FANdemonium Is Breaking Loose! Spotting Fans Who Would Later Get Into Pro Wrestling

Posted on June 2, 2020 by bdamage1

Brian Damage

If there is one definitive lesson that we can all take away from the “great” pandemic of 2020, it’s that pro wrestling (As great as it can be) desperately needs fans in attendance to make the product work. A good match can be made great with fans cheering and going crazy for it. Wrestling fans are just as much a part of the show as the wrestlers themselves in many ways. It is their fandom, their passion, their excitement that creates an inexplicable energy that the wrestlers feed off of.

For the majority of us fans, we will remain just that…fans. Then there is the select few, that will take their passion to a whole other level and become what they were fans of from the very beginning. They will sacrifice their time, money and energy to becoming a part of the show themselves. Heck, these few fans that become wrestlers, referees, ring announcers etc…may have attended the same shows that you are I have at one point in time. They may have even made an early cameo on television and we never realized it…

Mick Foley

Perhaps the most famous future wrestler caught on camera as a fan was back in October of 1983. It was a house show at Madison Square Garden in New York City that featured a steel cage match for the Intercontinental title between the champion ‘The Magnificent’ Don Muraco versus the challenger Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka. This was the site of Snuka’s infamous leap off the top of the cage onto Muraco. According to Foley, it really inspired him to become a professional wrestler himself.

Mark LoMonaco

Coincidentally, another future wrestler was at that very same WWF house show. A young 12 year old named Mark LoMonaco was ringside for the evening’s festivities. Of course, LoMonaco would eventually become a wrestler widely known in places like ECW, WWE and TNA as Bubba Ray Dudley/Bully Ray. *Side Note* Tommy Dreamer said he was also at that show…unfortunately to my knowledge…was not caught on camera as was Mick Foley and Mark LoMonaco.

Adam Copeland

Here we see a quick shot of the fans at the Toronto Skydome for Wrestlemania 6 in April of 1990. A 12 year old Hulk Hogan fan named Adam Copeland is spotted in a sea of fans. Copeland would eventually become a pro wrestler himself known by most fans as WWE Hall of Famer Edge.

Jack Perry

A 12 year old Jack Perry sitting next to his famous father…late actor Luke Perry during WWE’s 2009 SummerSlam event in Los Angeles, California. Jack would later become known as ‘Jungle Boy’ on the independent circuit before signing with All Elite Wrestling.

Nick Dinsmore

Not quite sure of the exact date, but it was an episode of Monday Night Raw being held in Louisville, Kentucky. The young man in the red tank top would later go on to be most known as the character named Eugene in the WWE. He would later become a trainer at WWE’s Performance Center for a brief spell.

Francine Fournier

During a match featuring the Steiner Brothers on Monday Night Raw in 1993, WWF cameras panned through the crowd at the Manhattan Center in New York City and caught a 20 year old fan named Francine Fournier. She would later go on to fame as a valet/manager in Extreme Championship Wrestling under the same name.

Justin Roberts

In 1996, on an episode of WCW’s Monday Nitro in Chicago…a 16 year old fan named Justin Roberts got himself on camera in a segment involving Syxx aka Sean Waltman. Roberts would be spotted another couple of times when WCW visited the Windy City. Justin Roberts would later become a ring announcer for WWE and now for All Elite Wrestling.

Kevin Steen

During WWE’s promoted ECW ‘One Night Stand’ pay per view in 2005 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City…the cameras caught a 21 year old Kevin Steen in the stands. Now, believe it or not, despite being a fan for this event…Steen was already a pro wrestler for five years on the independent circuit. As we all know, Steen would become Kevin Owens for WWE several years later.

Johnny Gargano

The frightened looking child in the front row of Raw is War in 1998 in Ohio, was none other than 11 year old John Joseph Gargano. Later, Johnny would become the ‘Heart and Soul’ of NXT and affectionately nicknamed ‘Johnny Wrestling.’

Stacy Keibler

This shot was taken at a WCW Monday Nitro in 1997 in Baltimore, Maryland. The fan in question was an 18 year old named Stacy Keibler. Little did she know that in less than two years, she would become a member of the Nitro Girls dance troupe and later a valet/manager for both WCW and WWE.

Matt Hardy

Here is a 19 year old Matt Hardy in attendance for WCW’s SuperBrawl III in 1993. The show was held in Matt’s home state of North Carolina. Matt was a wrestler for about a year up to this point.

Cassie McIntosh

Finally, this photo was snapped at a WWE show when they did a tour of Sydney, Australia. The young girl named Cassie McIntosh would grow up to become Peyton Royce…one half of the IIconics in WWE.

When the world returns to normal and fans are once again allowed to attend wrestling shows…keep an eye out for when they pan out to the crowds. You just never know what future pro wrestler is out there among us.