Professional wrestling takes complete control of the wrestler’s life. There are no off seasons in wrestling. It is literally full on training and fighting day in and day out. The wrestler makes many sacrifices in their life, including special family bonding time and physical rest. Sometimes looking in the crowd and seeing tons of signs and fans cheering you on makes every pain and every hurt 100 percent worth it.

However, training to become a professional wrestler often starts way before you get any on-air television time. Before any fame comes, they are working their butts off to make their dreams come true. Wrestling becomes their whole life. So, what happens to a professional wrestler after he or she gives up wrestling? Is it easy to fall back into reality and live an ordinary life? Or would it be a struggle learning how to cope after the dream has seemingly ended?

Since the start of televised wrestling, we’ve seen hundreds of amazing wrestlers come and go. We saw The Rock transform into an amazing movie star. We experienced tragic losses of wrestlers’ deaths, like with the remarkable Chyna and Eddie Guerrero. Falling in love with professional wrestlers is so easy; learning to live with a life where the star is no longer in the spotlight can be hard. The least we can do is make that process a little less painful by sharing intimate details of professional wrestlers’ lives after wrestling. Here are 15 wrestling stars who gave up wrestling and where they are now in life.

15 Rick Steiner (Real Estate Broker)

Rick Steiner, born Robert Rechsteiner, first debuted with WWF in 1992 with his brother and tag team partner, Scott. The Steiner Brothers found great success while in the WWF, but Rick had issues with the way Vince McMahon was treating the duo, so they went to wrestle with ECW and then WCW. During the time The Steiner Brothers wrestled with WCW, Rick became an eight-time World Tag Team Champion and recognized as “The Dog-Faced Gremlin.” The brothers were a perfect pair full of speed and power. After the WCW was sold, Rick started making appearances on TNA.

One day, Rick realized he was missing out on a lot of important moments with his sons, so he decided to leave wrestling.

After Rick retired, he started his own real estate business called Rick Steiner and Associates. Steiner also sits on the Cherokee County Board of Education.

14 Ivory (Dog Groomer)

Lisa Moretti, best known by her ring name Ivory, grew up wrestling with her siblings for fun. She started wrestling in a Las Vegas-based circuit called GLOW and signed on with WWF in 1999. She started as just one of the women The Godfather pranced around with him, but soon got her own storyline as the love interest and valet of Mark Henry. Ivory was able to win multiple championships. She became a conservative wrestler and joined many alliances during her time with the WWF, including Right to Censor and The Alliance.

Ivory left the WWE in 2005 but still makes the occasional appearance.

She was recently inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. After wrestling, Moretti began a life of rescuing and working with animals, a passion that grew after she worked in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

13 Haku (Auto Shop Manager)

Fifty-nine-year-old Tonga Fifita was once renowned all over as Haku, the toughest and most frightening fighter. The start of Haku’s major wrestling career with the WWF was in 1986 as one half of The Islanders. A couple of years later, Haku teamed up with Andre the Giant, as the Colossal Connection. The duo eventually split due to Andre’s poor health and some bad losses. Haku left the WWF in 1992, but continued wrestling in the independent circuit and with WCW for another 10 years. He is placed on a pedestal by tons of other wrestling superstars, including Ric Flair, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Goldberg. Haku retired from professional wrestling in 2001.

He now manages an auto detail shop called David Maus Toyota in Florida.

He spends his time learning to play golf and continues to make occasional appearances in the ring.

12 Scotty 2 Hotty (FireFighter, Real Estate Broker)

A true wrestling rags to riches story, Scott Garland, better known by his ring name Scotty 2 Hotty, started her professional wrestling career as a jobber. Before signing with the WWF, Garland wrestled in the independent circuit. In 1998, Garland found huge success with the WWF in a tag team with Brian Christopher. The duo gained huge fan popularity with their hip hop gimmick and became tag team named “Too Cool.”

Garland became one of the greatest performers of the WWF’s Attitude Era. Fans continuously tuned in to see Scotty 2 Hotty’s break dance moves and infamous worm. In 2007, Garland was released from WWF, ending his full-time wrestling career. In 2013, he trained to become a fire fighter and an EMT, but that career path didn’t last very long. Garland went on to become a licensed Real Estate broker who spends lots of time with his family.

11 Eve Torres

The beautiful Eve Torres started her wrestling career with the 2007 WWE Diva Search. Before wrestling, Torres attended USC and graduated with honors. She then began dancing and modeling full-time, even dancing for the Los Angeles Clippers’ Spirit Dance Team. Once Torres officially debuted on WWE’s SmackDown, she really started to shine as a professional wrestler. During her WWE career, Torres would become a three-time Divas Champion and hold captivating feuds and storylines; she even turned heel toward the end of her reign.

In December 2012, Torres asked to be released from WWE so she could focus on her life outside of professional wrestling.

She loved being an instructor for the Gracie Women Empowered self-defense program. In addition to helping empower other women and teach them how to hold their own, Torres practices Jiu-Jitsu with her now-husband Rener Gracie and gave birth to her first son, a boy named Raeven.

10 Vickie Guerrero (Medical Administration)

This villainous manager monster first entered the WWE alongside her husband Eddie Guerrero. Her place in the promotion changed shortly following Eddie’s tragic death in November 2005. Less than a year after his passing, Vickie started to appear more often on WWE. She placed herself in the middle of some heavy feuds and managed several wrestlers. Overtime, Vickie became the Interim General Manager of SmackDown! and Raw. She was proposed to by Edge and played out several major injuries. Vickie’s popularity was always up and down with fans; she was the villain everyone loved to hate.

In 2014, Vickie parted ways with the WWE to begin her new life in medical administration.

A year later, after mourning Eddie’s death for a long time, Vickie wed her boyfriend, Kris Benson and took on Benson as her new last name. She continues to make the occasional appearance on WWE.

9 Spike Dudley (Financial Planner)

Little Spike Dudley, born Matthew Hyson, is best known for his role in wrestling’s Dudley Family. Spike was the notable runt of the family, always appearing in a spaced out state wearing tie-dyed shirts and goofy overalls while wrestling with ECW. After ECW folded in 2001, Spike signed on with WWE along with his “half-brothers” Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley. His feuds usually circled around what the Dudley Boyz were doing at the time. In 2005, Hyson was released from the WWE in over possible financial reasons. He continued wrestling in the independent scene and with TNA until he met his wife.

Hyson now spends much of his time with his wife and their two children working as a financial planner for MassMutual.

He wishes to use his rewarding career to give back to other professional wrestlers and help them plan out their future after wrestling ends.

8 Hardcore Holly (Working On Cars)

Robert Howard, best known by his ring name Hardcore Holly spent much of his wrestling career with the WWF. He first debuted into professional wrestling within independent promotions and made his full-time WWF debut in 1994 as the NASCAR driver named Thurman “Sparky” Plugg. Howard’s wrestling fame grew substantially in 1999 when he remarketed himself as Hardcore Holly. He quickly became recognized as one of the roughest and rudest wrestlers of his time.

Hardcore Holly officially retired from the WWE in January 2009 after 15-years with the promotion. He went forward to continue wrestling in the independent circuit. Howard has written an autobiography called, “The Hardcore Truth: The Bob Holly Story and currently works on virtual cars for the online game iRacing, where he races around virtual NASCAR tracks against people all over the world. He spends his free time with his wife, out in nature, travelling and answering fan questions on Twitter.

7 Diamond Dallas Page (Yoga Instructor)

Three-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) started wrestling in 1988 with the American Wrestling Association. It wasn’t until 1991 that DDP joined WCW and really started gaining fan popularity in professional wrestling. Page first appeared as a manager, but soon entered the ring himself. Page’s excellent ability to market himself to fans and his motivating work ethic boosted him to the top of WCW. Page’s relationships and feuds with other wrestlers, including nWo, helped place DDP on the map. He retired from full-time wrestling in 2005.

Today, wrestling legend Diamond Dallas Page spends his time as one of the greatest Yoga instructors and owns his own business called DDP Yoga.

He developed a fitness plan targeted toward men doing yoga and has several workout books and videos.

6 Eva Marie (Model/Actress)

Natalie Coyle, better known as Eva Marie from WWE, started appearing in WWE in 2013. Shortly after being signed to one of WWE’s developmental contracts, Marie joined their E! Network series Total Divas. After just two weeks of formal training, Marie was put on the main roster and debuted on Raw with bright fiery red hair. During her short time with WWE, she got involved in feuds, turned heel and was the manager of The Bella Twins. In 2017, Marie started really pursuing interests outside of wrestling and the WWE. In July 2017, she left Total Divas and in August 2017, she officially left WWE.

Since leaving wrestling, Marie has been in commercials, on Sports Illustrated, and in several other magazines, including Maxim. She boasts herself as a fitness model and fashion designer. Marie has since broken into the acting world after playing a part in Nicholas Cage’s Inconceivable.

5 CM Punk

CM Punk, born Philip Brooks, is currently a mixed martial artist fighting in the UFC. Before he started fighting for Dana White, though, he made his name with the WWE. CM Punk was an outspoken, anti-establishment, straight edge wrestler. In 2005, Punk signed with one of WWE’s developmental territories called Ohio Valley Wrestling and was moved to WWE’s full-time roster a couple of years later. Over his career, he won multiple championships, including the WWE Championship twice and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship three times. He became the WWE Superstar of the Year in 2011.

In 2014, after huge success, Punk retired from wrestling to pursue his mixed martial arts career path.

His first formal debut in the UFC cage was a disaster, though, causing many to question his career change. However, Punk hasn’t given up yet and will have his second fight this year.

4 Kelly Kelly

Barbara Blank, better known as Barbie Blank or by her ring name Kelly Kelly, captured the hearts of wrestling fans all over the world during her stunning stay with the WWE from 2006 to 2012. Kelly became the youngest Diva on WWE’s roster, at just 19-years-old. Her role in the company started as a member of Extreme Expose, a non-wrestling role. A year after her debut, she entered the ring for the first time. Kelly won her first Divas Championship in 2011 against Brie Bella.

In 2012, Kelly left the WWE to recover from a neck injury and begin her career as a model. She has appeared on reality shows, including WAGS and made her acting debut on the soap opera Days of Our Lives in 2017. Kelly has largely stayed away from wrestling, but she did reappear for the first ever women’s Royal Rumble match in January 2018.

3 AJ Lee

April Mendez actively wrestled with the WWE, as AJ Lee, for six years before retiring in 2015. Mendez started wrestling in independent promotions in 2007 and signed with the WWE in 2009. After she was promoted to the WWE’s main roster, Mendez started growing in popularity with her “mentally unstable” character. She won the Divas Championship three times during her career and held onto the title for 406 days! She was voted Woman of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated from 2012 to 2014.

Her decision to leave the WWE in 2015 came after she discovered she had suffered permanent damage to her cervical spine. Mendez also left to support her husband and former wrestler CM Punk in his new life endeavors. Today, Mendez spends her time writing books and now possibly producing a television show based on her book “Crazy is my Superpower.”

2 Snitsky (Bodybuilder)

Gene Snitsky is notorious for kicking babies into crowds and crying out it wasn’t his fault. Snitsky’s first WWE appearance in 2004 was in a match against Kane, who at the time was linked with the “pregnant” Lita. In a disastrous turn of events, Snitsky caused Kane to fall on top of Lita, resulting in Lita miscarrying the baby. A few years later, Snitsky became a grotesque heel with a crusted yellow snarl. In 2008, he requested to be released from his WWE contract.

Since leaving the WWE, Snitsky dabbled in a few different professions.

He became a small-time actor, he was the face of Tristar Products’ Power Pressure Cooker XL and was even the security guard for New York Yankee’s Alex Rodriguez for a short time. Snitsky is currently still a major beast and is making his way back into the wrestling universe, holding the occasional match on the independent circuit.

1 Virgil

Michael Jones, best known by his ring name Virgil, has struggled with life after trying to leave behind wrestling. Much of Jones’ fame comes from his character Virgil, bodyguard to “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. Virgil’s role consisted of carrying DiBiase’s money for him and taking the beating from DiBiase’s enemies. He joined WCW in 1996 as Vincent, member of the nWo. He departed from wrestling 2000 and became a high school math teacher. However, he continued to make many appearances in the independent circuit.

After falling out of the wrestling spotlight, Jones started selling autographs in subway stations and at conventions. Due to his lack of fan following, the meme called Lonely Vigil was born, showing him at conventions with no one lining up to see him. He then created a GoFundMe campaign to help make him a millionaire, but since 2015, it’s only raised about $1,100.