WWE "Home-Grown" Talent.
 

We've all heard that WWE prefers home-grown talents (or very unknowns), but I was wondering if anyone knew who they were? I'm talking wrestlers in the WWE within the past 7 years or so, who started with and has only wrestled in a WWE Developmental Territory/WWE itself?

Besides the Tough Enough contestants (Maven and Nitro are the only two I can think of besides Divas) I really don't know who would fall under this category...

VERY few. Infact, I'd say less than 10 (that actually had some level of success.)

People who have joined OVW fresh?

I wonder if John Cena is one by any chance??

ONly if you count UWF as a developmental territory, and apparently at one time it was. Despite the fact I can find no documentation of this...

Cena, Orton, Batista, The Rock (technically spent some time in USWA but oh well), Lashley, Kennedy, Boogeyman, Henry, The Hardyz could be considered home grown, MVP, Estrada, Eugene, Spirit Squad, the McAllisters, Cryme Time, Khali, WGTT, Texas Rednecks, Burke, Dupree, Snitsky, and Test....

All could be considered WWE Home Grown Talents.

Basically a WWE Home Grown talent doesn't mean they spent their entire time with WWE, it means that they never really got over in old ECW, WCW, TNA or any other "threat" to WWE.

Also, while UWF was never OFFICIALLY a WWE territory, it was certainly a breeding ground and a feeder company. In fact I know WWE and UWF had some kind of working agreement, though not to the extent OVW or DSW did...

EDIT: NOT UWF, my mistake. I was thinking of UPW.

UWF never were connected with WWE.

What about Masters? I haven't heard of his background at all.....it's almost as if he was picked up from the streets... :shifty:

Cena: 1 year in UPW
Orton: 1 year in MMWA-SICW
Batista: About two years in WXW
The Rock: Spent some time in USWA
Lashley: That's one in your favor.
Kennedy: ASCW and TNA
Boogeyman: 2 in your favor, though I did state that you wouldn't find ten that have had some success...
Henry: Three in your favor...but not all that succesfull really... has he ever even held a title?
The Hardyz: Not by Xero's criteria. OMEGA wrestling popped their cerry.
MVP: No. Not even close. CCW, XWA, RoH, and TNA.
Estrada: 4 in your favor.
Eugene: MCW and HWA
Spirit Squad: No. Kenny: The rest have all wrestled outside the WWE as well. I'm just not feeling well and wanting to wrap this up.


The majority of the guys list after this point have history outside the WWE as well. And by xEro's definition, that makes them invalid.

Yeah, I'm aware of the technical definition, I'm just wondering if anyone started in a WWE-affiliated promotion.

hahahaha Mark Henry.

Just the European title which he didn't even win by storyline, it was 'given' to him by Jeff Jarrett.

Yeah, there's almost nobody by this definition of homegrown. Not surprising, all things considered.

Kennedy and MVP were in TNA?

This definition of homegrown is pretty strict. I consider "homegrown" to mean that they worked elsewhere, but got semi-big in WWE and never left for anyone else once they were popular in WWE. Then again, that would cover about 2/3 of the roster, wouldn't it?

Yeah, you can make numbers say anything you want.

Yeah. Last week, I was working on a flat tax proposal, and accidentally proved you were gay. The numbers are irrefutable.

Cena is a classic example. UPW is Los Angeles based and I believe he got started when a buddy he worked with convinced him to check it out. Masters comes from the same cloth as well

I heard that they're trying to make UPW the 3rd WWE feeder-fed after DSW and OVW

Miz also started in UPW. I'm pretty sure Heidenreich did too.

I know neither of them are with WWE or can come back, but what about Angle and Lesner?

Lesner would kncok you all the fuck out at the same motherfucking time

I'd like to see him try.

Seriously, that would be fucking impressive.

I'm pretty sure I heard about Kurt Angle wrestling on the independant scene for a while. Brock Lesnar is a maybe. I get the feeling Shelton Benjamin might be, too.