The WWE has superstars hailing from all around the world. Wrestlers from Japan, England, Ireland and many other countries have all had the opportunity to represent the WWE in the middle of the squared circle.
The good ol’ U.S.A, however, has produced more superstars than most. In this article, I’ll be looking specifically at the best Superstars to hail from the state of Massachusetts. The home of the first ever basketball game, Massachusetts has a rich history and has provided some incredible talent for the WWE.
We’ll be looking solely at WWE here, but it would be rude not to mention great superstars such as former X-Division Champion Mike Bennett, of Carver, Massachusetts and TK O’Ryan of Worcester, Massachusetts, the current Six-Man Tag Team Champion in Ring of Honor.
Let us also not forget a former WWE superstar that hails from this state, Damien Sandow, also of Worcester. Former Divas Champion and current WWE Ambassador Eve Torres was born in Boston, though never billed from there.
These superstars are not short of accomplishments, and it will be interesting to see who will go down as the greatest superstar to hail from this beautiful state, but I think we all know who that will be!
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the Top 5 WWE Superstars from Massachusetts.
#5 Tommaso Ciampa
If you’re a big fan of WWE NXT, then this name will not be unfamiliar to you. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Tommaso Ciampa is one-half of the tag-team #DIY with Johnny Gargano. He has had great success in the WWE developmental brand, having become WWE NXT Tag-Team Champion.
Some might not know that this is not Tommaso Ciampa’s first rodeo in WWE. He was actually involved on SmackDown in 2005 as one of Muhammad Hassan’s lawyers. He also spent some time in the developmental territory, but it was when he was released from this contract that he made a name for himself on the independent circuit.
Ciampa was a draw for Ring of Honor and actually captured their World Television Championship, defeating Matt Taven. He defended it successfully on a couple of occasions but would end up dropping it to Jay Lethal at Supercard of Honor VIII.
He has proven himself as a singles and a tag-team champion. There is no doubt Tommaso is already a superstar of immense talent, and it will be interesting to see what he can do once he gets the call-up to the main roster.
#4 Carmella
F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S, the Princess of Staten Island, is not actually a native New Yorker…
Another star born in Worcester, Carmella is currently working for WWE on their SmackDown brand. She is part of a rich female roster at the moment and is now picking on whoever she can whenever she can.
Carmella was a Los Angeles Lakers girl before she decided to make the jump to professional wrestling. Some would argue that she landed on her feet being paired with the popular duo of Enzo and Cass. The three dominated the developmental scene and became unbelievably popular, despite Carmella’s character being more of a heel.
She didn’t just rely on the success of her tag-team partners, however. She had her own great matches and rivalries and actually had multiple opportunities to not only become number one contender to the NXT Women’s Championship but to also compete for it.
Nevertheless, she was unable to capture any gold and made her main roster debut in 2016 on the SmackDown brand, having been picked during the draft. She is still yet to win any gold, but her time may well come in the near future. Just get rid of Ellsworth.
#3 Matt Bloom
Though not technically a current superstar, Matt Bloom has had a storied career throughout the world. He is the head trainer at the WWE Performance Centre at the moment and is responsible for the future superstars of the company. He was born in Peabody, Massachusetts and interestingly has a degree in sign language.
He flirted with the NFL as an offensive tackle and also had a job as a schoolteacher before breaking into professional wrestling. The Attitude Era produced the character of Prince Albert, where he was marketed as a tattooist and a man obsessed with piercings, as the name suggests.
They dropped the ‘Prince’, and he had a successful run with Test and Trish Stratus as T & A. However, his character would lose a bit of direction before becoming the A-Train. Despite being paired with Paul Heyman, it was another forgettable run, and he was sidelined with an injury before his release.
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However, it was in Japan where he would find the most success. He won the New Japan Cup once and the IWGP Tag Team Championship on two occasions, once with none other than Karl Anderson.
He returned to WWE as Lord Tensai, an unstoppable heel but soon became a comedy act with Brodus Clay and Tons of Funk. Soon after, he announced his retirement and moved on to training the next crop of WWE superstars. Despite not being overly successful in terms of championships, he has had a great career.
#2 Sasha Banks
The Boss, Sasha Banks, was actually born in Fairfield, California, but the birthplace of her wrestling career was in Boston, Massachusetts where she moved to at an early age. She is a former NXT Women’s Champion and a three-time Raw Women’s Champion. She is the cousin of rap superstar Snoop Dogg, who actually performed during her entrance at WrestleMania 31.
Sasha was signed to NXT in 2012 and took a while to make an impact. It was when she debuted her new gimmick as The Boss that was when the classic matches started coming. She did capture the NXT Championship at one point but was unable to defend it when she came up against Bayley. After a sort of ‘passing of the torch’, Banks then made her main roster debut.
After the women’s revolution, she embarked on a long feud with Charlotte, where the two women traded the Raw Women’s Championship back and forth in one of the best rivalries that I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. She is a true pioneer of the women’s revolution.
She has broken many records in her short time with WWE, such as:
- The first women’s match to headline an NXT PPV.
- The longest women’s match in WWE history
- First ever women’s Ironman match
- First women’s match in Hell in a Cell
- The first women’s match to headline a WWE PPV.
She has so much more to give despite already achieving so much. I can’t wait to see where she takes the women’s division next!
#1 John Cena
From West Newbury, Massachusetts, JOHN CEEEEEEEEENAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Ahem, John Cena is without a doubt the most successful superstar to hail from Massachusetts. He is arguably the most successful wrestler of all time. A 16-time world champion, matching Ric Flair’s record, John Cena made his debut 15 years ago on the SmackDown brand at the time.
He faced Kurt Angle and one of the reasons this match sticks in people’s minds is because it signalled the start of the Ruthless Aggression Era, and the match was absolutely fantastic! Following this, Cena moved into his Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick. This made him unbelievably popular as his entrance raps weren’t exactly PG, and he was completely relatable.
Fast-forward 16 World Championships and Cena has done it all. He’s won the Royal Rumble, wrestled everyone you can think of and won multiple championships to go along with his record-tying world title reigns.
He is slowly making his way into Hollywood and is following in The Rock’s footsteps. No-one can argue with Cena’s work-rate, his dedication to the business and the legacy he has left in the WWE.
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