It's always exciting for fans to see wrestling become a family business. Although the McMahons are usually considered the royal family of wrestling, there are plenty of wrestling families who have achieved a ton of success in the WWE and the wrestling world in general. For example, current WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos are famously the kids of Rikishi, while the current NXT Champion Bron Breakker is the son of Rick Steiner.
Having a parent who is a wrestling star doesn't guarantee success in WWE, but it does guarantee a shadow over your career. Not every wrestler can escape the massive shadow and some of them even wound up getting completely covered their entire career. This list will examine five wrestlers who were able to shake the huge shadow associated with their wrestling parents and five who were not.
10 Lived In Their Parent's Shadow: Curtis Axel
Not even Paul Heyman was able to help Curtis Axel become a huge superstar in the WWE. Unlike his father, Axel's time on the WWE main roster was far from perfect. He was also unable to expand on the Hennig name as a wrestler.
Nepotism is always tricky, but it really harmed Curtis Axel. It seemed most of the time the only way to justify his presence was that he was the son of a legend. Fans were distracted that someone with such limited skill as Axel was so frequently on television. His time in WWE didn't last long and it probably would have never happened at all if it hadn't been for his father.
9 Successfully Stepped Out: Randy Orton
When WWE fans hear the name "Orton" they rarely think of "Cowboy" Bob Orton. That's not to say Bob Orton didn't have a great wrestling career but few WWE wrestlers have ever had a career like Randy Orton. His initial push in the company was so focused on killing legends he was never forced to stay in the shadow of the legend that is his father.
He went on to become one of the biggest stars in the history of the WWE and one of the top heels of the past two decades. To say he expanded upon his father's legacy is a massive understatement.
8 Lived In Their Parent's Shadow: Ted DiBiase Jr.
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase is one of the greatest of all time. His legacy paved a golden road for Ted DiBiase Jr. which was always going to be difficult to live up to. Ted DiBiase Jr. never lived up to the hype of his father but what makes his case the most interesting is that the WWE tried hard to make him a big star.
There are so many intangibles that he lacked as a wrestler and on the microphone that limited his ceiling. If it not for his father, DiBiase Jr. might be better remembered as a mid-card wrestler that came and went instead of a wrestler who lived in the shadow of his father.
7 Successfully Stepped Out: Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt's return to WWE has many fans excited. He's one of the most creative wrestlers to ever be given a platform in WWE and has begun to create a legacy that appears to be long-lasting in WWE. Not many fans know that Wyatt is actually the son of a WWE wrestler.
Mike Rotunda, Wyatt's father, wrestled for the WWE in the 90s and became a 5-time WWE tag team champion. Although he had a great wrestling career, few wrestlers in WWE have had the success that compares to the run his son, Bray Wyatt, has had at the company.
6 Lived In Their Parent's Shadow: David Sammartino
Bruno Sammartino held the WWE Championship for over 2800 days. He's the longest reigning WWE Champion of all time and it seems more and more like he holds a record that will never be broken.
David Sammartino started wrestling for WWE in the '80s. He received a big push next to his father, Bruno was even voted PWI's Rookie of the Year in 1984. Once he started to branch out by himself and try to have a solo career away from his father everything seemed to quickly fall apart. He ended up spending a little over a year with the company and could never escape the shadow of his father during his short run.
5 Successfully Stepped Out: The Rock
The Rock is one of the most well-known wrestlers in the entire world. His career has a shaky start but he ended up at the top of WWE by the time he left. His father, Rocky Johnson, made a name for himself in WWE as well, but never reached or could have even imagined the heights his son would see.
There's an entire TV show on NBC called Young Rock that is essentially the story of Dwayne Johnson escaping and then excelling beyond the shadow of his father.
4 Lived In Their Parent's Shadow: Jake Carter
Jake Carter spent most of his career in WWE developmental and NXT. The fact that he was never able to become a main roster superstar speaks a ton about his inability to catch on both on the mic and in the ring. He was also never able to escape the shadow of his father, Vader.
Although Carter at times showed promise, fans often seemed very eager to see how similar Vader and Carter would be instead of giving Jake his own fair shot as a wrestler. At the end of the day, it's fair to say that Jake Carter was an average wrestler who was unable to catch on with the same success of his father.
3 Successfully Stepped Out: Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns has been the top guy in WWE for quite some time. Sika, Roman's father, is a WWE Hall of Famer in his own right and paved a great path forward for Roman. He also had a shadow that Roman for a long time couldn't escape. It's not that he wasn't trying either. It's that he was being shoved down fans' throats and was immensely hated by them.
With a family as tied to wrestling as his, it seemed success would be inevitable and it's finally happened for Roman. The road has been beyond bumpy for Roman but it is fair to say that he has escaped the legacy of his own father to build a legacy of his own.
2 Lived In Their Parent's Shadow: Charlotte Flair
Just because a wrestler is successful, does not mean that they've been able to escape the shadow of their parents. Charlotte Flair is a perfect example of someone who lives completely in the shadow of her father. For better or worse, every aspect of Charlotte's existence revolves around her father, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair.
Paying homage to your father is one thing, but Charlotte is nothing more than a carbon copy of one of the greatest stars to ever live. No matter what height she sees in her career moving forward, at this point, it's hard to argue that her whole career doesn't revolve around Ric Flair. In turn, it's also hard to argue that she's escaped the shadow that she stepped into when she began to wrestle in the WWE.
1 Successfully Stepped Out: Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes's return to WWE was short-lived due to injury. The future seems very bright for Cody, and it's fair to say that he's escaped the shadow of his father, Dusty Rhodes. Before he departed from the WWE in 2016, an argument could be made that Rhodes was unable to expand upon his last name in WWE.
Since helping AEW become an established company and his success in the indies, Cody has paved his own legacy in the world of wrestling. His return to the WWE was also absolutely monumental. Those actions have helped him become a name that stands alone despite the legend of his father.