5 wrestlers who lived in their cars before making it to WWE
Wrestling is a very tough business, both on the mind and the body. Very few wrestlers make it big in such a tough business because there are very few spots at the top. Wrestling in the indies doesn’t always pay a lot and there have been numerous instances of wrestlers having to live out of their cars as they go between shows to save a little money for the future.
Many wrestlers never manage to make ends meet by wrestling and have to work second jobs. For some wrestlers, they have no contingency plans for retirement. For every John Cena, there are hundreds of indie wrestlers who never make it beyond the local gym, working night after night for barely enough to live comfortably.
5: TJ Perkins
The first entry into this list is WWE Cruiserweight Classic competitor TJ Perkins. Perkins started wrestling at the age of 13 and in his teens he was already wrestling for promotions all the way in Mexico. Along the way he would wound up on hard times, ending up homeless and living in his car during the recession while he was living in Florida as he tried to earn a contract for WWE’s developmental system, FCW.
Instead of letting the hard times get to him, TJ Perkins worked even harder to follow his dream of making it to WWE and today stands on the brink of his WWE debut at the CWC and he is sure to be looking to impress enough for a full-time contract.