As much as your friend who only watches NFL, NBA or NHL wants you to believe otherwise, pro wrestling has a lot in common with competitive sports despite it’s being a television show of a staged sports tournament. In football, when a club wants to sign a player who's contracted to another club, they first establish contact with the player's club to inquire about his availability. If the transfer discussions get concrete, the clubs will begin discussing a compensation for the player. Depending on the quality of the player and the length of his current contract, the transfer fee varies.

Pro wrestling, however, works a little differently; it respects contracts, as there haven’t been a lot of instances where a promotion buys out the contract of a wrestler they’re interested in. Even if a big wrestling promotion scouts a talent for a very long time, they wait until their current contract expires before opening discussions with them over a move.

The landscape isn’t going to change either, as pro-wrestling, like many other industries today, thrives on internal recommendations. A wrestler or a non-wrestling employee who’s contracted to or working with a promotion often offers the head honchos footage of a talent they’re related to or know so they can get them hired by their promotion. This practice is one of the chief reasons why a few wrestling families seem to run the business, with the Harts, the McMahons, the Von Erichs, the Ortons, the Colons and the Rhodes essentially running the industry.

The following article looks at 15 real-life family members of current WWE stars Vince McMahon should hire. If you think we’ve left out a more-talented family member of a WWE employee, use the comments’ section on our Facebook or Twitter handle to mention their names.

Honorable mentions: Rachael Ellering (daughter of WWE Legend Paul Ellering) and Reby Sky (wife of Raw Tag Team Champion Woken Matt Hardy)

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15 Gama Singh (Jinder Mahal's Uncle)

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Even though the Internet Wrestling Community may not want to believe it, the unexpected monster push WWE has Jinder Mahal is certain to leave a lasting impression in the minds of the Indian wrestling fans. It's true that they'll only side with Roman Reigns in the event that he and The Modern Day Maharaja ever lock horns, but they definitely seem to revel in knowing that a wrestler of their ethnicity at the top of the WWE food chain. WWE has brought in The Singh Brothers to further the Jinder Mahal character, and it's worked wonders thus far, as the fans are now conditioned to think that a Sunil Singh or Samir Singh interruption followed by a Khallas is enough to beat even the Brock Lesnars and The Undertakers of the company today. However, as pro-wrestling fans are known to get sick of shticks quick, they must have a backup plan to keep the character played by Canadian wrestler Yuvraj Singh Dhesi fresh.

Luckily, WWE have an Indian Paul Ellering or Bob Backlund figure in Gama Singh, who claims to be what Hulk Hogan was to the United States to the rest of the world. The Stampede Wrestling legend, who's the uncle of the former WWE Champion and United States Champion, is currently working with Impact Wrestling, spearheading a stable of Indian wrestlers, Desi Hit Squad, but we believe it won't need a lot of convincing to make him leave Impact Wrestling to work a program with his nephew. WWE should sign him sooner than later, as Desi Hit Squad is yet to make their formal Impact Wrestling television debut.

14 Rory Gulak (Drew Gulak's Brother)

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The WWE Universe has recently unanimously come to a conclusion that Enzo Amore was who made Drew Gulak relevant. While there's some truth to the statement — The Certified G definitely did bring eyes to 205 Live wrestler — one needs to acknowledge the fact that he, a CZW stalwart, did all the field work. Prior to signing as a contestant for Cruiserweight Classic, he was a CZW mainstay, who essentially grew up watching CZW. He didn't just buy tickets to the CZW shows, as he essentially found himself involved in a few backstage things such as setting up the ring and selling tickets. However, he wasn't always the most popular Gulak in CZW at any point, for it was his brother Rory Gulak.

While he debuted for CZW much earlier than his younger brother did, his younger brother was more popular, as he found himself embroiled in a few storylines, especially with CZW legend Nick Mondo, as a potty-mouthed kid.

The Gulaks formed The Amazing Gulaks and, although they didn't have a lot of success, the younger Gulak, who now still toils on the indies seems talented enough to one day be in contention to earn a WWE call-up. However, given the fact that The Submission King of Philadelphia is now red-hot, brining his brother in as his tag-team partner will not only add more depth to 205 Live but also add to Raw's depleted tag-team division.

13 Shaul Guerrero (Eddie Guerrero's Daughter, Aiden English's Wife)

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Ric Flair's got Charlotte Flair. Scott Hall's got Cody Hall. Dusty Rhodes' got Cody Rhodes. Rey Mysterio's son Dominic Mysterio is receiving pro-wrestling training. Chris Benoit's son David Benoit has been dabbling in the business for some time now. None of Eddie Guerrero's kids, however, sadly, aren't active in the wrestling industry today. However, the likelihood of one of his kids' working with WWE isn't low. In fact, his daughter, Shaul Guerrero, had a four-year run with WWE under ring name Raquel Diaz. It's likely that WWE, who have milked every dead wrestler's legacy as much as they could, were only waiting to see if she's talented enough to carry the Guerrero legacy, but she decided not to wait longer, as she called time on her wrestling career, shortly after leaving NXT in 2014. However, her career going nowhere wasn't the only reason, as 2014 also marked the year in which she was engaged to current SmackDown Live superstar Aiden English.

The couple got married two years later, in 2016 and have had a happy marriage, if their Instagram posts are anything to go by. She recently had her first wrestling gig in a long time when did commentary for a Reality of Wrestling event. With WWE looking to end Rusev Day, she can play the opposite of Lana in a mixed feud. Vince McMahon can finally cash in on the Latino Heat's legacy in the most organic ilk if he does sign her.

12 Carlito (Primo & Epico's Cousin)

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We discussed in a recent article that The Colons will probably be sent packing in the coming months, but we also realize that the Primo Colon and Epico Colon are easily one of the most talented tag teams not just in WWE but in any wrestling promotion today. However, the fact that WWE have booked them poorly since their main roster debut means there's no coming back. All hope is not lost, however. WWE still have a chance to not just make The Colons relevant again but also make them at least as big as Titus Worldwide. For whatever reason, they haven't exercised their ability to do that again, but we think that will have the Internet Wrestling World buzzing at least for a few weeks until they turn on them. Carly Colon, who was known only as Carlito during his WWE run, as his second name suggests is related to Primo and Epico, and WWE's bringing in Carlito as a manager-wrestler figure will definitely make the fans care about The Colons once again.

Carlito has been struggling to fill even gymnasiums, but he, who's worked with Netflix show GLOW, is one of those rare talents that casual audience find intriguing more than the hardcore fan base does. Here's hoping we see cocky Carlito spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool.

11 Amazing Red (Zelina Vega's Cousin)

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One of the few top-class wrestlers from Daniel Bryan's batch to have never had a sniff of WWE is Amazing Red. Aged 36, he's won numerous titles with major indie promotions, including ROH World Tag Team Championship and NWA World Tag Team Championship with AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn, respectively. Besides being a tag team specialist, he's also won a few major singles titles, including TNA's X Division Championship three times. He, a former TNA regular, has also wrestled extensively for ROH Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling and International Wrestling Association.

After failing to impress the WWE head honchos in a 2012 tryout match, he started his own wrestling school and promotion named House of Glory, where's he the reigning HOG World Heavyweight Champion.

He may not have had as illustrious a career as some of the guys he's teamed up with or went up against, but he definitely will be a welcome addition to 205 Live or NXT given the wealth of experience as a wrestler and trainer that he brings with him.

Being Zelina Vega's cousin, he can also be the Mexican's understudy should he ever need one. There are definitely better wrestlers and trainers out there but, if Cien's valet is as good as she's on the mic in front of the camera in the WWE offices, she can get her cousin a role in WWE while he can still go in the ring.

10 Cody Rhodes (Goldust's Brother)

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Cody Rhodes has been a revelation since leaving WWE. While he hasn’t been exceptional in the ring, much like his father Dusty Rhodes in his heyday, his character work has placed him among the world’s best wrestlers today. His immediately being picked up by Bullet Club, who are easily the most entertaining characters on the indies, shortly after his WWE release tells you that his post-WWE career is unlike that any wrestler before him. He hasn’t just earned the respect of the fans for leaving his comfort zone to invent himself, for he’s also earned the appraisal of wrestling promoters, with Global Force Wrestling, Defiant Wrestling and ROH Wrestling booking him to win major titles with him. However, he’s done his best work not in the United States but in Japan, where he’s locked horns with Kazuchika Okada, Michael Elgin, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi and Jay White, among other big names.

His brother, Goldust, on the other hand, has been featured moderately on WWE television, with his working with Mandy Rose in recent Facebook-hit Mixed Match Challenge drawing plaudits from viewers. Every wrestling fan loved the Runnels’ runs with the WWE Tag Team Championship, and it’s about time Vince McMahon and co. brought him back to hand Goldust one final run as a tag team wrestler with his brother before he gets into WWE production. The American Nightmare, once the program with his brother ends, can evolve into a major main event name himself.

9 Sarah Backman (Bo Dallas's Wife)

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WWE now doesn’t have a muscular woman who can do what Chyna or Beth Phoenix did to other female talents during their prime. Asuka and Nia Jax are the only destroyers on the roster, but neither looks the part despite their charisma, unfortunately. WWE’s bringing in German wrestler Jazzy Gabert for their inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament produced a positive response from the crowd, but the three herniated discs in her neck means WWE had to rescind the offer they had made for her. WWE’s search for a physically imposing female figure has since been on, but WWE have had little luck. However, they do have a former wrestler from one of the biggest wrestling families ever in the Windhams.

Bo Dallas, a third generation pro-wrestler, married eight-time World Arm Wrestling Champion in Sarah Backman, in June 2014, but their marriage wasn’t one of the rare wrestler-marrying-a-non-wrestler marriages, for they only met when she was working with WWE’s developmental territory, NXT. She only spent 13 months there before requesting a release. Given the dearth of big, muscular women, Vince McMahon should try and convince her come out of her unofficial retirement.

8 Nick Aldis (Mickie James's Husband)

Many eyebrows were raised new-look NWA decided to put their World Championship title on Nick Aldis, who was formerly known as Magnus during his time with Impact Wrestling. Many deemed him a bad choice, especially after Billy Corgan had put the title on an obscure old wrestler, Tim Storm. However, thanks to his recent 20 defenses in 60 days, The Aldis Crusade, he’s established himself as a top indie star. He’s had decent matches against Colt Cabana, James Ellsworth and PJ Black in the recent times and looks better than he’s ever been.

While his career is definitely on the upswing, his wife has definitely had better days as a pro wrestler.

He began dating his wife Mickie James, whom he had met during his time with Impact Wrestling, in 2010. They married in 2015 and have a four-year-old son named Donovan Patrick Aldis together. WWE hasn’t shied away from pairing real-life spouses in the recent times, with Mike Kanellis and Maria Kanellis, The Miz and Maryse, Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano, Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella and Rusev and Lana all working together on WWE television, so one shouldn’t rule out the possibility of the Aldis’ becoming an on-screen couple on WWE.

7 David Hart Smith (Natalya's Cousin)

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Tyson Kidd’s career-threatening injury made the impression that WWE may not ever have another Harts tag team for at least one more generation, but the Harts are a big enough family that we don’t need to wait another 25 years to see men in pink wrestling gear put on wrestling spectacles. Teddy Hart, who then became the youngest wrestler to ever sign a developmental WWE contract in 1998 couldn’t find his breakthrough despite being on WWE’s payroll for three years, allegedly due to attitude problems. A few years later, though, he made his return to the WWE umbrella, signing with FCW, but the WWE officials saw nothing in him that would convince them to promote him to the main roster. He’s since been embroiled in numerous controversial matters, including rape accusations, but he’s done relatively well as a wrestler, wrestling for Dragon Gate, ROH Wrestling and AAA.

"When I was in WWE I lost the passion and when I left WWE, I thought that my career was done,” said his relative Davey Boy Smith Jr., who’s gone on to have an amazing career outside the WWE empire, in 2013. Since his WWE release, he’s gone from strength to strength, working for PWG, Pro Wrestling Noah and most importantly, NJPW, even winning the IWGP Tag Team Championship thrice. Perhaps, it’s time for The Hart Foundation 2.0, featuring two former WWE castoffs, who’re now doing excellently on the indie scene.

6 Sean Maluta (Anoai' Family)

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WWE can never have enough Samoans on the roster. WWE now has Roman Reigns dominating the main event scene while The Usos have essentially been ruling the tag-team division for a long time now. Plus, Nia Jax has now held the Women’s Championship. Additionally, The Rock drops by whenever he wants. However, if they’re looking to add a wrestler from the fabled Anoa’i family to 205 Live, they already have an Anoa’i’s profile on file. Sean Maluta, a 192-pound wrestler, has already wrestled under the WWE umbrella in WWE’s inaugural Cruiserweight Classic tournament. Although he lost his opening match against Japanese wrestling sensation and one-half of Golden Lovers Kota Ibushi, he has made a handful of high-profile matches on 205 Live and NXT, against Drew McIntyre, Tajiri, The Brian Kendrick, TM61, The Singh Brothers, Bobby Roode, Hideo Itami and Velveteen Dream. The fact that he’s only been jobbing primarily shouldn’t concern the Anoa’is fans, for WWE won’t bring back jobbers to have them wrestling big-name wrestlers if they don’t have big plans for them.

The 29-year-old wrestler hasn’t simply been waiting for WWE to call him up, for he’s been earning valuable indie experience, something most of his relatives don’t have, WXW and other well-known indie promotions. In fact, he’s been wrestling on the indies since 2008, sometimes teaming up with fellow WWE alumnus Manu. While Manu’s chances of rejoining WWE is slim, the former CWC contestant will definitely fit in at 205 Live.

5 David Finlay (Fit Finlay's Son)

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Finlay has had an amazing wrestling career but, when you're as good as Finlay is in the ring, you'll have a good career even if you're just as professional as Alberto El Patron. After wrestling extensively on the indies, WCW and WWE, he's now settled for a producer's role in WWE. While he's not an active wrestler, his popularity as a wrestler earns him a place on the list. Well, it's only down to him, for his son, David Finlay has proven to be amazing in the ring as well. Aged only 24, he's already made a name for himself on the indies, being an NJPW mainstay. He's even won the NEVER Openweight Championship once, with Satoshi Kojima and new NXT talent Ricochet, beating The Young Bucks and Adam Cole.

He continues to hone his craft in Japan, and WWE must already be keeping tabs on his development there.

If his father Finlay was to talk to the WWE management, he would find himself wrestling for the McMahons already, but he'll be just another wrestler or worse yet, a 205 Live wrestler if he makes the jump at this point in his career. Perhaps, two or three years down the line, after winning a championship title or two, he'll be ready to make the jump. WWE themselves won't want to try snub a wrestling genius’ son, so one expects Vince McMahon and co. to sign him in the first few years of the next decade.

4 Elliot Sexton (Dakota Kai's Fiance)

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Dakota Kai moved to Orlando, Florida in 2015, after touring the world as an indie performer for nine years, working for World Wonder Ring Stardom, Shimmer Women Athletes and many Australian promotions. She didn’t come to the United States alone, for she brought along her fiance Elliot Sexton. The Australian indie wrestler hasn’t had as much success as his fiance, but his career surely seems to be on the upswing, given his work with Melbourne City Wrestling and NJPW. While he hasn’t been lucky enough to wrestle extensively for NJPW or the other big non-WWE promotions, he definitely seems to boast the skill required to be as big a wrestler as many other indie performers, according to many wrestling enthusiasts.

While the common consensus is that indie performers are smaller than the WWE’s homegrown talents and aren’t good at character building, he seems to have both going for him. Standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing over 250 pounds, he’s just as big as Randy Orton or Roman Reigns. Plus, the quality of his YouTube series Trophy Life is a direct measure of his ability to tell stories and get the fans invested in what he’s doing. That said, he’s not just size and character work, for he’s excellent in the ring as well. Having trained under Booker T and having had a tryout match with WWE, he’s shown that he can actually go in the ring as well.

3 Tama Tonga (Haku's Son)

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I know what you’re thinking. “Merry Christmas Uncle Tonga - enjoy your new truck!” wrote Dwayne Johnson, previously known as The Rock, on Instagram. The Tongans and Samoans have a culture that’s quite different from Americans. They induct people into their families if they find the bond they have is as strong as that of their family’s. The Maivias inducted Haku into their family, and The Rock now calls him uncle and Haku calls The Rock nephew, and that’s good enough reason for Tama Tonga to make this list. For those of you who don’t know, Tama Tonga is the adopted son of King Haku, and he seems to be making waves in Japan, where he’s been a solid midcarder for NJPW for years now. While everyone seems appreciative of what NJPW have done with Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega and Tetsuya Naito in the recent times, not many are happy with how The Bad Boy has been booked.

Vince McMahon definitely knows how to book a Samoan wrestler or a wrestler who has connections with the Samoan families.

Thus, he’ll want to rescue The Bad Boy from the unsavoury hands of NJPW who aren’t putting him on the main roster and make him Roman Reigns 2.0. No wrestling fan will complain if Bad Boy is rocket-strapped to the moon, for he seems to be better than The Big Dog at most things.

“September 2019 the OGs reunite,” wrote The Bad Boy in December 2017, and it got everyone thinking if he’d join WWE, like the other originals Karl Anderson and Finn Balor are wrestling.One expects The Bad Boy to challenge for the Intercontinental Championship if he does join WWE. The mere thought of seeing him hold the white strap makes the writer salivate.

2 Jessie Ward (Tommaso Ciampa)

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I believe we've all now come to a conclusion that Tommaso Ciampa is the DIY wrestler who needs our sympathy. It's now evident that his former tag team partner, Johnny Gargano, essentially tried to turn the fans against The Best Sports Entertainer Of All Time when he launched himself into the LED screen. Now that his plan has failed and the fans see the bearded bald man for who he is, The Best Sports Entertainer Of All Time, he's now devised an age-old backup plan a lot of wrestlers including The Miz and Mike Kanellis have used to get the better of whom he made us believe was his best friend: bringing his wife into the picture. Our bearded brainiac, an expert at mind games, however has already nullified the threat she may impose with a tweet.

"I lived with them for two years," he wrote on Twitter. "I always figured Candice [LeRae] wore the pants in the family since little Johnny clearly did not. I guess I was wrong. Apparently she is just as weak and pathetic as her husband. Please don’t have kids."

However, we feel that his mind games may not quite work when he's outnumbered against an evil Johnny Wrestling and his wife who's beaten numerous male indie wrestlers with the help of Joey Ryan. We strongly believe that Tommy Entertainment must get Triple H to sign his wife, Jessie Ward, who must neutralize his adversary's wife in the event that she tries to blindside him.

1 Ryan Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler's Brother)

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I want you to take a long look at the picture above. You must have figured out who he’s related to. In case you haven’t, it’s Braaaaaaaaaaun Strowman. Kidding! He’s related to Dolph Ziggler. Much like his brother, he’s multi-talented as he labels himself a writer, pro-wrestler, actor, comedian and screamapillar (whatever that means). However, unlike his brother, he isn’t good in the ring, as he was let go by WWE in 2013, after three dull years in Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT. However, unlike most other lesser-talented siblings who leave wrestling for good after being let go by WWE, he’s continued to wrestle on the indies, with his most recent gig seeing him lose two matches in one night, to Taya Valkyrie and Brody King. However, that wasn’t it, for he even also took an Elbow of Disdain from Damien Sandow.

The Nuclear Heat wrestling appearance wasn’t even a one-off, as he has worked with many big names such as Sting, Billy Gunn, Brian Cage and Ken Doane, for House of Hardcore and Bar Wrestling. While he hasn’t been exceptional, his experience must be enough for WWE to give him a second chance. We all know Drew McIntyre will soon decimate The Show Off, so he’ll need someone whom he can really trust: his brother.