7 Second Generation Superstars Who Will Surpass Their Parents
It's in the blood
There's very little middle ground for a second (or third) generation wrestler. And even less quarter given to them by those not born into the business.
If they make it, it's only because they were given a free queue-jumper into the industry. If they don't, it's because they couldn't hold a candle to their parent and were stupid to even try.
Many are tragically earmarked as wrestlers from birth, shortly before it becomes the death of them. The heartbreaking toll taken on the Von Erich family sees a mortality rate expedited by lives lived exclusively through the prism of professional wrestling. Surviving sibling Kevin remains an outlier amongst brothers who were either too good or not good enough to work in the family trade.
Drug-related deaths and suicides brought about impossibly dark days, and yet a third branch of the tree has entered the fray perhaps driven by a determination to shore up a legacy littered with loss.
A fabled surname or familiar familial face can be an unshakable albatross, but on the rare occasions performers excel beyond the limitations of their folks, the results are spectacular.
The Rock, Bret Hart, Eddie Guerrero and select others entered galaxies of superstardom that their fathers couldn't have ever even imagined. 'The Million Dollar Man' Ted Dibiase out-performed his mother, father and sons.
Today's new breed can look to these as inspirational figures as they work to claim a name as their own. The success stories are substantially sweeter than often-fatal failures.
7. Paige
The youngest of Patrick 'Ricky Knight' Bevis and Julia 'Sweet Saraya' Hamer-Bevis' four children, Paige was the third to get into professional wrestling but the only one to make it as a "WWE Superstar."
Her entry into the company was captured on a 2012 Channel 4 feature on the Knights. The magnificent 'Fighting With My Family' chronicled her tryout (alongside the failed one of brother Roy) against the backdrop of the family's extensive involvement in British wrestling over the prior two decades.
The clan had clung on through the industry's peaks and troughs, but Paige's journey from the social clubs and holiday camps to the very highest level was presumably a wildest dreams scenario for her proud parents. Even as a 25-year-old retiree hoofed to a General Manager's role by virtue of her neck injuries, Paige's legacy exists on another planet to that of her battle-worn parents.
Their story was deemed strong enough for The Rock and Stephen Merchant to take to Hollywood - but it required Paige's (sort-of) happy ending for a suitably cinematic conclusion.