WWE Superstars are not made overnight, every Superstar has a different story when it comes to the way they were recruited by WWE. Whilst the likes of Maria, Maryse, Nikki, and Brie Bella have the story that they came through the WWE Diva Search before it was axed almost a decade ago, there are others who had to be recruited outside of the company but Superstars who are already employed by WWE.
There are many stars like Mustafa Ali, Cedric Alexander and Jack Gallagher who were signed following the Cruiserweight Classic and numerous female wrestlers who auditioned for the company in the Mae Young Classic, but it appears that this isn't always the route that stars can take.
The following list looks at a number of WWE stars who were actually recruited by Superstars who are part of the company.
#5 Natalya
Natalya is arguably one of WWE's most gifted performers after coming out of the Hart Family Dungeon but this wasn't enough for her to garner attention from WWE. At the time when Nattie was looking to join the company, Bret Hart and WWE were still on bad terms, so interestingly it was Chris Benoit who put pressure on WWE's team to help Nattie and Tyson Kidd to get signed.
"I don't know if you want to include this or not, I was lucky enough that there were people in the industry at this time, when I got hired, Bret still wasn't talking to WWE. They weren't on good terms or they just weren't talking at all. And everybody knows the history between Bret and WWE, and the Montreal Screwjob, so it was a tricky time for the Harts to get hired, so Chris Benoit was a good family friend and our family helped him break into the industry. So Chris Benoit actually is one of the people that helped me get hired and he really pulled for myself and TJ and he put pressure on Johnny [Ace] and said, 'I want to help these two people get hired.' So I really feel like it was Chris helped us get hired," she said via WrestlingInc.
#4 Becky Lynch
Becky Lynch is currently one of the biggest stars in WWE and her character as The Man has allowed her to break through many of WWE's glass ceilings which include main eventing WrestleMania and being the first woman on the cover of 2K20.
Lynch is the current Raw Women's Champion a title that she defeated Ronda Rousey for back in April 2019 and it appears that even though The Irish star has risen through the ranks in the Women's Division she came from humble beginnings and it was former WWE commentator Jim Ross.
Lynch sent the current AEW star a message for his birthday last year where she noted that Jim Ross was one of the men that helped her to get hired by WWE and saw something in her before anyone else did. Obviously, was right in what he saw since Lynch has become a Champion and one of the best wrestlers that WWE has right now, it did take the former NXT star a while to find her feet but once she was seen as The Man, she really hit her stride in the Women's Division.
#3 John Cena
Much like Becky Lynch, John Cena was scouted by Jim Ross when he as performing for Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) back in 2000 but at the time he was in a feud with Samoa Joe. Joe was the man that he was facing the night that Jim Ross came as a scout and this later then led to him being signed by WWE.
This means that not only did a WWE star in Jim Ross sign Cena, but a current WWE star in Samoa Joe actually helped him to be signed as well.
Joe opened up about this match on an appearance on the Edge and Christian show where he recalled the match that opened the door to WWE for Cena.
"Actually, John Cena's match with me, the one that kind of got him hired with WWE, I remember they were there to look at John, obviously. He looked great, he was like the blue-chipper, and John was a good friend of mine, so I had no problem whatsoever helping him kind of highlight and do his thing."
Joe went on to state as part of the interview that he took Ross to one side and asked if he was good enough to make it in the company and he was politely told that at that point, he wasn't.
#2 Braun Strowman
Braun Strowman has quite an interesting story when it comes to how he came to WWE. Strowman once worked as a strongman and was approached by former World's Strongest Man Mark Henry back in 2012. Henry was working as a talent scout at the time and noticed Strowman as a potential future WWE superstar.
“The first time was probably in 2012 at World’s Strongest Man. I’d been a huge fan of his for a long time and had met him a couple of times through my strongman endeavors over the years. To have him approach me and offer me a tryout with WWE was a dream come true," Strowman told WWE when asked about his WWE beginnings.
At the time Strowman was dreaming of becoming The World's Strongest Man, much like Mark Henry once was back in 2002 so it took some convincing to steer him towards a wrestling career.
“It’s hard to steer somebody away from their dream,” Henry said. “His first dream was to be the world’s strongest man.”
Henry went on to make it clear that he never forced Strowman to give up his dream and that it was his choice to join WWE.
“A lot if it was because I was really passionate about the strongman sport. I did a lot of things in a short amount of time that not many men were able to do. But I’ve always been a ham and a showman for crowds. I got to compete in front of a few thousand for strongman, so realizing that I could step over to WWE and have opportunities like I did at WrestleMania in Dallas to perform in front of 101,000 people -- that was the big thing for me.”
#1 Bianca Belair
Much like Braun Strowman, Bianca Belair was already excelling in her own sport before she was approached by former World Champion Mark Henry and offered the chance to become a wrestler instead.
Bianca recalls that Henry contacted her when she was settled in life, she didn't think there was anything else out there for her.
“He contacted me at a time where I was just settling in life. I had a job, I was working, and I thought that was all there was for me.”
According to a report by WWE, Henry had seen some footage of Belair at Crossfit competitions and thought that she had what it took to be a future star.
She was a very good CrossFitter, was very, very good at track and field. From watching her compete, I knew that she could do this. But she can do it at a high level because of her personality, not because of her talent. A lot of people can turn a flip, but some people do it with flair and demonstrative movements and still get it done. That’s what wrestling requires. To be able to make other people understand without using words is the brilliance of what we do.”
This was the beginning of a huge change of career for the EST of NXT, who is now one of NXT's most popular stars.
“Having him contact me at that point, having someone like him believe in me and say, ‘I think you have all the qualities it takes to be a wrestler,’ put a lot of confidence in me,” Bianca recalled. “Having him behind me pushes me to be the best I can be.”
2 more stars coming from AEW to WWE? More details right here