lighter than expected—and he’s placing the blame on recent corporate shakeups involving Fanatics and TKO.
According to Nash, he and Sean Waltman both noticed their royalty payouts were slashed—despite WWE raking in more money than ever from licensing and merchandise. He said the way those checks are structured has changed too, offering far less transparency than before.
“I was talking to Mr. Waltman this week — we had our weekly update. We both got our royalty checks, and I called him. He’s laughing on the other end of the phone and says, ‘Obviously, you got your royalty check.’ I said, ‘Holy f**. After the last one was good, this one was rotten — it was half. But hey, what are you gonna do?’”*
Nash said he used to receive a detailed breakdown of every item sold—like NWO t-shirts and women’s gear. Now, it’s just a vague “NWO intellectual property” line with no itemization whatsoever.
“When I was making big money from royalties, it used to be broken down — it would list NWO t-shirts, NWO women’s t-shirts, all of it. Now it just says ‘NWO intellectual property’ with one number, no subcategories at all. It’s all just forensic accounting at this point, and that’s how it goes.”
He pointed directly to the TKO acquisition and Fanatics takeover of WWE merch as the turning point.
“Things got weird after Fanatics came in — yeah, it got weird when they sold to TKO. So this is where the TKO weirdness starts. Because they, you know, cut things.”
Nash also speculated that if his cut is that bad, it must be impacting bigger legends like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock. He thinks those smaller checks could translate into massive savings for the company.
“I can only speak for myself, but I can imagine what it’s like for guys like Hulk, Austin, and Rock. If Steve was getting 50% of his merch and some of mine was at 25%, then cutting that in half puts several million dollars back on the books.”
The real kicker? Nash owns TKO stock—and now he’s questioning whether the company’s accounting practices are being used to manipulate the numbers and inflate share prices.
“Yeah, you know, and see, I’m double jeopardized in that because not only are you f***** me and raising the price, but then I’m also a stockholder. So, are you f****** inflating my stock by doing something that’s not, you know, particularly legal?”*
Nash’s comments show just how uncertain things have become for WWE veterans who built the brand. With TKO in charge and Fanatics running the merch game, the old royalty system may be gone for good—and wrestlers like Nash are left counting pennies instead of profits.
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