10 MORE 'Before They Were Famous' WWE Cameos You Won't Believe

4. Drake Younger (Bullied Backstage Staffer)

Ryback Drake
WWE

Cult favourite perma-tanned and ripped referee Drake Younger traded a light tubes for striped shirts when he made the move to WWE in 2014.

It parked a celebrated independent deathmatch career but likely added years to his career in such a physical environment, but thanks to a need for smaller-statured folk during one of Ryback's final pushes in 2013, he still took bumps as an extra in what served as a tryout audition before he became so familiar on screen.

August 2013 saw the once-undefeated musclehead slumping hard following a post-WrestleMania heel turn, with his anger often emerging at the expense of those that didn't stand a chance against him. Cutting his own promo short during an edition of SmackDown, Ryback caught a glimpse of the unnamed Younger apparently eyeballing him a little too long for his liking.

The former Skip Sheffield smashed the future man in the middle all over the backstage area as if he was exorcising some sort of Nexus demon, though the vignette ultimately did more developmentally for the smaller man than 'The Big Guy'.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett