The Struggles of Second Generation Stars in WWE

By Dean Siemon | Nov 6, 2015

Having a famous parent in World Wrestling Entertainment can sometimes help getting a shot at the main stage. However, not everyone who follows in their family’s footsteps will be guaranteed success on television.

It’s okay to admit that you sometimes reflect back to the days where some of the greatest legends in professional wrestling were at the best, with classic battles highlighted by Dusty Rhodes during his time in the National Wrestling Alliance, or “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig showing how good he really is.

Sometimes, our interest is piqued when we hear that a legend’s son is signed with WWE as a developmental talent. In many cases, we have seen a few of them advance to the main roster – however their success rate is not very high. If it was, someone like Curtis Axel wouldn’t be as frustrated as he is now with his position in World Wrestling Entertainment. That showed on his Twitter account where he claimed that the “sidelines ain’t no place for a starter.”

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Axel has had a few name changes and has gone from the second season of NXT to the New Nexus, was an Intercontinental Champion, back to developmental, a Hulk Hogan impersonator and now back to being seen on WWE television as much as the Loch Ness Monster. But he’s not the only second generation wrestler to find solid placement in the WWE roster.

The common denominator among stars like Axel is when the character is too generic, mixed with having huge shoes to fill when you consider the star power that the parent had when he was in the spotlight. It’s hard to be perfect, but many fans were hoping that Axel would have come close by now.

There are some additional examples of talents in WWE who were unable to live up to their father’s name and have either been released or are struggling to try to replicate what their parents accomplished – sometimes just relying on the namesake.

One of the earliest examples is Dustin Rhodes, son of the good ol’ “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. While Dustin had a few memorable matches in World Championship Wrestling, there wasn’t a lot of interest in plain Dustin. What has made him a legend in his own right is the Goldust character that is completely different from what his father did.

While Goldust will likely never become a world champion, he will still have a spot waiting for him in the WWE’s Hall of Fame. It’s the type of transformation we are seeing with Cody Rhodes becoming Stardust, although he started as a knock-off of his brother’s gimmick and made it more like a comic book villain like Mister Sinister from the Marvel Universe.

Another example of a legend’s child who made a shift from the family name is one of the sons of Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S.) who started as Husky Harris and has since become Bray Wyatt. Instead of being somewhat generic, this talent made a shift to creating a very disturbed and dark character that has since developed a cult following among the WWE Universe.

But while we’ve had wrestlers with family lineage make their own mark in recent years, others have failed to leave their family’s namesake in the ring or have refused to create a character far from it. A perfect example is Ted DiBiase, Jr., who didn’t really create anything far beyond his father being the “Million Dollar Man.”

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