9. Hulk Hogan
Look at Hulk. You wouldn't think this guy would grow up to be the most charismatic and arguably the biggest name in professional wrestling history. Born Terry Eugene Bollea on August 11 1953 in Augusta Georgia, Hogan would move to Port Tampa Florida just after his first birthday. His parents were Ruth, a homemaker and dance teacher and Pietro Bollea, a construction foreman, meaning Hogan surprisingly has a rich and storied Italian, French, and Panamanian heritage. Bollea looked to be heading for a career in baseball before an injury ended that dream. Both the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds were courting his signature but were left disappointed. However, a certain Dusty Rhodes pulled this Real American towards professional wrestling at the age of 16. Hogan would regularly attend events at the Tampa Sportatorium before attending Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. He was a talented rock musician and gained quite a lot of notoriety in his Florida based band, Ruckus. He would drop out of college before receiving a degree and started to work out at Hector's gym. Jack and Gerald Brisco are the men who are credited as being so impressed by Hogan's size, they got him into the wrestling business via Hiro Matsudathe man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida. Hogan would take on the persona of 'The Super Destroyer' in Florida before taking a hiatus to manage a night club. He would return to the business for Continental Wrestling Association in Memphis as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder. The Hulkster won his first wrestling championship, the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship after defeating Bob Roop in Knoxville. Bollea would drop the belt to Bob Armstrong before a brief spell in Georgia Championship Wrestling. Hogan met Vince McMahon in 1979 and the rest, as they say, is history.