Biggest Nepo Baby In Wrestling?

[Mr_Danger]

4 hours ago, hallicks said:

Isn’t it widely accepted that Vince Jr’s purchase price for the WWF from his dad was ludicrously undervalued? Quite high levels of nepotism, there. 

There was some buy back clause or some bollocks if Vince didn’t meet some targets his dad considered unattainable. According to that Netflix documentary and we all know that Netflix is a legit source for truth.

[The King Of Swing]

21 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

There was some buy back clause or some bollocks if Vince didn’t meet some targets his dad considered unattainable. According to that Netflix documentary and we all know that Netflix is a legit source for truth.

Pretty sure that story has been making the rounds for decades. Something along the lines of Vince wasn't allowed to miss a single payment. 

How true it is, I have no idea. 

[BomberPat]

I think that story about not being permitted to miss a payment is true, but the bit that always gets overlooked is that Vince was getting huge income from working with NJPW until the mid-80s. When Vince talks about how he "bet everything he had" on the first Wrestlemania, he neglects to mention that part of that "everything" was a six figure loan from Antonio Inoki, on top of the regular income from Inoki that probably did more than almost anything to keep the WWF afloat in the pre-Wrestlemania days.

[TAFKA Jonny Vegas]

Natalya approaching two decades of constant employment with WWE whilst being bland as anything and talking about her Dad as though he was Ric Flair and not a tag team wrestler who spent most of his career in the lower mid card is surely up there. 

[Carbomb]

I think there's a whole area of discussion to be had as a sort of addendum to nepotism, which is the bias that McMahon (or maybe even the wrestling industry in general) had towards anyone linked with and who trained at the Hart Dungeon.

For every Bret, Owen, and Jericho, there was a Natalya, Bruce, or Teddy.

[air_raid]

There’s also a case to be made that Vince always, for decades, was fond of giving a shot on TV to the offspring of anyone that was with him at or near the beginning, regardless of how crap/not ready they were, thinking not just of David Sammartino but Scott Putski and the Snuka kids.

Hell, I’m shocked the Hulkster didn’t wrangle a full time job for Brooke and they had to try TNA.

[DavidB6937]

Even a clock.. etc etc.

But no seriously I've always said myself I don't think Seth is a bad wrestler. But to suggest him of all people for character work is laughable.

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

Even a clock.. etc etc.

But no seriously I've always said myself I don't think Seth is a bad wrestler. But to suggest him of all people for character work is laughable.

Wrong thread?

[Merzbow]

2 hours ago, air_raid said:

Hell, I’m shocked the Hulkster didn’t wrangle a full time job for Brooke and they had to try TNA.

He couldn't even get Stone Cold Horace Boulder a WWF job outside of a single TV match under a hood in '93.

Edited January 13, 2025 by Merzbow

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

He couldn't even get Stone Cold Horace Boulder a WWF job outside of a single TV match under a hood in '93.

Brooke had some qualifications that Horace didn't, to be fair.

[BomberPat]

4 hours ago, air_raid said:

There’s also a case to be made that Vince always, for decades, was fond of giving a shot on TV to the offspring of anyone that was with him at or near the beginning, regardless of how crap/not ready they were, thinking not just of David Sammartino but Scott Putski and the Snuka kids.

I think Vince always had a genuine loyalty to anyone who predated him in the WWF, but David Sammartino wasn't about giving a gig to Bruno's kid, it was using Bruno's kid to keep Bruno working when he didn't really want to be.

Scott Putski, though? Yeah, waste of space. If I had to guess at that one, I'd say he was brought in while all the big '80s and early '90s names were in WCW, and Bruno was on the outs with the company, so Vince tried to create his own little alternate history where the biggest stars of the WWF's past were Arnold Skaaland, Big Cat Ernie Ladd, Lou Albano, and whoever else they would trot out at ringside to stand and wave, and maybe Scott Putski was meant to create continuity to that era. You definitely get the impression watching old WWWF stuff that Ivan Putski was one of Vince's favourites, though.

In terms of "Nepo Baby" just meaning that your family connections get you a job, it has to be the entire extended Anoai/Bloodline clan, surely? In the entire history of the WWF since Vince McMahon took it over, there's been a member of that family under contract.

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

He couldn't even get Stone Cold Horace Boulder a WWF job outside of a single TV match under a hood in '93.

Horace worked some dark matches and house shows in the early 2000s - if the WWE Vault really wanted to give people what they wanted, they'd be unearthing John Cena, Horace Hogan & The Big Valbowski vs. Albert, Bull Buchanan and Mike Awesome from a Smackdown house show. 

 

[Merzbow]

41 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Brooke had some qualifications that Horace didn't, to be fair.

Are you saying Hulk never sun lotioned him up?

[Tamura]

David Crockett. It's hard to imagine a scenario where he was actually employed based on his skills as an announcer and not because of his surname. The absolute drizzling shits.