15 Wrestlers Taught By Surprising Trainers

Rusev is known as the 'Super Athlete', a barrel-chested Balkan bruiser best-known for a months-long undefeated streak in which he laid waste to every challenger in his path. All of that came crashing down at WrestleMania 31 when John Cena decided to get all John Cena about the situation, but the image of Rusev rolling down the ramp in a Soviet surplus tank is pretty indelible.

And yet, Rusev wasn't trained by, like, Nikolai Volkoff or the Koloff clan. Nope, he studied under the baffling mentor combination of Gangrel and Rikishi. The more you think about it, the Rikishi connection makes sense; both men move with the speed of those much smaller than they, and they both throw devastating superkicks. Rusev even used to wrestle barefoot in the Samoan tradtion. The Gangrel influence remains less obvious, but if Rusev starts drooling stage blood you'll know what's up.