8 Wrestling Megastars That Started As Backyarders

7. Seth Rollins

Liv Morgan Daniel Bryan
WWE.com

Clearly born with the desire, drive and genetics to be an athlete of some description, it's perhaps no surprise that Colby 'Seth Rollins' Lopez got his start (of sorts) in backyard wrestling. It's only a little bit more shocking that the future 'Crossfit Jesus' chose 'God' as his moniker.

Revealed on a 2014 edition of The Kevin Steen Show with Chris 'Kassius Ohno' Hero in between the former's WWE signing and the latter's NXT exit, the pair gently ribbed their old friend for his grandiose nickname.

He was reduced to disciple status at the same time too - Rollins later shared a story of him sharing his backyard snaps with Chris Jericho at a local WWE event. As he put it; “I was really bad at meeting wrestlers. I lived in a small town in Iowa. We didn’t have shows very often, so I didn’t get to meet many of the guys. Chris Jericho was really cool to me when I first met him. I was a 16-year-old kid who barged in on him because I wanted to show him my backyard wrestling pictures. He was very cool about it when he had no reason to be.”

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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