10 Inspiring Wrestlers You Didn’t Know Overcame Hardships
Summary
- Key takeaways:
- Pro wrestlers come from diverse backgrounds and have overcome various challenges to achieve success.
- Wrestlers like The Iron Sheik, AJ Lee, and Edge have overcome adversity in their personal lives to pursue their dreams.
- Stories of wrestlers like Roddy Piper, Brian Pillman, and Ken Shamrock highlight the resilience and determination needed to overcome obstacles.
Like any of us, pro wrestlers come from all different walks of life and backgrounds. In some cases, wrestlers have come from affluent and/or stable families with values, and in some cases, privilege. In other cases, wrestlers have had to overcome all types of adversity in order to get to where they are in life.
10 Wrestlers With Inspirational Behind The Scene Stories Fans Need To Know
Whether a wrestler portrays a hero or a villain onscreen, they all have a backstory. You might be surprised to realize just how much a certain wrestler has had to overcome, or survive, to realize their dreams. In fact, you might even find some of these stories to be highly inspirational.
10
The Iron Sheik
The Iron Sheik played such a fearsome anatagonist for nearly his entire career, so the details of his early life didn’t surface for many years. At some point, it actually came to light that Sheik had to flee his native Iran, in fear of his life. Corruption was rampant in his homeland when Sheik was young, and he was forced to abandon everything he had known and come to America in search of a better life.
An amateur standout, Sheik found his niche in pro wrestling, and the rest is history, as they say. It’s worth noting, that Sheik did not know a word of English upon entering America, and picked up everything along the way.
9
AJ Lee
A modern example of overcoming well, modern problems, would be AJ Lee. AJ grew up in extreme poverty, and her family shifted from relative to relative, because they usually couldn’t afford a home of their own. That quality of life would not end, upon her entering adulthood either. In her autobiography, Crazy Is My Superpower, AJ recalls washing her paper plates, because she was too broke to buy anymore.
She also struggled with mental illness, and severe anxiety on her journey to stardom. AJ solidified her distinction as an inspirational figure, when she walked away from the business on top, being quoted as saying that “she left women’s wrestling in a better place than she found it.”
8
Harley Race
Harley Race’s life began in depression-era America, in the midwest state of Missouri. When your parents tell you how hard they had it in their day, and they actually lived in this period, chances are, they aren’t embellishing. Harley overcame polio as a child, which was quite rampant at that time. He was expelled from school after an altercation with his principal, and he would later suffer a tragic loss in his personal life.
His wrestling education began with him serving as an “assistant” to super heavyweight wrestler, Happy Humphrey, which Harley recalls as being quite unpleasant at times. Harley is considered one of the toughest to ever lace up his boots, and that’s likely because he had to earn everything he ever had in his life, the hard way.
7
Edge
Edge penned his autobiography relatively early in his life, but upon reading it you realize that he had already lived a rather full life to that point. The real-life Adam Copeland grew up in a single-parent home. This is because his father essentially abandoned his mother and him, before Adam was even born. As a result, Edge has no idea who his father is, nor even what he looks like, as he hasn’t so much as seen a picture of him.
Edge recalls seeing his breath when he slept at night, because his mother couldn’t afford to pay the electric bill, making for some rough nights in the harsh Canadian winters. Edge vowed to himself that he would one day give his mother a better life, and he delivered on that vow.
6
Roddy Piper
When most fans think of Roddy Piper, they think of one of the most entertaining pro wrestlers of all time, who always seemed to be one step ahead of his peers. Piper’s street wise persona was rather genuine, as due to a strained relationship with his father, Roddy was virtually homeless, before his 18th birthday.
He also suffered from ADD, before that was a diagnosed condition, so he grew up struggling in school, and having what seemed to be behavorial issues. He thought something was wrong with him, and as a result began to rebel at an early age. Since he felt so alienated by his own family life, Piper vowed to never allow his children to experience what he did as a child.
5
Brian Pillman
Everything Brian Pillman ever had in his life, he had to fight for, including his voice. Brian developed polyps on his throat at an extremely young age, and had over 30 operations before the age of three. He spent most of his early life in a hospital, and when he finally began attending school, he was bullied due to his now trademark raspy style of speaking.
Brian was also a walk-on with the Cincinnati Bengals, fighting his way to a spot on the team. Brian fought to overcome his challenges, and managed to become a fantastic athlete and talker. Though his life ended tragically due to demons, Pillman proved that nothing can stand in your way if you don’t allow it to.
4
Powerhouse Hobbs
A native of the West Coast, Will Hobbs suffered personal tragedy at a relatively young age. Hobbs and his older brother had dreamed of forming a wrestler-manager duo, but sadly that would never come to be. Hobbs’s brother was tragically killed in a random haze of gunfire, that Will himself was also injured by.
He also lost his mother a couple of years ago, but has amazingly found the strength to persevere in spite of so much loss in his personal life. He may portray an effective heel on camera, but in reality, Hobbs is as inspirational as they come.
3
Bruno Sammartino
Bruno Sammartino was born in Italy in 1935, just before the start of the second World War. He was the youngest of seven, and lost four of his siblings early in his life. His father relocated to Pittsburgh when Bruno was four, and had to place his family of Jewish heritage in hiding to avoid the Germans, before they could find their way to America to reunite.
Bruno was incessantly bullied as a child, and would take up bodybuilding in order to combat his aggressors. Bruno’s story is as real as it gets, and is a truly inspirational tale.
2
Booker T
By the time Booker T was 13 years old, he had lost both of his parents, with his mother passing away after his father. Booker was essentially an orphan at this point, with he and his sister left to fend for themselves. Booker was born into poverty in Houston, TX, and would briefly turn to a life of crime, with no sense of direction or guidance at a crucial age.
After spending time in prison, Booker would completely turn his life around, and begin his journey towards becoming one of the greatest African-American wrestlers in modern history. Booker’s story is one that proves that we have the power to turn a negative into a positive, and achieve our wildest dreams in the process.
1
Ken Shamrock
When your life story moves the “toughest SOB in the WWE” Steve Austin to tears, you know you have overcome tremendous adversity. Most people know Ken Shamrock as the “world’s most dangerous man”, but he was just an innocent child like all of us at one point. Sadly, Shamrock had his innocence taken from him, when he suffered abuse as a young man. He was moved from foster home to foster home until finally being taken in by Bob Shamrock at 14, who would adopt Ken as his own.
Ken Shamrock is a man who never let his abusers define him, and instead fought back in every way possible. His story is definitely one that needs to be told, as it shows that our capacity for strength is truly unlimited.
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