The WWE’s status as the premiere wrestling promotion in the world means that professional wrestlers from all across the globe are part of the roster in this day and age. Despite this diversity, there are always hotbeds of wrestling talents which are unrivalled.
One of these hotbeds happens to be the state of Georgia. Often the cause for mass confusion due to the name it shares with the European country, there are no jokes to be made about wrestlers who come out of this state in the South of the United States of America.
In today’s list, we will see that some of the biggest names in all of professional wrestling have called the great state of Georgia their home. So, without any further ado, here are the top 5 WW wrestlers from Georgia.
Honourable Mention – Xavier Woods who hails from Columbus, Georgia and is currently a resident of Atlanta, Georgia.
#5 Ron Simmons
You know that the wrestlers on this list have to be something special if they’re able to keep out Xavier Woods – a member of the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions of all time, The New Day – and to start us off, we have Ron Simmons.
If that name sounds unfamiliar to you, it might be because he made way to his stardom under the gimmick of Farooq, former leader of The Nation of Domination and tag team partners with Bradshaw during their run as The Acolytes and APA.
Simmons is one the most respected men in the industry and is also a member of the WWE Hall of Fame. He was part of the class of 2012 where he took his rightful place with the all-time pro-wrestling greats.
He was originally born in Perry, Georgia and continues to reside in the state even today in Marietta, Georgia.
#4 Road Dogg
Coming in at number four on this list is one of the most popular wrestlers of the WWE’s Attitude Era – Road Dogg. One-half of The New Age Outlaws, Road Dogg became one of the most over wrestlers in the entire world because of his run with tag team buddy, Billy Gunn.
The two would also join up with Triple H, Shawn Michaels, X-Pac, and Chyna in the legendary faction, Degeneration X, to become living legends with their superb combination of mic work, pranks and in-ring ability.
Dogg and Gunn are 5-time WWE Tag Team Champions and the excitement was palpable every time the legendary line “Oh, you didn’t know?” reverberated around the arena. With his wrestling days behind him, Road Dogg now works on the creative side of the WWE.
He was born in Marietta, Georgia but has now moved away to Florida.
#3 Arn Anderson
That’s right, one of the legendary Four Horsemen actually hails from Georgia. The enforcer of the stable that dominated wrestling through the 1980s and 1990s, Arn Anderson, is wrestling royalty and it was hardly any surprise when he took his place in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.
A lifelong friend to The Nature Boy, Ric Flair, Anderson was always the right-hand man to the 16-time World Champion. It was this secondary position that often sees him get passed over when discussions start up about the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
Coming in at #62 on PWI’s list of 100 Greatest Professional Wrestlers, Anderson was appreciated for his no-nonsense approach to sports entertainment. His greatest claim to fame, perhaps, is that there is no one who can pull off a Spinebuster the way Arn Anderson can even today.
Hailing from Rome, Georgia, Anderson is also now a part of the WWE’s backstage creative and coaching crew.
#2 AJ Styles
The only person on this list who wasn’t actually born in Georgia, AJ Styles is the penultimate entry in the Top 5. Despite having his roots in Jacksonville, North Carolina, AJ moved to Gainesville, Georgia at an early age as his father was a marine.
Styles has, of course, become one of the most popular Superstars in the world during his storied career, which has spanned across numerous indy promotions such as ROH, as well as New Japan Pro Wrestling, TNA, and most recently, the WWE.
Such has been his impact during his short tenure with the WWE that he was voted as both PWI’s and Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Wrestler of the Year for 2016, where he was a constant main event fixture and even captured the WWE Championship.
As his theme song suggests, he is a southern boy through and through, no matter how much success he achieves.
#1 Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan is the most well-recognised wrestler in the world. Well, perhaps the second most well-recognised after the recent success experienced by one Mr Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
What isn’t all that well-known about The Hulkster, though, is that he was actually born in Augusta, Georgia. It was a few years after this that his family moved over to Tampa. I will not bother listing out the million accolades that Hogan has won throughout his legendary career because we’ll be here all week if I have to do that.
We will have to wait and see if the WWE is willing to forgive his recent transgressions and whether we will ever see the most famous pro-wrestlers to come out of Georgia back on WWE programming.
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