For many wrestlers, retirement from competition doesn’t mean the end of their participation in the pro wrestling industry itself. For skilled performers gifted with what’s commonly referred to as “a mind for the business,” a solid post-in-ring option is becoming a producer. Otherwise known as a road agent, producers work backstage and help plan out the matches.
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There are a number of wrestlers who have become producers and are often seen taking part in pull-apart brawls on television, like Jamie Noble, Fit Finlay, and Arn Anderson. But there are also a number of other wrestlers whose participation in this crucial backstage job has flown relatively under the radar. Let’s take a look at some of those.
10 Barry Windham
Given that Barry Windham’s biggest claim to fame is likely his run with the Four Horsemen in WCW, it’s easy to forget that he had a WWE run in the mid-1990s, wrestling as “The Stalker” and then as a tag team specialist with JBL as The New Blackjacks. After wrestling what would be one of his final matches in 2005, Windham took a job with WWE as a producer in 2007, but would end up getting released from the company at the end of 2008.
9 Jason Jordan
Alongside American Alpha tag team partner Chad Gable, Jason Jordan moved from NXT to the WWE main roster in 2016, eventually splitting up from Gable and taking part in an odd storyline where he was revealed to be Kurt Angle’s long-lost son. However, a neck injury in 2018 took him off television and put his in-ring career to a screeching halt.
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However, Jordan’s career in the wrestling business wasn’t over. Since being sidelined by his injury, Jordan has been working as a producer backstage, and recently received a promotion, becoming lead producer.
8 Chief Jay Strongbow
WWE legend Chief Jay Strongbow started wrestling for the promotion in 1970, and by the time he retired in 1986 Strongbow was a four-time Tag Team Champion with the promotion, having captured the belts with partners like Sonny King, Billy White Wolf, and kayfabe brother Jules Strongbow. After retiring, however, he became a producer for WWE, a role he kept until the late 1990s. It was during this period he briefly worked on screen as a mentor for Tatanka.
7 Billy Kidman
A staple of WCW’s Cruiserweight division, three-time champion Billy Kidman would come to WWE in 2001 as part of the Invasion storyline, after which he’d continue to compete in their version of the division and capture the Cruiserweight Championship four more titles before leaving the company in 2005. In 2007, Kidman was hired by WWE as a trainer in developmental before becoming a backstage producer in 2010, a role he still has today.
6 Ricky Steamboat
One of wrestling’s purest babyfaces of all time, Ricky Steamboat’s place in pro wrestling history is well established thanks to classic matches with Ric Flair and Randy Savage. He retired somewhat early in 1994, but has remained a part of the wrestling biz ever since. In 2005, Steamboat became a producer with WWE, making occasional on-screen appearances before making a brief return to in-ring competition in 2009. From there, Steamboat became a trainer in WWE developmental for several years and wrestled his last-ever match, a tag team bout alongside his son Richie, in 2010.
5 Sonjay Dutt
Fans of Impact Wrestling certainly remember Sonjay Dutt as a frequent presence in the company’s X Division, delivering high flying matches and enjoying a near three-month run as champion in 2017. In 2018, however, he was sidelined by an Achilles injury and ended up taking a job with WWE the following year, becoming a producer. It’s one that easily flies under the radar because Dutt has the odd distinction of being one of the few wrestlers with name recognition who’s never had any sort of match for WWE.
4 Pat Patterson
WWE fans who weren’t around to witness the late Pat Patterson’s in-ring career may know WWE’s first Intercontinental Champion for being one Vince McMahon’s stooges during the Attitude Era alongside fellow retired wrestler Gerald Brisco. For many fans, that memorable run as an onscreen character may obscure the fact that he was also a producer backstage, transitioning to the role after retiring from full-time wrestling in 1984.
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As a producer, Pat Patterson’s biggest contribution would be a match concept that would become one of WWE’s most enduring signature bouts: the Royal Rumble, which first occurred in 1988.
3 Sylvain Grenier
French Canadian wrestler Sylvain Grenier was a member of the foreign heel group La Resistance during the Ruthless Aggression era, becoming a four-time tag team champion in the process before getting released in 2007 and working for a couple of years as TNA’s French language commentator. After about a decade wrestling on the independent wrestling scene, Grenier ended up taking a job with WWE in 2020, working as a producer.
2 D-Von Dudley
Given that he’s spent much of his career as a tag team specialist alongside Bubba Ray Dudley as The Dudley Boyz and captured titles in ECW, WWE, Impact Wrestling, and even New Japan, it’s a bit shocking to find out that D-Von Dudley has settled into a role as WWE producer. After all, it’s just as conceivable that he’d continue playing the hits with his tag partner at whatever promotion can afford him. D-Von started with this position in 2016, and continues to work with WWE while also running his own pro wrestling school.
1 George Steele
One of pro wrestling’s great icons thanks to his unique look, green tongue, and predilection for eating turnbuckle pads, George “The Animal” Steele was a staple of WWE going all the way back to the late 1960s, where he was a regular challenger to the company’s top babyface champions. However, an injury and a Crohn’s Disease diagnosis in the late 1980s resulted in Steele taking a job as a WWE producer, a role he had until the late 1990s when he returned to the ring.
