10 Wrestlers Who Secretly Changed WWE History
From inventing popular moves to causing ripple effects, these ten wrestlers all changed history.
In discussions about the grand history of WWE, the same names tend to come up time and time again. Hulk Hogan, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, John Cena, Yoshi Tatsu. Ok, one of those names was a joke. Everybody knows that Cena was overrated.
What's far more interesting is the list of grapplers who had subtle, but far-reaching effects on the business. None of them were ever serious main eventers. Some of them barely made it out of the undercard. However, their impact can still be felt to this very day.
Some of these wrestlers pioneered techniques that future superstars would make use of, while others caused unintentional butterfly effects that led to some of the greatest moments WWE has ever seen. Whatever they did, they rarely ever get the credit for it. Until now that is!
While you could probably argue that some of these innovations would have happened regardless, the point still stands that these guys and gals were the people in the right place at the right time. Not everybody can be a Hall of Famer, but that doesn't mean you can't still play your part.
10. Colt Cabana
Nowadays, wrestling is about so much more than wrestling. If you want to get anywhere in this business, you need to know how to market yourself online. Every day, a wrestler will turn up on a podcast or in a TikTok or one of the other myriad forms of content that populate the web.
One of the first wrestlers to embrace this 'side hustle culture' was current AEW star Colt Cabana. Through his podcast, The Art of Wrestling, Cabana made a name for himself outside of the ring. He connected with an audience who might not have known who he was otherwise, bringing them with him to view his work in Ring of Honor and the wider independent circuit.
Cabana laid the groundwork for so many wrestler working today, including The Young Bucks, Xavier Woods, and Joe Hendry.
Matt Cardona, then known as Zack Ryder, could have also taken this slot, as he was also one of the first wrestlers to utilise the Internet to its full potential. However, Cabana did so outside of the WWE bubble, which is that bit more impressive.