Pro wrestling has a long history of absurdly rich villains like “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, who regularly throw their money around to get what they want, be it championship belts or simply demeaning fans for personal pleasure. But wrestling has experienced numerous instances of the opposite: characters who have gone broke in storylines, either by unemployment or unfortunate circumstance.

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In many of these examples, the rough patch is usually a springboard to something else, like being forced to work for the bad guys or a character reinvention. Let’s take a look at 10 wrestlers who fell on hard times in kayfabe.

10 Baron Corbin

Baron Corbin's broke era

One of the most recent falls from financial grace is that of Baron Corbin, 2019 King of the Ring who kept the King gimmick going all the way until Shinsuke Nakamura beat him for the crown in mid-2021. From there, things gradually got worse for the former Constable of Raw: bad investments cost him his money and property, wrestlers beat him up anytime he begged for cash, and he even got fined by WWE for wearing the same filthy, mustard-stained clothing for weeks in a row. It was the funniest thing that’s ever happened to one of the least liked characters on the show, but it all turned around once WWE’s touring schedule brought them to Las Vegas, where Corbin experienced a tremendous windfall at the slots.

9 Nikolai Volkoff

Nikolai Volkoff as Ted DiBiase's henchman

During his heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, WWE foreign heel Nikolai Volkoff was a multi-time tag team champion alongside partners like Geeto and The Iron Sheik, but by 1994, Volkoff had hit a pretty rough patch. The Soviet Union had dissolved a few years prior, and Volkoff was running out of money. A bailout came in the form of “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, who made the Russian heel part of his Million Dollar Corporation, with Volkoff becoming a low level (but sympathetic) henchman.

8 Big Show

WWE Stephanie McMahon Hugging Big Show

In 2012, amid his various heel/face turns, Big Show had a brief run as a main event bad guy, bolstered by an “ironclad contract” that let him do whatever he wanted. The following year, however, it was revealed that Show was out of money, which was easily manipulated by Stephanie McMahon of The Authority.

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In the infamous promo, McMahon spun a story about them being friends when Show first came to WWE and she was a little girl. It made no chronological sense, but Steph’s manipulation of Big Show’s heartstrings and his bank account got the big man to do The Authority’s bidding.

7 Prince Nana

Prince Nana

From 2002 to about 2012, Prince Nana was a staple of Ring of Honor, where he used his riches as royalty from Ghana to be a heel manager in an indie wrestling promotion, employing wrestlers like Alex Shelley and Tommaso Ciampa into his stable The Embassy. But in 2008, Nana started making appearances in ROH again, claiming that he lost all his money and begging for a job with thre company. He’d be routinely taken away by security, but ended up becoming rich again thanks to a stimulus check from President Barack Obama.

6 Lance Storm

Lance Storm

Despite being one of the first members of the Alliance to invade WWE, Lance Storm ended up losing his cushy sports entertainment job (in kayfabe) once WWE beat the Alliance at Survivor Series 2001. Now unemployed, Storm had to seek other work to make ends meet, and found himself in a much lower position with WWE — mopping the floors at the WWE New York restaurant. Hilariously, the angle led the toy company to believe that Storm’s gimmick was that of a pro wrestling janitor, and toys were produced based on that — including a mop and bucket.

5 Heath Slater

Heath Slater

Heath Slater’s kayfabe life has been a constant struggle of getting trounced by geriatric WWE legends and Flo Rida alike, but Slater hit a particularly rough patch when WWE introduced a new brand split in 2016. Slater somehow found himself undrafted, and thus not employed by Raw or SmackDown, and every attempt to win a spot on either show was repeatedly stifled. Suddenly, “I got kids, I need this job” became a catchphrase for poor Heath Slater, and he eventually found a home on SmackDown. After leaving WWE, Heath’s struggles continued as he moved on to Impact Wrestling, where he once again had to beg for a job.

4 Jim Duggan

Jim Duggan as a janitor

A popular name in the 1980s and 1990s, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan had a few achievements to his name, like winning the first-ever Royal Rumble. By the year 2000, however, Duggan had fallen on hard times and found himself working as a (kayfabe) janitor in WCW.

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Not the most glamorous job for a former United States Champion, but it was through custodial services that Duggan made a remarkable discovery. It was in the garbage that he found the WCW World Television Championship belt, which Scott Hall had unceremoniously thrown away after winning it.

3 Fallah Bahh

Fallah Bahh

Heath Slater wasn’t the only wrestler who had a rough go of it in Impact Wrestling. Once Johnny Swinger opened up Swinger’s Palace, Fallah Bahh was a regular in the Swingman’s illegal backstage casino. This, of course, meant that Bahh developed a gambling addiction, and once the big man blew all his cash, he ended up homeless. For several weeks, Fallah Bahh could be seen obviously living at Impact’s weekly production home, Skyway Studio, sleeping under newspapers and the like in his full wrestling gear.

2 Norman Smiley

Screamin Norman Smiley Cropped

Believe it or not, WCW did the “wrestler becomes unemployed” gag twice in the same year. Hardcore division comedy guy Norman Smiley suffered a couple big losses in a row, so he and former Chris Jericho bodyguard/sidekick Ralphus were given an ultimatum on the 7/10/2000 Nitro: beat Terry Funk for the Hardcore Championship in a handicap match, or get fired. They lost, of course, and various comedic skits ensued over the following weeks, with the duo begging for change, carrying signs that read “Will Wrestle For Food,” and failing to work as popcorn vendors for the arena.

1 Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels as a cook with Triple H

It’s tough to imagine a multi-time WWE Champion like Shawn Michaels going broke, especially in kayfabe where he’s obviously a highly paid star, but in late 2008, WWE cooked up a storyline where Michaels had lost all his money in the financial recession. Like Nikolai Volkoff before him, Michaels ended up signing a contract with resident evil rich guy JBL, working for the heel and helping him win matches. Shawn Michaels would eventually win his freedom, but following a loss to The Undertaker, he’d depart WWE (in kayfabe), resurfacing months later working as a cook in a cafeteria.