There are many paths to becoming a wrestler, you can be discovered for your superhuman physique or athletic prowess in another field, you could dream of it throughout your childhood and strive to make it happen, or you can be born into a wrestling family and have it in your blood. However you finally get to lacing up your boots there is always one first step - get trained.
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Many current and retired wrestlers have also doubled up as trainers over the years, either backstage on the road, by starting their own wrestling schools, or by being employed by a major promotion in their developmental territory or school. In this list we take a look at 10 wrestlers you may not have known were also trainers.
10 Shawn Michaels
After his first retirement in 1998, Michaels set up the Texas Wrestling Academy with his trainer Jose Lothario among others. The school also operated as a small promotion called the Texas Wrestling Alliance, and was famed for training Daniel Bryan, Brian Kendrick, and Paul London.
Michaels left the school after his return to WWE in 2002 and has returned to training since his second retirement at the Performance Center where he assists Paul 'HHH' Levesque in running NXT.
9 The Dudley Boyz
In 2007 D-Von and Bubba Ray founded the Team 3-D Academy Of Pro Wrestling. Their list of graduates is not exactly setting the world alight, they trained former TNA wrestlers Jesse Neal and Chris Melendez, but their most high profile success story remains their training of The Guerillas Of Destiny. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa are the six-time IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and cornerstones of the infamous Bullet Club.
8 Ivory
The former GLOW wrestler really shone in WWE rings in the late 90s and early 2000s and was regarded as being one of the best female workers of the time during her career. Ivory had a brief yet productive tenure as a trainer in former WWE developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2003 following her successful stint as a trainer on the 3rd season of Tough Enough.
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During this time she had a hand in training John Morrison and Josh Matthews among others.
7 Matt "Albert" Bloom
Debuting as Albert in 1999, Matt Bloom had a decent run in WWE as part of tag-team T&A alongside Test and manager Trish Stratus. He wrestled in Japan for 8 years where his in-ring work improved spectacularly, leading to WWE re-signing Bloom in 2012 and repackaging him as Tensai.
After his retirement, Bloom went to work at NXT initially as a commentator, but soon became part of the training team, and was promoted to head coach in 2015.
6 Katsuyori Shibata
Considered to be one of New Japan's 'big four' wrestlers to resurrect the fortunes of New Japan alongside Shinsuke Nakamura, Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kazuchika Okada, Shibata was forced to retire following his incredible IWGP Heavyweight title match with Okada at 2017's Genesis.
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During the match, Shibata struck Okada with a stiff headbutt which caused him to collapse backstage following the bout and be rushed to hospital with a career-ending brain injury. Despite never being able to wrestle again, Shibata is currently the head coach at NJPW's Los Angeles dojo and has so far had nothing but excellent feedback on his work with the young lions.
5 Rikishi
Another Attitude Era worker who moved to training following a successful career, Rikishi trains students at both Knokx-Pro Entertainment and the Wild Samoan Pro Wrestling Training Center. Rikishi is a WWE Hall Of Famer, and had a hugely popular run in the late 90s and early 2000s alongside Scotty 2 Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay as Too Cool.
His most famous alumni include Miroslav 'Rusev' Barnyashev, and, of course, his two sons Jimmy and Jay, who are the six-time WWE tag champs under the name The Usos.
4 Finn Balor
Despite only being 20 years old at the time, the future Finn Balor co-operated NWA Ireland in 2002 with Paul Tracey. It was during this time that Balor helped train the young hopefuls, most notably one Rebecca Quin who went on to become the multiple time WWE Women's Champion under the name Becky Lynch.
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Balor has since admitted that he probably shouldn't have been training others so early in his career, having just 2 years experience himself.
3 Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Jake Roberts has been to hell and back on more than one occasion during his time in pro-wrestling. One of the biggest stars of the 80s and early 90s, Roberts captivated audiences with his slow, sinister promos, great in-ring work, and his reptilian valet Damien.
Since his resurrection at the hands of DDP, Roberts now runs The Snake Pit Pro Wrestling Academy alongside D-Lo Brown and Disco Inferno, where he personally trains all students.
2 Christopher Daniels
The former Fallen Angel once helped train potential WWE superstars in the only town he can bear to be in at California's Ultimate Pro Wrestling.
Daniels takes credit for training the most popular wrestler of the last 20 years in John Cena and had a hand in training Samoa Joe, The Miz, and current stable-mate Kazarian. Daniels continues to be a stellar worker after all these years and is currently on probably the best run of his career in AEW.
1 Lance Storm
Lance Storm was generally considered to be one of the best technical wrestlers in the world at the turn of the century. He had stints in ECW, WCW, and WWE before retiring in 2013 and setting up the Storm Wrestling Academy.
At his school, Lance is 100% hands-on with his students and even finishes their training with a full one on one match with each of them. Graduates from the school include Tyler Breeze, Chelsea Green, Tenille Dashwood, Peyton Royce, and Oney Lorcan.
NEXT: 5 Wrestling Stars That Were Made In The WWE Performance Center (&5 That Were Stars Before Signing)
