In 1985, Vince McMahon gambled the future of his promotion by going all in on the first WrestleMania. Luckily for McMahon and WWE, the show was a smash hit. The success of WrestleMania would allow WWE to eventually become the juggernaut promotion it is today. Over the years, countless performers have appeared on wrestling's grandest stage.
Some performers paid their dues for years before finally making it to WrestleMania. Conversely, there have been some very young performers throughout the years that had the good fortune of making it onto the WrestleMania card very early on in their careers. Some of those young names would go on to be big-time players for WWE, while others faded away.
10 Mabel: 23 Years, 1 Month, 6 Days
During his time at the helm of WWE, Vince McMahon proved without a doubt that he's a sucker for size. McMahon always preferred a tall, athletic, and muscular physique. However, if McMahon couldn't get that, he'd settle for sheer mass. Mabel was a massive man, which is likely what caught McMahon's attention.
Mabel would break into the wrestling business at a young age. At only 23 years old, Mabel would compete at WrestleMania 10 where he and Mo would defeat The Quebecers. Unfortunately, despite a strong start, Mabel's career never panned out the way he or McMahon had hoped it did.
9 Lance Cade: 23 Years, 12 Days
After The Attitude Era concluded, Vince McMahon and WWE found themselves on the hunt for their next flagship performer. At the time, many young performers were earmarked as potential future stars. Believe it or not, at one point, the company was pretty high on Lance Cade and his tag team partner, Mark Jindrak.
Cade had been trained by Shawn Michaels for a bit so that gave a bit of cache with WWE. At WrestleMania 20, at only 23 years and 12 days, Cade would get his first taste of the bright lights of WrestleMania. Sadly, Cade's wrestling journey would end in tragedy as he passed away from heart failure in 2010, at only 29 years old.
8 Akio: 22 Years, 10 months, 1 Day
Dark match performances and battle royale appearances have been excluded from this list because they barely count as a WrestleMania appearance. Akio's case is a bit different as he competed in the Cruiserweight Open at WrestleMania 20, which was an actual match and not a battle royale. Some fans might be scratching their heads wondering who Akio even is.
Those fans might be more familiar with his later persona, "Jimmy Yang Wang." Regardless, Akio was only 22 years, 10 months, and 1 day old when he performed at WrestleMania 20. He wouldn't leave much of a mark on the industry but making it to WrestleMania at such a young age is impressive on its own.
7 Austin Theory: 22 Years, 7 Months, 24 Days
It doesn't take a fortune teller or a crystal ball to realize that Austin Theory is likely going to be one of WWE's key stars going forward. Theory is young, talented, and oozing with potential. In 2020, at only 22 years, 7 months, and 24 days old, Theory made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania36.
Unfortunately, WrestleMania took place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic so Theory didn't get the full experience of a WrestleMania crowd. Theory's current career trajectory would indicate that he's still got quite a few big WrestleMania matches in his future though. On this night, he and Angel Garza would fall to The Street Profits.
6 Paige: 22 Years, 7 Months, 12 Days
Women have always played an important role at WrestleMania. It hasn't always been as wrestlers though. Despite there having been women's matches at WrestleMania before, it took over 30 years for them to be an actual focus of the show. Sadly, in past years, women's matches at 'Mania were treated as filler.
WrestleMania 31 was the final WrestleMania before The Women's Revolution. On that show, a 22-year-old Paige made her WrestleMania debut in a tag team match alongside AJ Lee. Regrettably, their match was the shortest match on the card that night. Just a few years later though, women would be main eventingWrestleMania
5 Jeff Hardy: 22 Years, 7 Months, 2 Days
A few 22-year-olds have performed at WrestleMania. However, only one 22-year-old ever stole the show at "The Showcase Of The Immortals." To be fair, Jeff Hardy didn't steal the show on his own. Hardy had help in the form of his brother, Matt, Edge & Christian, and The Dudley Boyz.
Still, Hardy easily put on the best performance ever by a young up-and-comer at WrestleMania 2000. That night, the wrestling world witnessed a Triangle Ladder Match that is still spoken about today. The match was the precursor to Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches. The match elevated all the performers involved, especially the young Hardy.
4 Tama: 22 Years, 5 Months, 16 Days
Not all WrestleMania performances are created equally. Tama is a great example of this. As evident by this list, 4 other 22-year-olds have performed at WrestleMania. Two of them went on to be huge stars while a third one seems to be headed down a similar path. Tama's appearance on wrestling's grandest stage gets lost in the shuffle though.
Tama, who's part of the Anoa'i Family, appeared at WrestleMania 4 alongside Haku and Bobby Heenan. The Islanders and Heenan squared off against The British Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware that night but most fans don't remember the match because it was overshadowed by the WWE Championship Tournament that took place on that same show.
3 Aguila: 20 Years, 3 Months, 19 Days
In 1996, Eric Bischoff introduced the American wrestling audience to cruiserweight wrestling through WCW's Cruiserweight division. To say it was a huge success would be an understatement. The cruiserweights would be one of the elements that helped Monday Nitro differentiate itself from Monday Night Raw.
WWE would try to mimic WCW's success by introducing their Light Heavyweight division in 1998. Aguila, who would later be known as Ese Rios, was part of that division. At WrestleMania 14, at 20 years, 3 months, and 19 days, Aguila would make his WrestleMania debut in a match against Taka Michinoku. At the time, he was the youngest WrestleMania performer ever.
2 Rene Dupree: 20 Years, 2 Months, 30 Days
As we've mentioned before, WWE had an abundance of young, promising, talent in the early 2000s. Rene Dupree was among those performers. Dupree made his WWE debut as part of the La Resistance tag team alongside Sylvan Grenier, and eventually, Rob Conway. It wouldn't take Dupree long to make it to wrestling's biggest stage.
In 2004, at 20 years, 2 months, and 30 days, Dupree would perform at WrestleMania 20. Although La Resistance wouldn't be successful that night, Dupree would become the youngest performer in WrestleMania history, just edging out Aguila. The "performer" that would surpass Dupree as the youngest ever is a bit controversial, to say the least.
1 Nicholas, 10 Years Old
Let's just point out the obvious right off the bat, Nicholas Cone is far from a wrestler. If some fans refuse to acknowledge him as a wrestler at WrestleMania, it's hard to argue against them. Still, the fact remains that Nicholas not only appeared at WrestleMania 34 but walked out with some championship gold.
Leading up to WrestleMania 34, Braun Strowman had been teasing a surprise partner for his Raw Tag Team Championship match against The Bar. The surprise factor built a lot of intrigue for the match but was ultimately a huge letdown. Strowman would end up plucking the 10-year-old Nicholas out of the crowd and winning the match without any help.
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