14. ADAM ROSE
Adam Rose’s (real name: Ray Leppan) journey to American professional wrestling was infinitely harder compared to pretty much everyone else on this list simply because he had to leave his native country of South Africa just to see if he could even land a job in the WWE. But his early life well before his tryout is another story altogether…
Leppan’s early struggles started when he decided to run away from his home at the age of 14, despite Leppan stating that he came from a very loving family. He denounced the idea of the routine family life and hit the road, sleeping in the streets and in abandoned buildings for two whole years before his mother attempted to lure him back home with the idea of training to become a professional wrestler. He agreed and was immediately thrown into the South African wrestling scene.
More recently Leppan was one of the featured wrestlers of an ESPN E:60 documentary that showcased his struggles to maintain a roster spot and even more recently than that it was revealed that his sister had died from complications due to heroin usage. Rose now currently wrestles on the independent scene, but we hope he makes it back to the WWE at some point, if only because he’s truly a good guy and deserves a spot.
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