5 Wrestlers who worked regular jobs before signing with AEW
Before they became AEW Stars, several wrestlers had to work regular jobs to earn a living.
Many in-ring performers had worked regular jobs before becoming famous wrestlers. WWE's Mustafa Ali, for example, was a police officer while wrestling part-time before joining WWE.
Over the past few years, several All Elite Wrestling stars were also part-time wrestlers before signing with Tony Khan's company. They had regular jobs in different fields, including education, dentistry, and communication.
Signing with AEW has changed the lives of a few of these wrestlers. They left their jobs to become full-time in-ring performers after signing with the company. Today, they all share the same wrestling ring and are a part of a promising promotion.
Here are five wrestlers who worked regular jobs before signing with AEW.
#5. AEW Star Stu Grayson
After wrestling in different promotions for a few years, 32-year-old Stu Grayson joined AEW in 2019. He made his debut, alongside Evil Uno, as The Dark Order at the 2019 Double or Nothing pay-per-view.
Before signing with All Elite Wrestling, Grayson was a part-time pro-wrestler. His primary job was outside the ring. The 32-year-old owned a flooring company.
"As much time, effort and training as we’d put into wrestling each week, it still wasn’t a priority. We (Grayson and Uno) finished our school and we had real jobs.. that was always our priority. We never necessarily believed we would make a living out of wrestling.", Grayson told Ottawa Sun.
Life changed for Grayson when he and his partner received an offer to join Tony Khan's company. He realized that wrestling could now become his number one priority.
"We always kept (wrestling) in our lives because it was our passion, but the fact that it became an option to make a living out of wrestling was a bit of a surprise. When All Elite Wrestling became a reality, we realized wrestling could be Plan A now; we could build our lives around it," he said.
After joining AEW, Grayson sold his Gatineau-based flooring company to become a full-time pro-wrestler. He recently teamed up with Uno to challenge The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) for the IMPACT World Tag Team Titles but came up short.