2. CM Punk
Yes, we couldn't quite believe it either. Punk's amazing story is detailed in WWE's fantastic documentary 'Best In The World'. He was born Phillip Jack Brooks on October 26, 1978 in Chicago. His first steps into wrestling came via his own backyard wrestling promotions, the Lunatic Wrestling Federation. He set the federation up with his friends and his brother Mike in the mid 1990s. He first used the name CM Punk soon after when he teamed with CM Venom in the Chick Magnets as he replaced another wrestler who didn't turn up. When the LWF promotion started taking off and doing spot shows out of a warehouse in Mokena, Illinois in front of paying crowds, Punk found out that his brother Mike had embezzled thousands of dollars from the company, causing them to become estranged. They have not spoken since. He soon left the federation and enrolled as a student at the "Steel Dominion" wrestling school in Chicago, where he was trained by Ace Steel, Danny Dominion and Kevin Quinn. As part of the training, he wrestled at Steel Domain Wrestling in St. Paul, Minnesota where he met Scott Colton, otherwise known as Colt Cabana. Punk and Cabana became best friends and spent most of their early career together working in the same independent circuit promotions, as opponents or allies. In the independents, along with fellow Steel Domain graduates Colt Cabana, Chuckee Smooth, Adam Pearce, and manager Dave Prazak, Punk formed an alliance named the Gold Bond Mafia. Punk would go on to perform in the Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South where he won the IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship twice and the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship on five separate occasions, beating stars like A.J. Styles and Eddie Guerrero. He had notable matches against Chris Hero, including a 55-minute TLC match, a 93-minute two out of three falls match, and several 60-minute time limit draws. Punk was hired by Ring of Honour soon after, competing for them and sporadically TNA for three years. In 2005, Punk singed for WWE.