10 Wrestling Moments You Didn’t Realise Inspired People To Become Wrestlers

It's been well documented that not every professional wrestler working today dreamt of becoming WWE Champion at a young age. Some were simply roped into the industry off the back of success in another sport and took to it like a duck to water, earning a nice pay cheque in the process.

However, for every Brock Lesnar there's always another individual who instantly fell in love with this wonderfully distinct world from the first moment they witnessed the spectacle of a wrestling show at either a very young age or even much further down the road.

Though a large number of current performers were understandably inspired to step into the squared circle by the pinnacle of sports entertainment that is WrestleMania, there have been other smaller PPVs or even weekly television shows that have suddenly lit the wrasslin' fire inside of a future talent.

Whether it was the sight of three monstrous future legends battling it out on SmackDown, witnessing a hardcore legend almost kill themselves in the ring or seeing two all-time greats capture the imaginations of an entire generation, things were never really the same for the following ten stars in the wake of these important moments.

After Matt Riddle was released from the UFC in 2013, the MMA fighter with an 8-3 (2) record, he found himself questioning how he would be able to continue making decent money when he was only good at one thing: fighting.

He would continue trying to earn a living in the MMA world for a while, yet as soon as the Welterweight caught the thirtieth edition of the Showcase of the Immortals, he quickly realised what he had to do going forward.

Watching Daniel Bryan overcome the odds (and three quarters of Evolution) to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion and fellow former MMA star Brock Lesnar conquer The Undertaker's iconic streak at WrestleMania XXX made Riddle realise that times were changing in the world of pro wrestling. So, now was the time to pour his heart and soul into this business.

Speaking to Corey Graves on the After the Bell Podcast, Riddle admitted:

'When I saw that WrestleMania, I saw guys like Daniel Bryan or Brock Lesnar beating The Undertaker. It’s like, "This is a new era." This brand, this sport is going towards guys like me and this is something I’ve always wanted to do and I felt like, even with MMA and everything I always wait for my opportunity because it’s like, things are hot when they’re hot and I saw that Mania, The Network was fresh, everything and I was just like, ‘I had to do this. I had to do this.’ I had to commit myself.'

Riddle eventually signed for WWE in 2018 after three years on the indies and became an NXT sensation, before recently debuting on Friday Night SmackDown.