With nearly 39 WrestleManias having been held, the WWE has now expanded its fandom to at least three generations of fans. But not just fans, wrestlers too! Plenty of fathers entered into battle only for their sons to follow several years later. With all sorts of levels of success stories for fathers and sons, WrestleMania is still always a great barometer of how familial dynasties have held up on wrestling.
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It’s also fun to explore the first WrestleManias that these superstars competed in too. Some of these fathers are amongst the most legendary in the business. It should come as no surprise that plenty of these children are well on their way to that status as well.
10 Sika (WrestleMania 4) / Roman Reigns (WrestleMania 29)
By the time WrestleMania 4 rolled around, The Wild Samoans were heralded as one of the most fearsome tag teams in the world. But only one of them has ever been a part of a WrestleMania match. Sika was involved in the opening Battle Royal for WrestleMania 4.
Twenty-five years later, his son, the future Tribal Chief himself began his own path of destruction at WrestleMania 29. He was still part of The Shield at this time and the Hounds Of Justice made quick work of a makeshift tag team Randy Orton, Sheamus, and The Big Show.
9 David Sammartino (WrestleMania) / Bruno Sammartino (WrestleMania 2)
Several times in WrestleMania history the son managed to wrestle a match before his father did. It even happened to The Living Legend, Bruno Sammartino, and his son David. The Hall of Famer’s first and only match was partaking in the NFL/WWE Battle Royal at WrestleMania 2.
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His son David had the dubious distinction of being part of the inaugural show. With Bruno in his corner, he wrestled Brutus (not The Barber yet) Beefcake to a double disqualification.
8 Ted DiBiase (WrestleMania 4) / Ted DiBiase Jr (WrestleMania 26)
At the first-ever WrestleMania to not feature Hulk Hogan defending the WWE Title, Ted DiBiase wrestled Randy Savage in the finals of the WWE Title tournament. Rumor has it that Ted was slated to actually win the world title and be the first-ever heel to win the world title at The Show Of Shows. Plans changed, and we got the iconic image of Miss Elizabeth atop her man as she was holding the WWE Title.
As for Ted DiBiase Jr - while his career wasn’t nearly as prolific as dear old dad’s was, he did get to participate in WrestleMania as well. At WrestleMania 26, he and his Legacy brethren fought one another in a triple threat.
7 Cowboy Bob Orton (WrestleMania 2) / Randy Orton (WrestleMania 20)
Speaking of Legacy and legacies, Cowboy Bob Orton will forever be remembered for having a perennially broken arm and for being part of the main event of WrestleMania. But Ace was in the corner of Roddy Piper and Paul Orndoff.
His first event in action was WrestleMania 3, opening up the show by teaming up with The Rock Don Muraco against The Can-Am Connection. Speaking of The Rock, the more famous one - Dwayne Johnson teamed up with Mick Foley against Ace’s son, Randy Orton, Ric Flair, and Batista at WrestleMania 20.
6 Mr. Perfect (WrestleMania 5) / Curtis Axel (WrestleMania 32*) *Kickoff at WM31
You’d think that one of the most respected technical workers of his or any era would have had a little more flare to his debut WrestleMania. But despite the match possibilities of Mr. Perfect against The Blue Blazer, the match was the typical lower-tier affair for WrestleMania 5 during that time.
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His son, Curtis Axel sadly never got past working the ARMBAR for several straight years, with the 'Mania 31 Kickoff being Axel’s first and the one at WrestleMania 32 being his first on the main card.
5 Jerry Lawler (WrestleMania 27) / Brian Christopher (WrestleMania 14)
In the second of three duos where dad worked 'Mania after their son made his debut, Jerry Lawler and Brian Christopher have the longest stints between each of their first WrestleMania matches. At WrestleMania 14, Grandmaster Sexay along with Scotty 2 Hotty (then known as Too Much) took part in the Tag Team Battle Royal eventually won by the returning LOD 2000.
It would be 13 years later and nearly twenty years after first signing with the WWE before The King got his WrestleMania debut. At 27, he, unfortunately, did the honors for Michael Cole of all people.
4 Mike Rotunda (WrestleMania) / Bray Wyatt (WrestleMania 30)
The lineage of The Mulligan family runs deep and every wrestler except for the patriarch took part in at least one WrestleMania. Right from the original WrestleMania brothers-in-law, Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham as The US Express took on Nikolai Koloff and The Iron Sheik. Years later they’d each return separately as IRS and Blackjack Windham respectively.
At WrestleMania 30, the Taxman’s son, Bray Wyatt would enter his first WrestleMania as a competitor in a much-maligned loss to John Cena.
3 Rikishi (WrestleMania 9) / The Usos (WrestleMania 34*) *Kickoff of WM29
Besides being a tag team literally since being in the womb, Jimmy and Jey Uso have been groomed to be the latest and perhaps greatest Samoan tag team of all time, if not tag team in general. Their uncles Afa and Sika, Uncle Eki and cousin Rosey, and their father Rikishi; teamed with another uncle, Samu to form The Headshrinkers.
The Headshrinkers collided with the Steiners during WrestleMania 9. Nineteen years later, The Usos' first-ever WrestleMania was at 'Mania 28 as a Dark Match. But their first time on the main card was at WrestleMania 34 defending the SmackDown tag titles in a losing effort against The New Day and The Bludgeon Brothers.
2 Vince McMahon (WrestleMania 17) / Shane McMahon (WrestleMania 15)
The last father to follow their son’s debut at WrestleMania was the former Chairman and Boy Wonder, Shane-O-Mac.
The Money made his debut defending The European Championship against X-Pac at WrestleMania 15, and two years later collided with daddy dearest in a huge grudge match in Vince’s first 'Mania as a competitor.
1 Dusty Rhodes (WrestleMania 6) / Goldust (WM12) & Cody Rhodes (WM26)
It’s a trio of firsts for The Rhodes family. Big daddy Dusty had participated in the first-ever mixed tag team match at WrestleMania 6, teaming with Sweet Sapphire against The Macho King. Six years later, it was Goldust’s turn to make history, being part of The Hollywood Backlot Brawl.
While Cody has been making all sorts of headlines as of late. His very first WrestleMania came as part of The Legacy and was the first time that a match happened between all members of a faction.
