Quick Links
There is a lot of communicate concerning the genetic courting between human beings and apes, with scientists incessantly mentioning the truth that we proportion over 98% of our DNA with those adorable little – every now and then huge and terrifying – fuzzy creatures. But a surprisingly small amount of consideration is paid to the relationship between human beings and different human beings. Did you know that some genealogy enthusiasts speculate that every one human beings on the planet are, on the very least, 16th cousins? Furthermore, it is stated that Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan was once so adept at spreading his seed that 1 in every 200 males shares his DNA (however that’s every other tale for another article).
Those who need evidence of the aforementioned sixteenth cousin concept wish to look no additional than WWE. It turns out that everyone on the planet of professional wrestling is expounded, from father and son duos such as “Cowboy” Bob Orton and present WWE Champion Randy Orton, to uncle and nephew pairings such because the overdue Eddie Guerrero and former WWE Superstar Chavo Guerrero.
Professional wrestling has also welcomed hundreds of teams of cousins into its elbow-padded hands, with WWE’s history littered with cousin connections that many lovers don't seem to be even acutely aware of. We’re going to be having a look at a few of them nowadays.
Here are 15 WWE Superstars you didn’t know were cousins.
Jerry Lawler/The Honky Tonk Man
In the arena of professional wrestling, it's rather commonplace knowledge that Brian Christopher, who competed in WWE all over the Attitude Era as Grand Master Sexay, is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler. The King’s kinship with former WWE Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man, alternatively, is less well-documented.
Although the Tennessee natives were somewhat shut throughout the early days in their careers, Lawler and The Honky Tonk Man’s courting has been strained for years, if assets with regards to the Lawler family are to be believed. Following The King’s on-air center attack in 2012, Honky took to Facebook to voice his reinforce for his cousin and claimed that whilst they didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on sure skilled issues, their non-public courting have been strengthening. Of direction, Honky went right again to ragging on The King in shoot interviews the moment it become transparent he wasn’t going to die.
Natalya/Teddy Hart
Up until Charlotte Flair’s contemporary transfer to the blue brand, Natalya was probably the most skilled competitor in the SmackDown Women’s division. Of route, Natalya’s standing as a girls’s wrestling goddess must come as no wonder to the enthusiasts, who're often reminded through WWE commentators that she is the daughter of Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart and the niece of multi-time WWE Champion (*15*).
While WWE is quick to deliver consideration to Natalya’s relation to WWE legends, it has not been so eager to shine a light on her courting with Teddy Hart, the disgraced former WWE Superstar. Teddy, the oldest male grandchild of Stu and Helen Hart, was launched from his WWE contract due to behavior problems a decade ago and went on to experience various prison issues, together with accusations of sexual attack towards two ladies.
Horace Hogan/Mike Awesome
Michael Allen Bollea, better known through his ring title Horace Hogan, owes just about every ounce of his fame to his famous uncle, WWE Hall of Famer and casual racist Hulk Hogan. Hogan (Horace, this is), experienced the majority of his “success” all over the late Nineties when he was once signed to WCW. He was once in short employed by WWE in 2002, however Vince McMahon in the end got here to his senses, as he from time to time does.
As nicely as being the nephew of Hulk Hogan, Michael Allen Bollea is the cousin of Mike Awesome. Awesome was synonymous with Extreme Championship Wrestling earlier than he made the controversial determination to enroll in his cousin in WCW. He made a variety of appearances in WWE and TNA earlier than tragically taking his own life in 2007.
Billy Kidman/Mikey Batts
Billy Kidman used to be one of the most revered stars of WCW’s much-lauded Cruiserweight division. While operating for Ted Turner’s rasslin’ company, he held the WCW Cruiserweight Championship on three separate occasions. He additionally turned into one-half of the WCW Tag Team Champions, along Rey Mysterio. Kidman later moved to WWE, where he captured the WWE Cruiserweight Championship before retiring from the hoop to work behind the scenes.
While Kidman experienced a substantial amount of success in his time as an energetic competitor, the same can't be stated for his cousin, Mikey Batts. Batts was a well-recognized face on the impartial wrestling scene ahead of signing a developmental handle WWE in 2005. During his time with WWE, Batts performed in Deep South Wrestling, Ohio Valley Wrestling, and even made an look on Velocity, however by no means in point of fact made it to the principle roster. After leaving WWE, Batts launched into an excellent less a hit occupation as a mixed martial artist. Despite being associated with a fairly prominent member of WWE’s production personnel, Batts is nowadays decreased to operating as a referee for various unbiased promotions across America.
Amazing Red/Thea Trinidad
The bulk of Amazing Red’s fame can also be traced again to his time in TNA, the place he held the TNA X Division Championship on three separate occasions. However, Red, real identify Jonathan Figueroa, has additionally had some dealings with Vince McMahon and WWE. Most notably, he clashed with long term WWE Champion and would-be UFC famous person CM Punk in a depressing fit previous to a 2005 SmackDown taping.
Red has quite a lot of members of the family involved within the wrestling industry, including Thea Trinidad. Like Red, Trinidad spent much of her profession in TNA, the place she carried out within the Knockout’s division below the identify Rosarita. Most just lately, Trinidad has been seen on NXT, most probably the result of her romantic relationship with current Monday Night Raw and 205 Live celebrity Austin Aries.
Paul Orndorff/Shane Douglas
Despite being in large part unknown by means of nearly all of WWE’s current fanbase, “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff performed a beautiful outstanding role within the then World Wrestling Federation all over the pro wrestling boom of the 1980s. He had multiple feuds with Hulk Hogan right through the peak of the Hulkster’s reputation, regardless that repeatedly came out at the shedding end, as was once the way on the time.
Despite playing a lovely just right relationship with WWE and even making an look for the company as just lately as 2014, Orndorff was integrated in a 2016 class-action lawsuit in search of to hold WWE responsible for “long-term neurological injuries”. Joining Orndorff within the class-action lawsuit used to be his cousin, Shane Douglas, who had a brief stint with WWE in the Nineteen Nineties before moving to ECW and later WCW.
Nia Jax/The Rock
Since the implosion of The Shield, WWE has been reminding enthusiasts that Roman Reigns is the cousin of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at each and every turn. The Rock used to be even deployed to the ring all through the 2015 Royal Rumble in an ill-fated try to salvage the pay-per-view and simplicity the boos that were being directed in opposition to Roman.
For whatever reason why, WWE announcers and presenters have paid very little attention to the connection between The Rock and Nia Jax, who is currently running roughshod during the Monday Night Raw Women’s roster. There are quite a lot of theories as to why the company has avoided acknowledging Jax as The Rock’s cousin, with most people pointing to undeniable fact that Jax is portrayed as a heel and so being related to the sort of widespread personality could be counterproductive.
Tazz/Chris Chetti
When Copiague, New York native Chris Chetti determined he sought after to get involved in the wacky international of professional wrestling, he had only to pick out up the phone and speak to his cousin, Peter Senerchia, who had already established himself as a major competitor under the title Tazz. Chetti was summoned to the House of Hardcore professional wrestling faculty, where he used to be educated via each his cousin and ECW legend Mikey Whipwreck.
Chetti’s courting with Tazz proved helpful once more when it came to discovering paying paintings in skilled wrestling. He scored a role with ECW, the place he went on to become a one-time ECW FTW Heavyweight Champion. Unfortunately, the Human Suplex Machine was once not able to search out his cousin employment with WWE after the autumn of ECW and Chetti was left to flounder on the impartial circuit whilst Tazz flourished as a wrestler and eventual commentator.
Bill Alfonso/David Canal
William Sierra spent a length of the Nineties working for Vince McMahon and was once assigned the unenviable job of refereeing the infamous WrestleMania conflict between The Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez. However, Sierra accomplished his largest fame portraying the nature of Bill Alfonso, the manic, whistle-blowing supervisor who guided Rob Van Dam to the ECW World Television Championship, which he would grasp on to longer than anyone else within the company’s historical past.
But William now not is the only member of his circle of relatives who managed to forge a career in the wrestling industry. His cousin, David Canal, ruffled various feathers when he started to appear as Fidel Sierra in WCW. Under the Fidel Sierra personality, Canal had a controversial feud with “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, which performed at the rising tensions between Cuba and the United States of America and was any other nail within the coffin of international relations in skilled wrestling.
Brian Lee/The Undertaker
I’m sure I don’t have to remind any of you who The Undertaker is. You may, then again, require a quick abstract of the profession of Brian Lee. Lee started wrestling professionally in 1988 for Jerry Jarrett’s Continental Wrestling Association. He later worked with the United States Wrestling Association and Smoky Mountain Wrestling before making his option to the then World Wrestling Federation, the place he would seem no longer as Brian Lee - or Chainz, as he used to be later identified - however as Ted DiBiase’s notorious imposter Undertaker.
Lee’s outstanding resemblance to The Undertaker was no longer a coincidence. He was once, actually, a cousin of Mark Calaway, the unique Undertaker. The initial plan was once for Vince McMahon to stay Calaway’s cousin engaged thru 1994 for an extended feud with The Dead Man, but that all modified when the storyline was dropped after a lackluster match at that yr’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
Brian Lee/The Bruise Brothers
Shortly after his time in the World Wrestling Federation came to an end, Brian Lee made his return to the United States Wrestling Association. It was there that he began running with Ron and Don Harris, two real-life brothers from Florida who had carved out a pleasing profession for themselves as The Bruise Brothers.
While Brian Lee hadn’t stepped into a wrestling ring with both of the Harris brothers previous to meeting them within the USWA, he used to be rather conversant in both of them. This is as a result of Lee can rely the former NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champions among his famous cousins. Lee would cross on to capture the USWA World Tag Team Championships with Don Harris, while Ron would hold the same belts along Jimmy Harris (no relation).
Matt Bentley/Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels is one of the biggest WWE Superstars of all time. A former WWE Intercontinental Champion, World Heavyweight Champion, and straight up WWE Champion, Michaels was once something particular right up to the end of his days as an lively competitor. It turns out ring skills run in the family, as HBK’s cousin, Matt Bentley, has himself had a occupation that is some distance from undistinguished. Bentley has held numerous championships around the globe, together with the TNA X Division Championship, which he captured on two separate events.
Despite Michaels’ notoriously comfortable courting with Vince McMahon, Bentley by no means controlled to attain a full-time gig in WWE. He did compete in a number of squash matches for the corporate, but was once never treated as a significant competitor and was once unquestionably never said as a relation of The Heartbreak Kid.
Alberto Del Rio/Sicodelico Jr.
Alberto Del Rio's in-ring taste throughout his much-criticized stints with WWE was once so mundane and underwhelming that it's easy to forget he comes from a family that is beautiful prominent on this planet of Lucha libre.
Del Rio’s father, Dos Caras, captured a couple of championships during Mexico and is recognized as one of the crucial largest professional wrestlers the country has ever produced. Del Rio’s cousin, Sicodelico Jr., could also be held in top regard through enthusiasts of Lucha libre and used to be even signed up through WWE in the summer of 2009, around the same time Alberto Del Rio signed his first maintain the company. However, Sicodelico struggled to conform to the American style and used to be launched from his contract just prior to his cousin broke onto the main roster.
Roman Reigns/Yokozuna
I mentioned earlier that WWE loves speaking about Roman Reigns’ Samoan heritage and reminding enthusiasts about his many well-known uncles, cousins, and siblings. However, the corporate has fairly held again on discussing his dating with former WWE Champion Rodney Anoa’i, who competed for WWE right through the Nineties underneath the title Yokozuna.
WWE’s reluctance to mention Yokozuna whilst detailing the family historical past of Roman Reigns is most likely an example of kayfabe – that rule that claims wrestling must be believable – rearing its infrequently seen head within the trendy international. For those who do not have in mind, Yokozuna was portrayed as a towering anti-American heel from Japan, so acknowledging his Samoan roots on each episode of Monday Night Raw would kill the magic of gazing old Yokozuna bouts at the WWE Network and tarnish the large’s legacy.
Roddy Piper/Bret Hart
When Roddy Piper claimed to be a cousin of Bret “The Hitman” Hart, many were hesitant to consider him. After all, Piper used to be identified for his tendency to make outrageous claims and proclamations. Several years later, on the other hand, Bret Hart himself confirmed that he and Hot Rod, who was once a native of Canada, were indeed similar.
After Piper’s premature dying in 2015, Hart as soon as again said him as his cousin. “I will't in finding the words to explain the sorrow in my center upon finding out the scoop of my pricey pal, Roddy Piper, passing away,” stated The Hitman in a post uploaded to Facebook in a while after his cousin’s loss of life.
He went on to say, “He was my closest buddy within the industry, a man that schooled me and guided me right through my profession.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEq6CcoJWowW%2BvzqZmsKeiobFusc2tnKuskZ67rrHNrWZqbV2sxKZ50q6nnqqjqa6zv4yypq5llJ6xr8CMpKWor12ssrOxjJymrquZo8Bw