It’s sad, but every single pro wrestler has a limited window in their career for in-ring competition, and eventually must transition out of performing. That isn’t necessarily the end of their contributions to the world of wrestling however, as any performer with the right mind can become a trainer and share their decades of wisdom with up-and-comers, who in turn can potentially use the knowledge gained from their teachers to become successes.
This is a practice that’s been going on for decades, and many well-known wrestlers have had trainers that were also big stars in their own time. Let’s take a look at various wrestlers form WWE, AEW, Impact, New Japan, and the indies who learned the game from surprising legends.
10 Dustin Rhodes (Trained by Skandor Ackbar)
The son of the legendary Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes -- a legend in his own right at this point -- got training from his father, as to be expected. But as someone who came up in the Texas wrestling scene, Rhodes also got training from another big name in pro wrestling: Skandor Ackbar, a heel wrestler turned legendary heel manager in the 1970s and 1980s Texas scene. Rhodes isn’t the only wrestler whose training Ackbar had a hand in -- he also trained former NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon.
9 Sami Zayn (Trained by Savio Vega)
Like his partner/best friend/blood rival Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn got his start as a young man in Canada, wrestling for Quebec’s International Wrestling Syndicate in some of his earliest matches before moving on to other indie promotions. One of his trainers was Jerry Tuite, otherwise known as The Wall in WCW and Malice in Impact Wrestling, but the other is a legend well-known to WWE fans: Puerto Rican star Savio Vega, who wrestled for that company from 1994 to 1999.
8 Taiji Ishimori (Trained by Ultimo Dragon)
Before debuting as a full-time member of the New Japan Pro-Wrestling roster in 2018, Bullet Club member Taiji Ishimori was best known as one of the pillars of the Junior Heavyweight division in Pro Wrestling NOAH, having put on great matches with Daniel Bryan, KENTA, and Jushin Thunder Liger. But his initial training came at the hands of legendary masked icon Ultimo Dragon in Mexico.
Ishimori was part of Dragon’s Toryumon wrestling school in 2002, a fact that may surprise many fans because Toryumon’s big claim to fame was its first-year class, most of whom formed the original roster of Dragon Gate Pro-Wrestling.
7 Davey Richards (Trained by Paul Orndorff)
A five-time Impact Tag Team Champion, former ROH World Champion and one-half of The American Wolves with Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards has a background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai in addition to learning pro wrestling in the Pacific Northwest. But another aspect of his in-ring education may surprise fans, because Richards also got training from “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, who retired in 2000. Richards has credited Orndorff for teaching him a lot of the basics and fundamentals in pro wrestling.
6 Steve Austin (Trained by Chris Adams)
Many fans know that Steve Austin’s career didn’t begin with WWE, but some might not know that before his stints with WCW and ECW he got his start with Texas area promotion World Class Championship Wrestling. Originally debuting under his real name of Steve Williams, Austin got training from WCCW star “Gentleman” Chris Adams, a big star for the company who famously feuded with the Von Erichs alongside Gino Hernandez. However, his biggest contribution to wrestling was innovating the Superkick.
5 Chris Dickinson (Trained by Harley Race and Ricky Steamboat)
The legendary Harley Race was known in his post-retirement years for running Harley Race’s Wrestling Academy, a school that produced at least one hard-hitting bruiser in the form of Trevor Murdoch. A young Chris Dickinson enrolled in the school in the hopes of getting an opportunity with Pro Wrestling NOAH via the Academy’s working relationship and ended up learning a lot of finer points from Ricky Steamboat that he considered crucial for improving his in-ring skills. Since then, Dickinson has earned a lot of buzz with fans thanks to work with Game Changer Wrestling and New Japan.
4 Ricky Steamboat (Trained by Verne Gagne and The Iron Sheik)
So many of the wrestlers fans consider legends today are active in training modern stars that it’s easy to forget that those veterans also had to be trained at some point as well. And sometimes those old wrestlers were in turn trained by other legends! A great example is Ricky Steamboat, one of wrestling’s greatest pure babyfaces who put on classics with Randy Savage and Ric Flair.
Steamboat initially debuted in the mid-1970s for the Midwest promotion American Wrestling Association, where he was trained by owner/booker Verne Gagne as well as legendary heel The Iron Sheik.
3 KENTA (Trained by Kenta Kobashi)
Now a member of the New Japan Pro-Wrestling roster, KENTA earned his notoriety performing for Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he’s a three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion and a former GHC Heavyweight Champion. Before languishing in WWE, KENTA was considered among the best wrestlers in the world, and also had the most auspicious trainer behind him: Kenta Kobashi. More than just a namesake, Kobashi is one of the biggest stars of 1990s Japanese pro wrestling, deemed one-quarter of “Four Pillars of Heaven” that defined All Japan Pro Wrestling.
2 Tommaso Ciampa (Trained by Killer Kowalski)
For many mainstream wrestling fans, NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa likely came upon their radars around the time he started appearing on NXT television in 2015, if not a couple of years before in Ring of Honor. However, Ciampa actually made his debut in 2005 wrestling in the Massachusetts area, where he got his training from none other than Killer Kowalski. A major heel before his 1977 retirement, Kowalski is famous for training a number of wrestlers, including Triple H, who coincidentally runs NXT.
1 Christian Cage (Trained by Dory Funk Jr.)
A star in WWE and Impact Wrestling, the recently un-retired Christian Cage got his start way back in 1994, wrestling on the indies alongside his tag team partner Edge, then wrestling as “Adam Impact.” Once Edge signed to WWE in 1997, he pulled some strings and scored Christian a stint at former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk Jr.’s training camp, which earned him a WWE contract himself. By September of 1998, Christian had debuted on television as Edge’s kayfabe brother -- and also a vampire.