Below you can find some random facts from wrestling’s yesteryear. Some of them are tremendously out of date, but hey – it still doesn’t hurt to know!
Stan Lane was once billed as Stan Flair because people thought he resembled Ric Flair.
Shawn Michaels is married to former Nitro Girl, Whisper.
Marc Mero didn’t leave WCW over money issues. He left because of the angle he was in where he was involved with another man’s wife.
Larry Zbyszko is a licensed pilot.
Sid Vicious once backed down from a fight with Brian Pillman in a hotel bar, retreated to his car to arm himself with a weapon with which to defend himself and returned clutching a squeegee.
Prior to entering the squared circle, Steve Corino worked in a milk processing plant in Philadelphia.
Elektra was once married to the late “Big” Dick Dudley.
Former Washington Redskins head coach George Allen once offered Andre The Giant a contract to play professional football.
Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair’s first match took place in October 1991 with the “Nature Boy” winning the contest.
J.J. Dillon thought of the “Model” gimmick for Rick Martel.
Rick Martel is a gourmet chef.
The Warlord (Terry Szopinski) was forced to retire following a 1996 car accident involving a Pizza Hut delivery carrier.
DDP credits Bobby “The Brain” Heenen for coming up with the name “Diamond Cutter.”
Spike Dudley was a third grade teacher from Rhode Island before getting into the wrestling business.
Kurt Angle’s wife is a former stripper.
In the summer of 1995, Kurt Angle failed in a tryout to make the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Al Snow is well trained in martial arts, mat grappling, free style boxing, hardcore, and shoot-fight wrestling.
Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty won the WWE Tag Team Titles from Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart in October of 1990 at a taping for Saturday Night’s Main Event.
From 1986-1989 Ric Flair averaged 34 minutes per-match. In that span he had 19 matches that lasted longer than 50 minutes.
The Rock’s wife, Dany, is an Associate Vice President at Merrill Lynch.
Leatherface caused the scar on Mick Foley’s left arm.
Hulk Hogan earned $1.8 million dollars for his match against “Macho Man” Randy Savage at Wrestlemania V.
Buff Bagwell, before becoming a wrestler was a model, exotic dancer, and acted in a few softcore porn flicks.
The “People’s Eyebrow” was first named the “Heat Brow.” The Rock called it that in college, but he changed the name due to the fact that the name didn’t catch on.
D-Lo Brown began his career as the “head of security” for the Gangstas in Smokey Mountain Wrestling. He later debuted in WWE as one of the many members of Faarooq’s Nation of Domination entourage.
Former Nitro Girl Fyre (Teri Byrne) attended Arizona State University, and used to be a mortgage home broker.
The late Rick Rude was trained by Eddie Sharkey, who also trained the Road Warriors, Barry Darsow, and Nikita Koloff.
The late British Bulldog (Davey Boy Smith) paid the WWE $100,000 to get out of his contract to leave for WCW.
The original Midnight Express was a six man tag team in Alabama, consisting of Dennis Condrey, Randy Rose, and Norvell Austin.
Mark Henry and Pittsburgh Steeler Kevin Henry are cousins.
Jerry Jarrett brought Rick Rude to Memphis, and gave him the nickname “Ravishing.”
Dawn Marie appeared in the original Austin Powers MTV special as one of the go-go dancers and actually had a couple of speaking lines.
WCW’s female Gorgeous George, real name Stephanie Bellars, spent time in jail as a teenager for burglarizing a home and slashing a girl’s face with a broken beer bottle.
“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan got the idea of bringing a 2×4 to the ring from the movie, “Walking Tall.”
The Ultimate Warrior studied to be a chiropractor in Atlanta.
The Ultimate Warrior legally changed his name to “warrior.”
The Ultimate Warrior is now a speaker at college campuses. He specializes in conservative issues.
Demolition Ax (Bill Eadie) is a former school teacher.
Two days before WrestleMania IX, Hulk Hogan was injured in a jet-ski accident. That explains the shiner he had when he wrestled at WrestleMania IX.
Roddy Piper was the best man at one of Ric Flair’s weddings.
Before becoming a professional wrestler, Val Venis used to race motocross.
The late Big Bossman was a prison guard in Georgia.
Randy Savage was trained by his father, Angelo Poffo.
Dusty Rhodes played college football at West Texas.
Verne Gagne trained Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat.
Lex Luger played college football at Penn State.
Meng/Haku once wrestled as jobbber Larry Hurst.
Johnny Ace once dated former adult film star Seka.
Madusa is an accomplished singer and actually released a CD over in Japan.
The original idea for WWE SmackDown was for an all-women wrestling show.
Kevin Nash was a doorman/bouncer at a Michigan night club before entering the wrestling business.
Disco Inferno was released from his WCW contract in ’97 after refusing to do the job for Miss Jacquelyn. He returned to the promotion later in the year only after agreeing to wrestle her. However, Ted Turner had a “no man against woman violence” clause on his networks, so Disco had to avoid making physical contact with her throughout the entire match.
Linda McMahon is a laywer.
The late Bad News Brown actually used the name “The Ultimate Warrior” before Jim Hellwig.
“Sweet” Stan Lane is the only wrestler ever trained by Ric Flair.
Del Wilkes sold the rights to the “Patriot” gimmick to Tom Brandi.
Simon Diamond was a catcher on the Virginia Commonwealth baseball team for three years, but then he got hurt and that ended his baseball career. He eventually went back to college to get his degree in English.
Bruce Hart gave Wayne Ferris the “Honky Tonk Man” name.
At one point, Joanie Laurer was fully licensed to compete in boxing.
WWE considered giving Dustin Rhodes a “Gunslinger” gimmick, before coming up with Goldust.
Rikishi has a brother that wrestles as Fatu in Japan.
Jimmy Hart thought of the “3 Count” gimmick.
Jimmy Hart and Jerry Lawler attended the same high school in Memphis (not at the same time).
Former WWE announcer Craig DeGeorge became the number one sports anchor for an NBC affiliate in Miami and used his given name, Craig Minervini.
The former Bart Gunn wrestled as Mike Barton for All Japan Pro Wrestling.
When The Honky Tonk Man defeated Ricky Steamboat for the WWE Intercontinental Title, he was a replacement for “The Natural” Butch Reed who was scheduled to win the gold.
Before Mark Henry joined the WWE, he was sponsored by Titan Sports during the 1996 Olympic’s in which he competed in the sport of weight lifting.
Bill Goldberg’s father is a retired gynecologist.
Konnan briefly appeared in WWE as “Max Moon” in 1992. He played the role of the man who hailed from “outer space” for a single WWE Superstars television taping.
Perry Saturn dated Chyna before she entered the WWE.
“Cowboy” Bill Watts came up with the idea of the Road Warriors using face paint.
Bob Backlund was a wrestling teacher at Central Connecticut State College.
Bret “The Hitman” Hart is an avid Boston Red Sox fan.
Before entering the world of wrestling, Rikishi earned money by dancing on the streets of San Francisco.
Bret Hart is the only wrestler in history to be a triple crown winner in both WWE and WCW.
Shawn Michaels forfeited his WWE World Title on RAW due to his unwillingness to job to Bret Hart at WrestleMania XIII.
Hulk Hogan has never defeated Jerry Lawler in a wrestling match.
Ryan Shamrock once worked at a Strip Club in Houston, TX.
The Rock’s first character in WWE was Flex Cavana. He only wrestled under that name once.