What 6 WWE Champions Did Before They Became Famous Wrestlers

The world of wrestling is one of fortune and fame. Once you get to the WWE you are an instant star, no matter at what level you fight on. Whether it’s the red brand, the blue brand or the yellow brand, many hope to get in but only a few make it through.

However, making it big is not all that easy, and some have to struggle a lot before making it big. From collecting enough money for joining gyms to paying for training centers, the road to becoming a superstar can take a toll on anyone.

While some wrestlers are fortunate enough to be born to richer parents, or to former legends of the sport, others find jobs to make enough money to find a way through. From being dishwashers to flight-attendants, let’s take a look at what current WWE superstars did before they got famous.

#6 Sheamus

From the National College of Ireland, Sheamus has been an athlete and has a lot of experience playing rugby and football. However, his most notable work before joining the WWE was working as a bodyguard for high-profile artists such as Bono of U2 and singer/actor Denise vas Outen.

“My physical upbringing has led to me being tougher and more gritty in the ring,” Sheamus said. “We didn’t wear pads or helmets in rugby and would hit each other as hard as possible. The only people in the WWE that can match my physicality are Brock Lesnar and Samoa Joe.”His height and built has given him the advantage in and out of the WWE. He has recently starred in a few movies too, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (TMNT2).

#5 Bobby Roode

Former TNA Champion and the WWE United States Champion wasn’t as glorious before joining the business as he is now. He is quite famous for being the star that he is now, and has an envious job at the moment, but few envied him before his career took off.

He started off as a dishwasher and janitor for his uncle’s bar. He claims it was a hard job and took a lot to clean the toilets of a sports bar. Starting from the bottom helped him stay humble and be thankful for where he is now.

#4 Chris Jericho

Part wrestler. Part singer. Complete performer.

Chris Jericho is undoubtedly one of the most impactful Superstars of all time. He has been as effective in the ring, as he has been behind the scenes and devised some of the most interesting matches in the business’ history. His debut in the WWE was one of the biggest promotional events in the company’s history.

Even before stepping into the ring, Chris Jericho was entertaining audiences around the globe. In 1999, the WWE superstar formed a metal band with guitarist Rich Ward before joining the WWE in 2000 as Y2J. The band, named Fozzy, has enjoyed huge success and has become a side venture of the wrestling legend out of the ring.

#3 Becky Lynch

Becky Lynch is at the top of the blue brand with longtime friend-turned-foe Charlotte Flair. Starting with NXT, Becky Lynch rose to fame due to her incredible in-ring skills and irresistible looks. However, she never planned to end up in the WWE. “If you can believe it, I had no intentions of being a wrestler,” Lynch told WWE in 2015.

Rebecca Quinn first started off a car washing crew at age 8 and washed neighbors’ cars and washed her neighbors' cars to buy candy. At age 14, she started waiting tables at a bar, but her first serious job started when she became a flight attendant. She did that for quite some time as it taught her a lot of things before she finally moved on and took wrestling as a career, joining the WWE in the process.

#2 John Cena

From the front seat of the limo to the back seat

John Cena is the biggest name in the world of wrestling today. However, his rise to fame wasn’t all that easy. He dreamt of becoming a bodybuilder and left his home to become a cop initially. However, that didn’t work out and he considered joining the Marines instead.

“I just thought because, of all the service branches, it kind of exemplified who I was as a 22-year-old,” he told Task and Purpose. “You think you’re bulletproof, and you can handle any sort of resistance put in front of you, and you’re gung-ho to the hilt.”

When that didn’t work out well either, Cena became a limo driver. Unfortunately, he wasn’t good at directions and GPS didn’t exist back then. “I worked as a limo driver for a while, and it was before GPS was commonplace, you still had to go off a map,” he once told AskMen. “And I was not good. At all. I grew up in a small town that’s got one street. One main street, so I knew how to get around that town. I was doing pickups to and from Logan Airport, and I was just rotten. I wasn’t meant to be a limo driver.”

Things got so bad for Cena that he was out and hungry and started taking part in pizza eating competitions in order to fill his stomach. Currently, Cena is one of the biggest stars in sports entertainment and goes out of his way to help the Make A Wish Foundation too.

#1 AJ Styles

AJ Styles is as famous as any other out there in the industry today. His success goes far and beyond the WWE, and he has enjoyed success with a lot of other promotions, which makes him one of the best wrestlers in the world.

Just like many others, he also started from the bottom. His first job included picking up trash from raceways while he was only 7 years old. In 2000, he was offered by the WCW to come train with them for a payout of $500 a week, but he rather chose to deliver water and use the pay from that to train elsewhere. By the looks of it, he made the right decisions.