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Wrestling is a difficult business to break into. Sometimes, you can have everything you need to succeed and still fail. Wrestling generally requires a mixture of charisma, looks, and a little bit of luck going your way.
Many wrestlers are born into the industry, brought in by parents who were also wrestlers or promoters themselves. From families like the McMahons, the Harts, the Anoa'i family, or the Guerreros, wrestling is built on multi-generational lineages.
A famous family name is usually a great leg up in professional wrestling. There is always a hope that charisma can be passed down from generation to generation as well. Finally, having a family legacy can help open doors to places.
More than that, many wrestlers also train their children, meaning that they get a head start on learning the ropes, so to speak. This is certainly the case of the Guerrero and Hart clans, as Eddie and Chavo Jr wrestled each other from a young age at Gory's wrestling events in El Paso, TX, and Stu Hart's kids, (like Bret and Owen) were all graduates of the infamous Hart Dungeon in Calgary. All but one of the wrestlers on this list were trained by their fathers or their family's wrestling school.
However, just because you have a wrestling pedigree in your blood, it doesn't mean that you are going to succeed in the business. Despite their families accolades, if the next generation doesn't have the necessary ability to make it in the ring, are unable to connect with the fans, or, in some cases, saddled with ridiculous gimmicks and storylines, nothing will help them.
While some superstars have the required attributes, some find it difficult to escape their parent's shadows. Superstars like Natalya or Tamina will always struggle to outshine their fathers. Charlotte Flair is amazing, but will probably never come close to reaching the levels that her father did.
#6 Surpassed - Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt is currently experiencing a career renaissance with his new Firefly Funhouse segments and Fiend character. Wyatt, currently in his third iteration following his work wrestling as Husky Harris and as the head of the Wyatt family. The Fiend and his new Bray Wyatt personality have seemingly rejuvenated Wyatt's career and made him relevant again. Before returning with the Firefly Funhouse gimmick, Bray had won tag team titles with the Wyatt family and Matt Hardy. He also had a reign with the WWE title after he outlasted AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Dean Ambrose, the Miz, and John Cena in the Elimination Chamber before losing the title at WrestleMania 33 to Randy Orton.
Wyatt's father, Mike Rotunda wrestled for several promotions, including the then-WWF, WCW NJPW, and AJPW before retiring from in-ring competition in 2004. Rotunda returned to make several guest appearances as Irwin R. Schyster, Rotunda's most recognizable gimmick.
While Rotunda was successful during his time with the WWF, the only title he managed to win was the Tag Team title. Rotunda won the belt 5 times, twice with future brother-in-law Barry Windham - as U.S. Express - and three times with Money Inc partner Ted DiBiase.
#5 Didn't Surpass - Shawn Stasiak
Shawn Stasiak is perhaps the saddest story on this list. Shawn is the son of Stan Stasiak, a former WWWF Champion who defeated Pedro Morales to win the belt before losing it 9 days later to Bruno Sammartino.
Outside of the WWWF, Stan was a prolific champion in the NWA, winning Heavyweight titles in Texas, Canada, Georgia, and the Pacific North-West territories. In 2018, Stan Stasiak was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a part of the Legacy section alongside El Santo, Boris Malenko, and Lord Alfred Hayes.
Shawn signed a developmental contract with the WWF in 1998, and would eventually be called up in 1999. His first gimmick was "Meat", a boy toy for the Pretty Mean Sisters stable. He would eventually be used as a jobber for the promotion, and eventually dropped the unfortunate Meat gimmick and instead reverted to using Shawn Stasiak.
Stasiak was released by the WWF in December of the same year. He then wrestled for WCW where he was taken more seriously until that company was purchased by the WWF.
Shawn was a part of the Alliance angle and portrayed a clumsy goofball. After returning from injury, Shawn would claim to be from "Planet Stasiak" and acted strangely as a part of his new gimmick. During this time he would have a few runs with the Hardcore title under the 24/7 rules before asking for his release in 2002.
#4 Surpassed - Eddie Guerrero
Eddie Guerrero was one of the greatest technical wrestlers that the world had ever seen. One of four sons born to the legendary wrestling promoter Gory Guerrero, Eddie grew up wrestling during the intermission of the shows his father ran in El Paso, Texas while he was growing up. Eddie would spend 7 years wrestling for both of the major Mexican promotions, CMLL, and Triple-A, before wrestling in Japan for NJPW. After Japan, Eddie signed a contract with WCW to wrestle alongside fellow NJPW roster member Chris Benoit. While with WCW, Eddie won both the US Heavyweight Championship and the Cruiserweight title.
He then left WCW with Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn for the WWE as part of the Radicalz. It was in the WWE that Guerrero would make a real name for himself. While with the promotion Guerrero won almost every title available in the company, including the European, US, Intercontinental, and Tag Team title before finally winning the WWE title on February 15, 2004.
Unfortunately, Eddie Guerrero passed away on November 13, 2005. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the following year.
Eddie's father, Gory Guerrero, was an incredibly influential wrestler in the 1950s and 60s, wrestling alongside legendary luchador El Santo. Gory is credited with inventing several wrestling moves including the Camel Clutch, the Gory Special, the Gory Bomb, the Reverse STO, and Widow's Peak. Gory won many national and world titles during his time with Mexican promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, which would later become CMLL, but had limited success in American markets.
He did manage to challenge Lou Thesz for the NWA World Heavyweight title in Mexico City but lost in a Two Out of Three Falls match. Gory Guerrero's career ended in NWA Hollywood with the elder Guerrero feuding with a young wrestler named Roddy Piper.
# 3 Didn't Surpass - Brian Christopher
Brian Christopher was the son of Jerry "the King" Lawler. Jerry is widely recognized by today's audiences as one of the best color commentators in the WWE, known for his partnerships at the booth with Jim Ross and Vince McMahon at various times. However, Lawler was a great in-ring performer as well, lighting up arenas around the world with his antics. Undoubtedly, Lawler's home base and favorite territory was the Memphis area and it was Memphis Wrestling where he won the heavyweight title 52 times.
Lawler was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 alongside the likes of Jim Ross, Dusty Rhodes, and Curt Hennig.
Brian Christopher wrestled sporadically for the WWF from 1997 to 2001, mainly used as a part of the Too Cool stable as Grand Master Sexay alongside Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi. They had a single reign with the tag belts, defeating Edge and Christian for the titles before losing the them back at King of the Ring less than a month later. Just like his father, he also won the Memphis Wrestling Heavyweight title, but managed only a single reign. Unlike his father, Brian Christopher is unlikely to find himself in the WWE Hall of Fame, having failed to reach anywhere near the same heights of popularity as his father.
Brian sadly passed away in 2018.
# 2 Surpassed - Jake "The Snake" Roberts
While it wasn't spoken about much during his tenure at the WWF, Jake "The Snake" Roberts was a second-generation wrestler. Robert's father Grizzly Smith wrestled for NWA Georgia, as well as the World Wide Wrestling Federation, the American Wrestling Association, and in Japan for the International Wrestling Enterprise promotion. Smith was predominantly a tag-team wrestler, winning a variety of tag team titles, mainly with Luke Brown as the Kentuckians.
Smith's son, Jake, wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation in the late 80s to the mid-90s, making his debut for the promotion in March 1986. During his career, Roberts was praised for his psychology, his incredible promo ability, and his ring work - the last of which involved Roberts knocking out opponents with his DDT. He would then wrap his pet snake Damien around his opponent's prone body. Roberts is one of the best wrestlers to never win a WWF title during his career, but he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.
Much has been made about Jake's comments about his father, including accusations that his father raped his biological mother when she was 12. Roberts also spoke about how his father would act as though the wrestling was real, scaring him with his injuries.
Robert's half-sister also wrestled for the WWF as Rockin' Robin.
# 1 Didn't Surpass - David Sammartino
It's always going to be tough to outdo your father when he is the longest-reigning champion in the history of the promotion.
David Sammartino's father was none other than Bruno Sammartino, the face of the original WWWF, winning the title from the inaugural champion Buddy Rogers. Sammartino's first reign as the champion lasted over seven years. It is the longest reign with the belt and will probably remain that way forever.
Bruno held the belt for over 11 years during his two reigns with the belt. He was also a three-time tag team Champion with a variety of partners. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013 after years of rejecting the promotion's offers.
In 1984, Sammartino's son David joined the WWF, being managed and coached by his father and occasionally teaming up with him. David also appeared at the first-ever WrestleMania and wrestled in the fourth match of the card against Brutus Beefcake. The match ended in a double disqualification due to interference from both Bruno and Beefcake's manager Johnny Valiant. This brought Bruno out of retirement once again but failed to help his son get over with the crowd.
After two years with the WWF, David left the promotion and wrestled in Japan for AJPW from 1988-1990. He returned to the US and wrestled for the short-lived Universal Wrestling promotion mainly against Cactus Jack. He also appeared on a single episode of WCW Monday Night Nitro losing to WCW Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko in 3 minutes.
David is now happily semi-retired and working as a personal trailer in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, while still working the occasional "legends" show.
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