Wrestling, A family orientated business

As we all know with the emergance of second generation and third generation stars, the family name in sports entertainment is a hot commodity.

Familys are breaking in to the business togehter....working off the coat tales of there former family member.

Theres the Harts, Maivias, Von erichs, Rhodes, Steiners, lawlers and there is randy samvages family (cant remember the name) etc.

My question is, what family has done and accomplished for the business.

I thought this would be between the Harta and the maivia. Both had representatives from the top to the bottom of this business....but no1s commenting so its a draw

(Sorry for all the dbates, am just trying to create conversation)

Family is pretty important in the business - look at David Flair. No talent whatsoever, but somehow got hired by WCW all the way to a major title (think it might have been the heavyweight, but I can't remember), basically of the strength of who his Dad is.

For some, Like the Hart family, wrestling is drilled into them at an early age, so they're all technically excellent, even the more unknown ones like Keith and Bruce were pretty successful amateurs, and then there's Bret and Owen, and 3rd generation like DH Smith, Teddy Hart...

But which family had more influence....Mivias

Had the rock (needs no introduction)
Rocky johnson(energetic)
Peter maivia

Bret hart
Owen
teddy
stu

Cnt really count neidharts or smiths as they married in to the family like the dynamite kid did

But without the Rock, would people have ever heard of Rocky Johnson? Certain retired wrestlers are still known today, Bruno Sammartino, Ernie Ladd...

I've followed wrestling since the early 90's. I'd never heard of Rocky Johnson or High Chief Maivia until the Rock appeared.

Most influential are the Hart family, without a doubt. But I'd also include the Guerrero's somewhere near the top too...

Von erichs were influential, I know they came to an untimely end but they had a large influence on the AWA.

I think you have forgotten the most influental family ever to hit the wrestling business

The Mcmahons!

Especially Vince, he changed the face of wrestling when he took over from his father, he turned it from just another small time wrestling federation to a world wide phenomenon.

If the company was in the hands of anyone else would it even exist now?

His whole family tho is involved, Linda the CEO, Stephanie in the creative, not to sure about Shane, they have all been involved in storylines, and Shane in some great matches, one of my all time matches was the one he had at KOTR with Kurt Angle.

Without the Mcmahons we would have no montreal screwjob, no mcmahon-helmsey era, no attitude era etc. Not only that but he has made stars aswell, look at the Rock, hes a hollywood actor, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan some of the most recognizable names in the world never mind just the wrestling business. The list just goes on, Mcmahons are one hell of a succsessful family, well done to them.

Mcmahons.

Vince senior and current vince have easily made the most impact out of any other family.

But for actual wrestlers, I'd say Harts.


Edit: C4lum, I posted this 3 seconds after yours... grrr for beating me too it.

I know they may have not made the biggest impact in wrestling but the Rhodes family are the most successful family in wrestling having won 28 titles. The Guerreros have won 26 titles, the Harts have won 23, the Ortons have surprisingly 11 and the McMahons have 5.

id say the Hardyz and the Dudleyz even if they are not all family they had an affect in a big way

I agree Doss

Although the Dudleyz arent a real family their on screen family has done great things for the buisness starting back in the ECW days.

The Harts were probably the most influencial wrestling family but Owen will always be remebered for is fall and Bret for being screwed

Yes the thing with the Harts is how many people they have helped with the Likes of Stu Harts school and so on,I think the Harts are a bit stuck up there own though they are a bitter bunch of people in the main Bret and Teddy are extrmely cocky and although bret aint as bad as before the stroke i still think hes slightly up his own,I think the best Wrestling Family is Rhodes

the most influencial was the Mc mahon family starting from the capitol wrestling, to wwwf then wwf then to WWE(let's hope finally)

from vince to stephanie, all of them have power.

bret hart has been a victime in some sort of it and HHH is the one to enjoy that he is the husband of step they are according to the most influencial family in wrestling.

and you have to say, the Mcmahon's aint fucked up like most wrestlers and have all the dolla, so theyve done somthing right

I'd say the Guerreros were quite influential as well. I mean, you had the senior Guerreros back in the day, then you had Eddie who was one of the main men in ECW and WWE and now you have Vickie who is quite influential and Chavo who was recently the main man on ECW like Eddie was.

villarule19 wrote:

But which family had more influence....Mivias
Cnt really count neidharts or smiths as they married in to the family like the dynamite kid did

if we are gna do it like that, we cant count rocky johnson, he married into high chief peter mavia's family


plus i wudnt say it was just them 3 that was the best in the family, the whole anoi family has been great, but then again, high chief peter wasnt really a blood member of that family, so if we go by your ruling, we cant count peter mavia, rocky johnson or the rock


therefore

harts win!

There are for me two families who were instrumental to the wrestling business in the 80s and there legacy helped others on the path to greatness in the 90s and even now in the 00s

the Harts and the Von erichs