5 Wrestlers who were inspired by Hulk Hogan while growing up

The sport of wrestling has been around for centuries and at first, only appealed to a few segments of the society. But thanks to the marvels of modernity, the idiot box being a major factor, wrestling is now not just a global sport but also a massive, and I mean MASSIVE, source of entertainment.However, a sport doesn’t become popular by broadcasting alone, the athletes that are a part of it play a huge part too, giving the people heroes to look up to. That being said, wrestling owes a huge debt to one man who pretty much put the sport on the map globally. That man is magnificent, made the golden age of wrestling truly golden, has inspired generations of youngsters, can be called the torchbearer of wrestling and goes by the stage name of Hulk Hogan.With that in mind let’s take a look at five wrestlers who were inspired by Hulk Hogan while growing up.

#1 John Cena

John Cena

The man who’s considered as the face of WWE today was inspired by, you guessed it, Hulk Hogan – also the face of WWE in his hayday. John Cena, who was born in the little town of Newbury in Massachusetts idolized Hogan as a youngster, going so far as to following everything the wrestler instructed him to do in the numerous kids commercials he featured in.

Determined to make it big in the sport, Cena started out as a bodybuilder before graduating to wrestling in the late ‘90s before getting drafted into the WWE in 2001. Today besides being a multiple title holder, Cena is also one of the WWE’s most recognizable face and will be remembered as fondly as Hogan in the future.

#2 The Miz

The Miz

Before winning multiple titles with the WWE, Michael Mizanin aka The Miz was just another highly talented kid with big dreams. After deciding that business school wasn’t his thing, Mizanin pursued a career in television for two years before appearing on the fourth season of Tough Enough, where he won a WWE contract worth 1 million.

And who inspired him to become a wrestler? Hulk Hogan, of course. Hogan’s legendary status in the world of wrestling convinced Mizanin that he’d never be satisfied with life in the drab corporate world and that a life under the eyes of millions of fans was more up his alley.

#3 Edge

Edge

To say Edge aka Adam Copeland had a tough childhood would be an understatement. The wrestler was raised solely by his mother who worked two jobs to make ends meet after his father ran out on the family when Copeland was an infant.

However, Copeland refused to let that bog him down and developed an interest in wrestling from an early age, with one of his heroes being Hogan. Copeland was drafted into the WWE in 1996 under the name Edge and had a career spawning 31 titles, the World Tag Team Championship he won with his hero Hogan in 2002 being the cherry on top of the cake.

#4 Joey Ryan

Joey Ryan

The Los Angeles native started watching wrestling at a relatively late age, but took no time in being bowled over by the grandeur of Hulk Hogan and aspired to become a wrestler after WWE, then WWF, held a show in his hometown. After initially wrestling for other franchises Ryan first came into the spotlight in 2005 when he appeared on WWE and has continued to make occasional appearances since then.

#5 Oleg Prudius

Oleg Prudius

Now this is a really interesting one. Vladimir Kozlov aka Oleg Prudius was born in a Cold War torn Ukraine, but held a fondness for American wrestling and was inspired to migrate to the USA and live the ‘American Dream’ after watching a blonde wrestler with a handlebar moustache take the WWF by storm.

Prudius soon made his way to the United States and after a lot of perseverance, got drafted into the WWE in 2006 and hasn’t looked back since. The Ukrainian is now a fully fledged American citizen and is truly living the dream.