10 Pro Wrestlers With Olympic Backgrounds

#4 VERNE GAGNE

A young Verne Gagne in 1948.

Gagne was an alternate on the United States freestyle wrestling team in 1948. His Olympic coaches weren't happy about the fact that Verne had made money competing at carnivals as a wrestler.

For this reason, they decided not to put him on the primary team, even though carnival wrestling was very popular at the time.

After the Olympics, Gagne would start wrestling all over Texas, with several NWA territories. As we all know, he would become one of professional wrestling’s greats, with huge success in the NWA and AWA.

Gagne would join the WWE Hall of Fame, class of 2006.