This past Monday, Nia Jax squashed another local enhancement wrestler as she continues her build to face Asuka one-on-one at WWE Elimination Chamber. The wrestler’s name was announced as Vanessa Floyd and Jax made short work of the poor girl. And girl was right. It was later reported by Squared Circle Sirens that Floyd was in fact 17-year old wrestler Savanna Stone, a young student of both Michael Elgin and Tracey Smothers (one would wonder if perhaps Stone’s WWE last name “Floyd” was a tribute to her teacher Smothers’ WWE gimmick, Freddie Joe Floyd).
Savanna Stone & Minors in the Squared Circle
Many online seemed rather shocked that someone so young would be allowed to enter the ring and wrestle. But you’d be surprised – while 17 is in fact uncommonly young for a wrestler in the WWE (or the United States), in Europe it’s fairly common. After all, WWE Superstar Paige started wrestling at 13 in England, and current PROGRESS Women’s star Millie McKenzie is herself only 17 (although soon to be 18). In Japan, it’s not uncommon for younger athletes to train in Dojos and get early work in the teens. But Vanessa Floyd – or rather, Savanna Stone – isn’t even the youngest competitor to even step inside a WWE ring. Here’s a look at some younger (and some much younger) competitors who have stepped inside a squared circle.
JEFF HARDY, 16 years old
In 1994, a 16-year old Jeff Hardy joined his 20-year old brother Matt in securing some “enhancement” work with the WWF – Jeff lied about his age to get the gig. But on June 6, 1994, Jeff Hardy – under the name Keith Davis – faced a red-hot Razor Ramon on Monday Night Raw.
TEDDY HART & TYSON KIDD, 16 years old
On October 5, 1996, at a Calgary WWF House Show, several of Stu Hart‘s grandchildren took part in one of the matches on the card. All of them were trainees at the Hart Dungeon, including Teddy Hart and TJ Wilson (aka WWE’s Tyson Kidd), both of whom were only 16 years old at the time. (Note: there’s no video of the match unfortunately, but the video below shows a 19-year old Hart vs Wilson from Stampede Wrestling – you’ll notice a young Mauro Ranallo on commentary)
DAVEY BOY SMITH JR., 11 years old
Oh yes. One of the other members of that 1996 WWF House Show in Calgary match was an 11-year old Harry Smith, the son of “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith and Diana Hart, known to WWE fans as David Hart ‘DH’ Smith, or to NJPW fans as Davey Boy Smith Jr. That’s right, Smith wrestled on a WWF card at the age of 11. Smith was also wrestling in Stampede Wrestling at that time as well (as seen in the video below against 16-year old Tyson Kidd)
Kenny Omega vs. A 9-year old girl
It’s one of Jim Cornette‘s least favourite matches but one of Kenny Omega‘s most famous (well, that’s not rated 5 stars or higher). Back when he was in DDT in 2011, Kenny Omega wrestled a 7-year old girl. When Omega was on a recent edition of Talk is Jericho, he recalled how “when we were scouting talent and recruiting talent, in the beginners class, there was this little girl and I believe she was seven years old. And she was a huge wrestling fan and she was really jealous and heartbroken that all these girls were getting scooped from the shoot boxing academy to become pro wrestlers because she was the biggest fan of them all. So they felt bad and they wanted to find something for her and so they had asked me because I had done some mix(ed gender) stuff before in Japan on the indies and said, ‘Kenny’s really good. He’s safe. He helped some of our developing talents become better and maybe you could work with him for a couple of weeks and see if we can get you to a point where you could do something in the ring.’ And so, I said, ‘yeah, sure!'”
MAXEL HARDY, 1 year old
The firstborn heir to House Hardy, the 1 year old son of Matt and Reby Hardy made his professional wrestling debut in 2016 during his father’s Broken Matt run in Impact Wrestling. During Total Nonstop Deletion, Maxel faced – and defeated – Rockstar Spud in a match. Yes, 205 Live‘s new GM was beaten clean by a one year old.
OWEN STEEN, 6 months old
But the youngest person to step foot into a wrestling ring and win a match is none other than Owen Steen, the son of current WWE Superstar Kevin Owens. Back when Kevin was in PWG, he was embroiled in a feud with Excalibur. Before a match, Excalibur antagonized Owens (then simply Kevin Steen) over his newborn son which resulted in a beatdown and Owen being inserted into the match, where he scored the pinfall for his dad.
