14. AJ Styles Had to Deal with A Difficult Family
or most wrestlers, their first glimpses at the sport
comes from watching it on TV,
with these iconic battles of heroes and villains
inspiring these future Champions.
But for the young AJ Styles, his family were so poor,
that they couldn’t afford cable,
something which would have no doubt helped the Phenomenal One
escape into a better world.
Part of the AJ’s financial problems
was that AJ’s father was reportedly abusive,
though Styles would inevitably master the sport
he rarely got to see as a kid,
with the hardships he faced giving him a will to succeed.
Making his big break in the early 2000s,
Styles would briefly join the WWF,
before moving to TNA,
becoming arguably the brand’s biggest star.
Whether it be in New Japan,
or in WWE where he is today,
AJ had proved himself as an excellent wrestler,
holding gold all over the world.
Not only that, but the Phenomenal One has clearly proven himself
to be a better father than his old man,
with AJ’s devotion to his family
being very well known to all his fans.
13. Ken Shamrock had troubles before UFC
It’s hard to imagine that any WWE Superstar,
with their muscles and larger than life personalities could ever be vulnerable,
and it’s especially difficult to imagine
that that vulnerable kid would grow up
to be one of UFC’s biggest stars.
But as a child, Ken had a very bad start to life,
with his father abandoning their family when Ken was just five,
and while Ken and his mother tried their best,
one stepfather had a particular disdain
for the future Intercontinental Champion,
kicking him out of the house aged just 13.
He bounced around between several group homes
before being placed in Bob Shamrock's Boys' Home at age 14, in Susanville, California where he turned his life around.
Bob Shamrock legally adopted Ken as his son,
and Ken changed his last name from Kilpatrick to Shamrock in Bob's honor.
He then joined the Coast Guard shortly before knocking out Kevin "The Hitman" Harlee
After years of sports, the future Most Dangerous Man realised
realised that he only felt truly comfortable in combat sports,
with Shamrock quickly turning his attention to the UFC.
After dominating the Octagon,
Shamrock would join the WWF in 1997,
with many in the WWE Universe hoping to see
to see the former UFC legend
12. Adam Rose was homeless in South Africa
When Adam Rose was released from WWE in 2016, it was under bad circumstances, with most in the WWE Universe accepting that we’ll probably never see him in a WWE ring ever again.
With that being said, Rose has spent his entire life overcoming hardship
with the Party Animal running away from his family when he was only 14.
Not only that, Rose dropped out of school
not long before leaving home, despite his relatively well-off family
allowing him to be well-educated.
From there, homelessness and fights ensued,
though Rose has admitted that it was his own reckless decisions
that put him there, saying in an interview:
“I chose the lifestyle I wanted to live when I was there. I had loving parents,
I just didn’t choose to be part of the family.
I chose to go out on my own and do my own thing.”
Rose has also admitted that while
his time on the streets were some very difficult years,
without them, he wouldn’t have become the person he is today,
for better and for worse.
11. Rich Swann’s problems go way back
After wowing fans
in the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic,
Rich Swann was destined to be one of WWE’s
most popular cruiserweights,
until a battery and false imprisonment case quickly
led to him being released in February 2018.
While the case against Swann was later dropped,
this black mark on his resume isn’t the first issue in Swann’s life,
with the former cruiserweight champion
being orphaned before becoming a teenager.
Cleary in a downward spiral,
Swann turned to drugs, which would’ve cost him his life,
as Swann only quit
after a friend died of a heart attack.
Not long after losing another part of his life,
Swann would turn his life around and
and with the help of family members, was able to finish high-school
and begin his wrestling career.
However, with Swann’s career now forever changed due to his arrest
and release from WWE,
it is now unclear whether all his hard work will pay off.
10. Dawn Marie lived in her car
When you think of Dawn Marie, the first imagine that probably comes to your mind
is the gorgeous brunette who entertained countless fans
in ECW and later in WWE.
But before she made it into wrestling,
Marie had a tough time getting there,
growing up in poverty,
though has spoken fondly of her family
crowding around the TV to watch WWE.
It’s easy to see how the Marie family would get connected to stars like Bruno Sammartino,
with the Italian Stallion representing the struggles of countless families just like Dawn’s.
Marie herself would have her fair share of struggle at 17,
when she found herself homeless, living out of her car.
To make ends meet, she took a job at a “bikini bar” which allowed her to work through school,
with Marie becoming an actress not long after graduating.
With her acting credentials, Marie finally got to live her dream,
working with Lance Storm in ECW,
and later reuniting with Storm at ECW One Night Stand 2005,
in what would be Storm’s last match,
though Marie was very unceremoniously released by the company
not long after, while pregnant.
9. Dean Ambrose was in low-income housing
Going from fighting in backyards deathmatches
to appearing at WrestleMania,
the career of Dean Ambrose is a true rag to riches tale.
But before he laced up his boots,
the Lunatic Fringe was left feeling dejected by the establishment,
growing up in the worst part of Cincinnati Ohio’s East End,
in an area filled with people to poor to make rent,
or as Ambrose puts it:
"My neighbourhood was pretty much a big stretch of government housing and all these torn up apartment buildings all owned by different people.
It was easy to get the feeling like all the garbage from the city ran down and washed up there.”
It’s easy to see how such an environment would cause anyone to make poor choices,
with Dean being forced to deal drugs just to get by.
The only upside, if there is one,
is that such a harsh environment toughened the young Ambrose up,
helping to mould the Lunatic Fringe that has entertained millions of fans for years,
and has plenty of championships to hang in the very nice home he has earned.
8.Rowdy Roddy Piper ran away from home
On-screen ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper was known for his hothead demeanour,
never one to back down from a fight.
So it shouldn’t surprise fans to discover
that even as a kid, Piper was just as unpredictable,
getting kicked out of his house at just 13
for bringing a blade to high school.
Uneducated, unruly and without a home,
Piper was luckily found by a couple of wrestlers,
who would soon break him into the business.
The rest is history, as Piper would quickly become one of the most hated man in the territories,
before being snatched up by Vince McMahon’s WWF,
where his Rowdy demeanour led to some of the greatest moments in the company’s history.
Despite his immense fame and fortune as a WWF Superstar,
Piper would reportedly known for being a very frugal man,
spending his money mostly on his family,
likely because he knew what it was like to go without.
7. Booker T was orphaned before his teens
When you watch Booker T in 2018,
with his huge smile and bubbly personality,
you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking
Booker had a nice normal childhood.
Surprisingly though, his story might be one of the worst on this list,
with his nightmare beginning when the Book-man’s father passed,
when Booker was less than a year old,
leaving Booker’s mother trying to raise eight children single-handedly.
When she passed, Booker was just 13,
and quickly dropped out of high school, and fell into the wrong crowd.
It was that crowd, that robbed at least a dozen fast food restaurants in the early 80s,
with Booker foolishly throwing away a paid job at Denny’s to become a criminal.Serving 19 months,
the future King of the Ring vowed to make himself better,
an attitude he has carried every day,
becoming a huge star in wrestling,
a 5-time WCW Champion
and a 2013 WWE Hall of Famer.
6.AJ Lee Had to support herself through school
After retiring from the ring in 2015,
AJ Lee proved to be just as great a writer
as she was a wrestler, with her memoir
‘Crazy Is My Superpower’ being released in April 2017.
In the book, AJ spoke openly about the difficulties she faced in her early life,
and when speaking to ESPN about the autobiography, was quoted as saying:
“You can come from the poorest, weakest backgrounds, and you can make something of your life. You really just have to have the guts to try.”
Embodying a never-say-die attitude,
the former Divas Champion revealed in her book
that she could afford school by taking jobs including being a cashier
and janitor,
which couldn’t have inspired confidence
in the wannabee wrestler.
Lee, who grew up a lifelong wrestling fan,
often found herself too poor to attend shows,
and was shocked when she could.
Fans can only imagine how shocked she was when she overcame all of it,
and won the Divas Championship in 2013.
5. CM Punk’s family scared him straight
Regardless of whether a face as a heel,
CM Punk always embodied the straight-edge lifestyle,
and the belief that he could be his best self,
without the need of drugs or alcohol.
Growing up in a rough home,
Punk revealed in an interview that he often felt like a burden
on his parent’s income, saying:
“It never made any sense that my parents couldn’t afford Christmas presents, but they could buy three cartons of cigarettes apiece a month.”
Based on that one short story, it’s clear to see how that sort of behaviour
would have an affect on the young Phil Brook’s mind and self-worth.
Knowing the full story, it’s no wonder why
Punk speaks so highly of the Straight- edge lifestyle,
after seeing how destructive cigarettes affected his family, and how without them,
he went on to become a 5-time World Champion
and the true, best in the world.
4. Batista had it rough
For the young Dave Batista, growing up poor
was sadly, not the worst thing in his life.
Instead, Batista lived in an area so rough,
that three unrelated homicides had taken place on his front lawn before he was ten.
As if just knowing these things had happened wasn’t bad enough,
the young Animal often saw these awful deeds happen,
something that must have stuck in his mind.
Needing to get out of that environment,
Batista left home aged 17,
and earned money in any job he could find,
including bouncing, lifeguarding and bodybuilding.
It was during his time as a bodybuilder,
that the future World Champion got his first taste of pro-wrestling.
Debuting on TV in 2002,
Batista showed how important it is to overcome your demons,
with the Animal becoming a multiple time-World Champion,
tag team champion
and Royal Rumble winner.
As if that wasn’t enough, he has becoming a leading man in Hollywood,
most prominently known as Marvel’s Drax the Destroyer,
with the character ironically being a witness to his past,
and trying to overcome it.
3. Vince McMahon lived in a trailer park
Of all the Superstars who have made their fortunes in wrestling,
no-one has made more money than Vince McMahon.
Reaching billionaire status during the Attitude Era,
the chairman has only gotten richer with each passing year,
as his company grows more every day.
But things weren’t always like this for Vince,
who didn’t even meet his father Vince Sr until he was 12,
and spoke about growing up poor in an interview
with Muscle and Fitness, saying:
“I grew up dirt poor. When you’re in that class, a lower economic class, everyone is quote ‘above you’.
And there were a number of individuals who thought they were above me because of their economic status.”
Living in a trailer park with his mother
and a series of abusive stepfathers,
, things wouldn’t turned around for Vince until he met his father
though after meeting him, it wasn’t long before both men
were on the fast track to making pro-wrestling history.
2. The Rock Couldn’t Afford Thanksgiving Dinner
While Vince may have made the most from wrestling,
it is Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson who is the wealthiest wrestler,
thanks to his incredible success as both a wrestler and actor.
Debuting in the WWF in 1996,
Rock would quickly establish himself as one of the company’s most talented stars,
before becoming World Champion just two years later,
and has since cemented himself as one of the greatest of all time.
But things weren’t always so defined for the Great One,
as growing up, his father Rocky Johnson
would often be away from home,
leaving Rock’s mother the one to raise the family.
In an Instagram post, The Rock revealed some of the hard times he faces, saying:
“There was a time back in ’87, when we couldn’t even afford Thanksgiving dinner, and was praying someone would invite us over to their house to eat.”
Fortunately, the Rock has deservedly earned millions over the years,
and has made sure his mother has been repaid for all her hard work,
buying her her dream car in 2016.
1.Bruno Sammartino escaped
Bruno Sammartino is a man with no comparison.
The longest reigning WWF Champion ever,
Sammartino’s Italian heritage made him the true underdog story,
coming to America with nothing,
and becoming wrestling’s biggest star.
And while everyone on this list have faced adversity,
none of them grew up running away from Nazis,
except the Italian Stallion.
Born in Italy just five years
before the country joined Germany in World War 2,
the family hid in the mountains,
as Bruno’s mother, the family’s sole provider,
often found herself stealing food
food from the German-occupied town,
despite the obvious risk of getting caught.
These small portions and scraps
led to the young Bruno ending up in a terrible condition physically
a far contrast from the mountain of a man he would become.
To quote the man himself:
“I was a 90-pound weakling, but bot because I was anaemic. It was because of the war. We hid from the Nazis in the mountains.
Sometimes there was nothing to eat but snow. Whole families wiped out. We were among the lucky ones.”
A true warrior in every way,
Bruno was able to come to America,
become WWF Champion,
and an inspiration to all.