6 wrestling kids who were rejected by WWE

WWE and pro wrestling in general have a long and celebrated history of second-generation stars. It makes sense for wrestling legacies to succeed. After all, having a parent in the business is likely to inspire some extra interest in the art form from the next generation, not to mention some first-hand wisdom and coaching from the father or mother.

Moreover, a second generation wrestler may have a genetic advantage of, if not inheriting athletics or toughness, at the least being better predisposed to the requisite physical size to succeed as a wrestler.

Whether it’s Dusty Rhodes and his sons Dustin and Cody who succeeded in the business, or Rocky Johnson and The Rock—a prime example of the son eclipsing the father—we’ve seen our share of wrestling kids who get an opportunity with WWE and succeed to at least a reasonable degree.

Not every second-generation wrestler winds up being the star of a success story, though. This article takes a look at six high-profile wrestling families for which a son or daughter got into wrestling, but was never welcomed onto the WWE main roster.

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#6 Rachael Ellering was released by WWE

Rachael Ellering is the daughter of the legendary Paul Ellering. For those who don't know, Paul Ellering is a WWE Hall of Famer and was the manager for the Authors of Pain tag team back when they were in NXT. Rachael followed in her father's footsteps to join the wrestling behemoth, working in NXT under the ring name Rachael Evers.

While she did work a few dark matches before, her initial televised appearances came as part of the Mae Young Classic Tournament. She had a decent showing in both editions of the tournament, leading to Vince McMahon and co. hiring her in January 2019. However, Rachael suffered a torn ACL at an NXT live event, which put her on the shelf for a year. It was during her time recovering that WWE released her as part of the infamous budget cuts of May 2020.

Rachael Ellering has since then worked for both AEW and IMPACT Wrestling.

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#5 David Flair and Reid Flair

David Flair is the son of Ric Flair, one of the greatest wrestlers to ever live. David found himself in an interesting spot with WCW. One could see him as extremely fortunate to have gotten a chance to perform with the company before he was meaningfully trained. He was brought in to help build sympathy for his dad and wound up hanging around full-time as not only a character but an in-ring performer.

After WWE bought out WCW, they gave David a chance, letting him into their developmental territory. However, the younger Flair never came along long enough to be reintroduced to national television. He worked a handful of indies to finish his wrestling career before settling into a career away from the business.

Interestingly, his younger brother Reid looked like a blue chip prospect for WWE before his tragic passing, and it would be younger sister Charlotte who ended up most earnestly carrying forward the Flair family's legacy as a star in WWE.

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#4 Lacey Von Erich

The Von Erichs are one of the great wrestling families, in particular, they’re celebrated for the legacy of Fritz Von Erich as a successful wrestling heel, and all the more so for his sons who presided over their dad’s World Class Championship Wrestling territory, and went on to varying degrees of success beyond Texas.

The family was beset with tragedy as brother after brother ended up passing away. Of them, Kerry wound up with the farthest reach, winning the NWA World Championship and the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

Kerry’s daughter, Lacey, is probably the most famous of the next generation of Von Erichs. She earned some notoriety, particularly for her work with TNA with the Beautiful People stable. While Lacey had a brief opportunity in WWE’s developmental system, she never came along far enough to get promoted to the main roster.

She has disclosed plans to work towards starting her own women’s wrestling promotion on Stone Cold Steve Austin's podcast.

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#3 Noelle Foley

Mick Foley is known by the moniker "The Hardcore Legend". He went from a respected journeyman to a legit main eventer and easy Hall of Fame pick during his tenure with the Vince McMahon promotion. In that time, he became a world champion and went a long way towards elevating the budding main event level stars ranging from The Rock to Triple H to Randy Orton to Edge.

It makes sense enough that one of Mick’s children would aim to follow him into the wrestling business. When the reality TV series Holy! Foley aired on the WWE Network, it chronicled not one of his sons, but his daughter Noelle, who expressed an interest in getting in the ring.

Based on what aired, it’s doubtful Noelle would have gotten a shot at a tryout were it not for who her father is (and perhaps to add drama to the network series). Regardless, she didn’t meet the expectations of the trainers and the management, and was not, at least for the time being, given a shot with the company.

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#2 Bruce Hart

Stu Hart was a well-respected wrestler who went on to become one of the most celebrated wrestling promoters and trainers in the business. He had a number of children who followed him into the business and trained in the famous Dungeon in the basement of Hart House. The brothers went on to star for Stu’s Stampede Wrestling before taking over the business of promoting and training for themselves.

Bret Hart succeeded his father as the family’s biggest wrestling star based on his success with WWE and later WCW as a bona fide worldwide main eventer. His brother Owen also achieved a high level of success in WWE before his tragic death.

The other Hart brothers, however, didn’t make it to WWE for more than a stand-alone Survivor Series match and the occasional one-off appearance to support their brothers.

Bruce was the most famous and closest to making it (in Bret Hart’s book, he explained Vince McMahon's thoughts about bringing him in to essentially play Owen’s part in the brother-brother feud in 1994). A combination of a purported bad attitude and not fitting the promotion’s needs meant he never got that opportunity.

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#1 Jesse White

Big Van Vader was a tremendous monster heel for WCW, who thrived in the early 1990s, including dominating the world title scene in 1993. His WWE run was far less celebrated as a combination of alleged politics and ill fitness meant he never got to win a world championship there and often wasn’t treated as a bona fide main eventer.

Nonetheless, he’s a recognizable legend of the business and a great big powerhouse. Thus, it would surprise no one that his son could get into the wrestling business.

Indeed, Jesse White followed his old man into wrestling and even worked a number of tag team matches partnering with his dad early in his career. Jesse did get a shot in NXT, billed as Jake Carter. He never fully clicked on the WWE system, though, and was released before making it to the main roster.