Before any aspiring wrestler hits the big time, almost all of them go to wrestling school and traverse the world in the independents. One of those schools is in Louisville, Kentucky. A small independent wrestling promotion, Ohio Valley Wrestling has been running pretty strong for nearly thirty years now. Originally founded by Nightmare Danny Davis, the school has seen all sorts of big names roll through all sorts of various point in their careers. The company, now owned and operated by Al Snow, and how it’s run has made superstars out of notable alumni from all over the world.

Related: 10 Wrestlers You Forgot Held Championships In The Attitude Era

At one point, OVW was a WWE developmental territory being run by Jim Cornette and later Paul Heyman. The two sides of the same wrestling coin have helped cultivate a massive amount of the wrestling landscape over their careers. Both of their stints in OVW were no different. The mythical 2002 class, CM Punk, Abyss, the Boogeyman, and countless more wrestlers, OVW has been one of the best finishing schools around. Now as an Impact developmental territory, Al Snow has partnered up with a nearby boxing school to form the Gladiator Sports Network and has gotten accreditation with the Kentucky Board Of Education. Here are the 10 best WWE Wrestlers To Come From OVW.

UPDATE: 2023/10/19 07:30 EST BY ETHAN SCHLABAUGH

For the decade-long run that Ohio Valley Wrestling had as the developmental program for young up-and-coming wrestlers to make their way to the WWE's main roster, the promotion produced countless stars that later became champions. Many fans of course know about the famous 2002 class, but some might not know of other talents like the many different Women's Champions that graduated from the promotion or the larger-than-life wrestlers that later became WWE Champions. Here are a few extra names that graduated from Ohio Valley Wrestling and became some of the best in the WWE.

14 Bobby Lashley

13 Bobby-Lashley-in-OVW

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

WWE Champion Intercontinental Champion United States Champion

July 16th, 1976

47

Bobby Lashley made his way to Ohio Valley Wrestling in early 2005 under the name Blaster Lashley (thankfully that name didn't stick). His tenure with the developmental territory wasn't long as by mid-2005, Lashley already started making appearances on live events for the main roster and officially made his debut on SmackDown in September that year.

Lashley never captured any championships during his short run but was made to look strong beating names such as Kevin Thorn, Elijah Burke, and Mickie James of all people. Speaking of that last name.

12 Mickie James

Mickie-James-OVW

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

Women's Champion Divas Champion

August 31st, 1979

44

Mickie James had already started her wrestling career in promotions such as ECW and Total Nonstop Action by the time she arrived in OVW. Her time with those previous two promotions was short lasting about a year each but did enough to grant her a chance with the WWE.

James wrestled mostly tag matches during her first year in OVW but soon started beating names like Jillian Hall and even competed in a Television Title tournament where she made it to the second round against Blaster Lashley.

11 Drew McIntyre

Drew-McIntyre-OVW

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

WWE Champion Intercontinental Champion NXT Champion

June 6th, 1985

38

Much like Mickie James before him, Drew McIntyre already had found work in other places years before he started working with OVW. McIntyre, under his real name Drew Galloway, captured multiple titles in Irish Whip Wrestling, the promotion where a rivalry against an orange-haired Irish man came to be.

McIntyre was a part of the final crop of wrestlers to work in the WWE development version of OVW before the two promotions parted ways and WWE created Florida Championship Wrestling. McIntyre's most notable thing to come from his time in OVW was his tag team with a young Wade Barrett known as the Brit Pack.

10 Brock Lesnar

Brock-Lesnar-OVW

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

WWE Champion Universal Champion Two Time Royal Rumble Winner

July 12th, 1977

46

Fans all across the WWE universe have their opinion of Brock Lesnar. But underneath all the negativity, every fan also knows what an unmerciful monster the guy is. After dominating the NCAA circuit, he was lured into the WWE and promptly sent to OVW. As part of the most successful graduating class in OVW history (2002), Lesnar refined his skills here to add to his brute strength.

Now Lesnar has become the greatest example of a "final boss" in WWE with names like Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins having to best the beast to become top-level stars in WWE.

9 Shelton Benjamin

Shelton-Benjamin-and-Brock-Lesnar-OVW

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

United States Champion Intercontinental Champion Raw Tag Team Champion

July 9th, 1975

48

For whatever the reason, Shelton Benjamin has yet to achieve the incredible success of the rest of his 2002 class, but someone has to bring up the rear. However, Shelton Benjamin is far better than his resume suggests. Along with Lesnar in OVW, the duo formed the Minnesota Stretching Crew and won the tag team championships on three separate occasions.

Since graduating OVW, Benjamin has been one of the most underrated wrestlers in WWE despite finding a fair bit of success as a singles star and tag team wrestler.

RELATED: Every Major Star Wrestler From The OVW Class Of 2002, Ranked Worst To Best

8 John Cena

John-Cena-OVW

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

WWE Champion World Heavyweight Champion United States Champion

April 23rd, 1977

46

As one of the few true megastars left in the company, John Cena got his start in OVW. Before becoming the Dr. of Thuganomics, or the multicolored Never Give Up guy, Cena worked in OVW as the Prototype. The persona was a “robotic terminator” type of character. While it wasn’t much, plenty of people admired Cena’s work ethic and desire to be at the top that those people took him onset their wing and got him the breaks he needed.

Cena's resume now speaks for itself as he has held countless World Championships and was the main-event of multiple WrestleMania events. Cena sits as one of the most recognizable names in the history of the sport.

7 Randy Orton

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

WWE Champion World Heavyweight Champion Intercontinental Champion

April 1st, 1980

43

JBL used to always proclaim “if you built a sports entertainer from the ground up, he’d look like Randy Orton.” The company’s second-ever third-generation star is nearly as good as their first, just in very different ways.

Orton is as old-school calculating of a heel as they come. With the advent of social media, he’s gotten even better since his meticulous style doesn't allow much room for flips. But the supposed pundits aren’t paying close enough attention - there’s a reason Orton is always at the top of his game. He’s every bit as good as someone of his pedigree should be.

6 Batista

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

World Heavyweight Champion WWE Champion World Tag Team Champion

January 18th, 1969

54

The guy who was “just the muscle” of Evolution wound up becoming one of the most successful graduates of OVW inside and outside the ring. As the Demon Of The Deep, Leviathan - Batista was every bit the monster that Jim Cornette booked him to be.

His WWE career started small as Devon Dudley’s heater. Evolution took off and Batista with it, eventually becoming one of the biggest babyfaces of the past decade or so. Even now as one of the up-and-coming action stars, Big Dave is proving why he should never be underestimated.

5 CM Punk

CM-Punk-Holding-The-OVW-Championship

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

WWE Champion World Heavyweight Champion ECW World Heavyweight Champion

October 26, 1978

44

Before he decided life in the WWE wasn’t for him, CM Punk was one of the most beloved and respected wrestlers in the world. Before the current indie craze sweeping the industry, he was the last “King Of The Indies.”

When CM Punk was signed by WWE, plenty of fans were happy for him, and several people expected him to jump over developmental and head straight for the main roster. When that didn’t happen, Punk got to work with Paul Heyman and learn the production side of the industry. The education led to a friendship that helped Punk get to the main roster and eventually work with Heyman on top as well.

RELATED: NXT vs. OVW: Which Is Truly WWE's Best Developmental Brand?

4 Eugene

Eugene

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

10 Time OVW Heavyweight Champion World Tag Team Champion 11 Time OVW Southern Tag Team Champion

December 17th, 1975

47

While some fans might think the “slow” ordeal was in poor taste, the idea of a mega-fan becoming a WWE Superstar was surprisingly something that hadn’t ever been done before.

Nick Dinsmore was talented enough of a hand to pull it off with or without using the Eugene character. After his brief but memorable stint on Raw, Dinsmore became a trainer, not just for NXT, but for his own promotion in South Dakota.

3 Beth Phoenix

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

Women's Champion Divas Champion WWE Hall Of Famer

November 24th, 1980

42

The Glamazon, unfortunately, got her start a few years too late and a few years too early. The best female worker of the Divas Era, she would have given any of this current crop of ladies a run for their money. She did make the most of her time though.

A former Women’s and Divas champion, she was also part of the comedy duo Glamarella and the tag team with Natalya - The Divas Of Doom. It all led up to her becoming a Hall Of Fame Inductee in 2017, subsequently making her and Edge the first-ever husband and wife duo to become Hall Of Famers.

2 Kofi Kingston

Kofi-Kingston-Deep-South-Wrestling-1

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

WWE Champion Raw Tag Team Champion SmackDown Tag Team Champion

August 14th, 1981

42

It didn’t take long for the dread-locked dynamo to get signed by WWE developmental. He was in Chaotic barely a year before getting signed to OVW. It was another year before he got to ECW.

Most fans appreciated what Kofi and the New Day has done over the years. But it was at last year’s Elimination Chamber that the entire WWE Universe believed that Kofi could and should be the WWE Champion.

1 The Miz

WWE Accomplishments

Date Of Birth

Age

WWE Champion Intercontinental Champion Mr. Money In The Bank

October 8th, 1980

43

The transformation of the Miz is proof that a great work ethic will win just about anybody over. Despite naysayers thinking he’s just a Reality TV star looking for a payday, he got his start in California’s UPW before getting signed to OVW.

It wasn’t necessarily a straight shot to the top of the card, but once he earned the respect from his peers, he has not only become one of the company’s top stars, he also garnered the respect of the fans, who now cheer for him as a fan favorite.