A lot of people consider pro wrestling a family business. There have been countless tales of fathers and mothers passing on the tradition of the grappling game to their children in the hopes that they’ll surpass their parents.
We have seen this with several wrestlers throughout the decades. Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson was billed as the first-ever third generation wrestler in WWE, and he became a bigger star than both his father and his grandfather. The same holds true for Randy Orton, whose success in WWE has been far greater than anything any other member of his family has accomplished.
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Bret Hart grew up in a family of wrestlers, and he became the most successful of any of them and managed to escape the ever-looming shadow of his skilled and famous father.
Then there are those children that failed to make their mark. As the saying goes, living up to a standard set by a predecessor is considered ‘having large shoes to fill’. For these five sons, it was simply too difficult for them to live up to the expectations set for them by the careers of their fathers.
#5 Jake Carter/Jesse White
Jesse White probably had the biggest wrestling boots of them all to fill...literally. His father was Big Van Vader, one of the most famous wrestlers of all time, and a respected legend that demonstrated impressive agility despite his massive frame. The younger White trained with his father at first, before moving to WWE’s developmental territory at the time, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).
Despite winning the FCW Tag Team Championship with Corey Graves, there appeared to be little upward mobility for White. He wasn’t impressing the right people at first, which hindered his chances at getting a top spot when the territory was re-branded NXT, and Triple H took the promotion in a different direction altogether.
White would last in NXT until September 2013, at which point he was released. Shortly after that, he retired from professional wrestling altogether, with a career spanning a total of four years. Meanwhile, his father has managed to continue wrestling, despite his own star power fading into the twilight with each passing year.
#4 Richie Steamboat
Richie Steamboat, the son of Ricky ‘the Dragon’ Steamboat, was once a promising wrestler whose star was rising in the pro wrestling world. He wrestled throughout the independent scene and overseas in Japan, earning a lot of experience in the process. He eventually made his way to WWE’s developmental territory,
During his time in FCW, Steamboat achieved quite a bit of success, winning both the FCW Heavyweight Championship and the FCW 15 Championship. But things took an unfortunate turn in late 2012 when Steamboat suffered a debilitating back injury that required surgery. That injury and the subsequent recovery proved too much for both Steamboat and WWE, as he was released from his contract after over a year of inactivity.
Unlike others on this list, who were expected to live up to the hype and failed to do so out of their own (in)actions, Richie Steamboat was a victim of bad luck and poor timing. Had that particular injury never occurred, who knows how much success how much success he would’ve had.
#3 Manu
The Anoa’i wrestling family is filled with wrestlers and is widely considered to be the largest wrestling family in the world. The first two members of this family to achieve major success were the Wild Samoans, Afa and Sika. After they had become legendary names in WWE, many scions of their clan attempted to follow in their footsteps. Some of them achieved great things (Yokozuna, Roman Reigns, and to a lesser extent, Rikishi), while others failed to make their mark.
Manu, the son of Afa the Wild Samoan, was one such a wrestler.
Despite being the son of a well-known and successful wrestler, Manu’s career in WWE lasted only three years (which includes his time in their developmental territory). He received a very small push at first, despite having a good look for a wrestler and possessing a cool finisher (a Back Suplex into a neck breaker, the same move that Jason Jordan now uses as his new finisher).
In February 2009, Manu was released from his WWE contract. Though the reason wasn’t disclosed at the time, Randy Orton – the person with whom Manu was feuding on and off prior to his release – gave one reason why this happened years later.
Orton claimed that Manu was released because he had an attitude problem backstage and felt that he didn’t need to ‘pay his dues’. Simply put, Afa Jr. felt that he was above losing to more established stars because of his name and who his father was.
#2 Ted DiBiase Jr.
Iron Mike DiBiase was a multi-time champion throughout the various territories that existed in the U.S. during the 1950s and 1960s. ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase was one of Vince McMahon’s greatest creations and enjoyed a highly successful wrestling career wherever he went. Ted DiBiase Jr...didn’t.
DiBiase was pushed in a significant way from the very beginning. He was paired with Cody Rhodes and worked many high-profile segments with Randy Orton during his initial years, which was proof that WWE’s bookers had big things planned for him.
Unfortunately, DiBiase’s flaws were exposed when he began branching out on his own. He lacked the charisma his father possessed and wasn’t really the same kind of grappling technician his father was, either. Simply put, he couldn’t fill his famous father’s boots.
WWE did try even further to get him over by pairing him with Maryse and Virgil (yes, that Virgil), but nothing developed. Ultimately, DiBiase left WWE in 2013 and retired from the wrestling industry shortly thereafter.
#1 Deuce/Sim Snuka/Sam Snuka
Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka is credit by WWE’s own historians as being the most instrumental figure in the popularity of high-flying wrestling in WWE. Though his Superfly Splash would be considered too basic by today’s standards, it was a huge deal back in the 1980s. There was hope that he’d pass on some of his talent and skills off to his son when he debuted with WWE in 2007.
Sadly, this never happened. Snuka was lambasted by his colleagues – especially Brian Kendrick and Paul London in a particularly funny shoot interview – for being unskilled in the ring and unwilling to sell/bump for his opponents. It also didn’t help that his initial gimmick – that of a throwback to the ‘greasers’ of the 1950s and 1960s – was wildly out of place on SmackDown in 2007.
Worse, Snuka’s biggest claim to fame/infamy these days is the nearly-catastrophic botch he was involved in at WrestleMania XXV. Snuka was the cameraman that Shawn Michaels threw into Undertaker as The Deadman hit his suicide dive. Snuka failed to catch ‘Taker properly, which led to the landing looking far worse than it really was, with some people speculating that the Undertaker might’ve either crippled or killed himself following that failed catch.
Thankfully, Undertaker was alright, but the same could not be said of Snuka’s career, as he was released from WWE a few months afterwards.
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