Second and third-generation stars come into the business with a lot of knowledge about the inner workings. However, they don't always live up to the names that came before them. A wrestler could be one of the most beloved and successful wrestlers in professional wrestling history, but when their son arrives in the industry, he falls flat and never lives up to what came before him.
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However, there are other cases where the son of a famous professional wrestler exceeds all expectations and becomes bigger than his dad ever dreamed. Here is a look at five wrestlers who had more success than their dads and five who didn't live up to their father's accomplishments.
10 MORE: RANDY SAVAGE
Angelo Poffo wrestled from 1948 until 1991, and along the way, he won a handful of titles in the territories of those days. Poffo bought into the Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling territory when his two sons, Randy Savage and Lanny Poffo, were old enough to wrestle and then worked as a promoter on top of a wrestler.
Randy Savage ended up as one of the best wrestlers to ever step foot into the business. Savage went on to win six world titles between his time in WWE and WCW on top of several mid-card titles and territory titles as well. He was posthumously inducted into the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame.
9 LESS: LANNY POFFO
Unlike his brother Macho Man Randy Savage, Angelo Poffo's younger son, Lanny Poffo, did not enjoy the same success as his brother, or even his father at that. Angels won titles in WWA, NWA, Southwest Sports, ICW, and more. Poffo did win a few titles in the territories but never reached the level of his dad.
It hurt that Lanny Poffo was stuck with silly gimmicks in WWE. While Randy Savage was a world title contender and one of the best wrestlers in the company, Poffo was "Leaping" Lanny Poffo and then The Genius, where he just recited poetry. He never won a title in WWE.
8 MORE: THE ROCK
Rocky Johnson broke barriers in his professional wrestling career. He and Tony Atlas teamed up to become the first African American champions in WWE history when they won the tag team titles. While that was it in WWE, Rocky was also very successful over his career in the territories.
With all the success that Rocky Johnson had, his son Dwayne Johnson did one better. As The Rock, Johnson was one of the top wrestlers in WWE history, a multi-time world champion and now a Hollywood movie star with few equals. Rocky was great, but The Rock is Mount Rushmore worthy.
7 LESS: RAY GORDY
The Fabulous Freebirds are WWE Hall of Fame superstars. Their induction was bittersweet, as the only ones left to accept it was Michael P.S. Hayes and Jimmy Garvin, the latter of which wasn't even an original member. The two other original members, Buddy Roberts and Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy, are both dead.
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Gordy was not only great in The Freebirds but also as part of the Miracle Violence Connection with Dr. Death Steve Williams. Sadly, Gordy's son Ray was saddled with a humiliating gimmick in WWE — the developmentally slow Festus. Later he got a rapper gimmick as Slam Master J, but never made a dent, retiring at the age of 30.
6 MORE: TULLY BLANCHARD
Joe Blanchard was a professional wrestler who competed from 1953 until 1978. While his career was not a long and distinguished as others of his era, he founded his own wrestling promotion when he retired called Southwest Championship Wrestling. It was there that his son began to wrestle. Of course, his son was Tully Blanchard, one of the founding four members of the legendary Four Horsemen.
As a member of that group, Blanchard was a three-time TV champion, one-time U.S. Champion, a one-time National Champion, and a two-time NWA World Tag Team Champion. Blanchard also held the WWE World Tag Team titles once and is a WWE Hall of Fame superstar.
5 LESS: DAVID FLAIR
There are a few professional wrestlers that no child will ever live up to. However, as Charlotte Flair has proven in WWE, she can at least make her own way in wrestling and remain a huge name that may never surpass her father, but will at least never embarrass his legacy.
Sadly, that isn't how things worked out for the first child of Nature Boy Ric Flair to try his hand at a professional wrestling career. David Flair made his debut in WCW and quickly became a villain, turning on his father and working with Vince Russo against Flair. While he won titles, he was never even remotely on his dad's level.
4 MORE: BRET HART
Stu Hart had a great wrestling career, but he was more known for running his Stampede Wrestling promotion, where many of his children were the top stars, and running the Dungeon, where he trained several top wrestling names including Chris Jericho and Brian Pillman.
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However, out of his 12 children, it was Bret "The Hitman" Hart that not only surpassed his father's accomplishments but also did it in a way that made him one of WWE's greatest superstars of all-time. Hart was a seven-time world champion and is a two-time WWE Hall of Fame superstar.
3 LESS: CURTIS AXEL
Curtis Axel never seemed to get much of a chance to be a top guy in WWE. He had one real opportunity when Paul Heyman managed him. Heyman changed his name from Michael McGillicutty to Curtis Axel, explaining to fans his father was Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig, and his grandfather was Larry "The Axe" Hennig.
However, WWE didn't put much into that push, and soon Axel was back as a comedy jobber. He is now working with Bo Dallas as The B-Team, which is a name as insulting as their status in WWE as glorified jobbers. His father is in the WWE Hall of Fame.
2 MORE: JAKE ROBERTS
Jake "The Snake" Roberts was a massive star in the territories before he ever made his way to WWE. He won several titles in Mid-South, Georgia, World Class, and even Stampede Wrestling, proving he was a huge success even outside WWE.
When Roberts was in WWE, he never won one single title. Despite never winning a championship, Roberts was always one of the top stars in the company and proved that titles never mattered if you were as over as he was. His father was Grizzly Smith, who was a giant wrestler but was more famous for his work behind-the-scenes as a booker.
1 LESS: DAVID SAMMARTINO
No matter how good of a wrestler David Sammartino could have been, he never had a chance to match up to his dad. Bruno Sammartino was the biggest name in wrestling for over 11 straight years. He was a two-time WWWF Champion, holding the title for a record 4,040 days. His 2,803-day title reign is a record that will never be broken.
The worst thing WWE could have done to David was bringing him in with Bruno as his manager. David didn't have the size, charisma, or skill of his father and was in and out of WWE in two years.
