What These Famous 2000s Wrestlers Are Doing Today

Despite the 1980s and 1990s arguably being more famous than any period of time for wrestling, many of the stars from the 2000s have gone on to become as famous as those who they grew up watching. This is in large part to the internet rapidly evolving to the point where basically any and all wrestling was available to watch if you looked hard enough, with thousands and thousands of hours of footage being digitally archived for the world to see.

It's been well established at this point that the 2000s were a strange time to be a wrestling fan. WCW and ECW were dead and buried, with ECW being resurrected and then killed again, causing non-WWE fans to look outwards and find companies such as Ring of Honor, TNA, and CZW. As for WWE fans, there are those who obviously who have a nostalgic fondness for the Ruthless Aggression era as that's what they grew up on, but in comparison to the height of the Attitude Era in 2000 and 2001, WWE were badly struggling when it came to TV ratings, live attendance, and overall creative juices.

However, that didn't stop them from producing some of the biggest stars in the history of the company, some who have gone on to be as influential those who proceeded them. The likes of John Cena, Kurt Angle, and Randy Orton are all household names in WWE folklore, as is CM Punk who came through the iconic indie scene of the 2000s with the likes of Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, and AJ Styles. Then are those who have faded into the memory of only the most loyal wrestling fan, and today, we've comprised a small list that hopefully covers the names you know and love, and others that you might not have thought about in some time.

So sit back, relax, and join me once again on a journey to the first decade of the 21st century to see what these five wrestlers who made their name in that 10 year timeframe are doing now!

After catching Paul Heyman's eye with his work in Big Japan Wrestling, Yoshihiro Tajiri was brought to Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1998 as a white-meat babyface, complete with blue trunks, a polite smile, and a high-flying offense that dropped the jaws of everyone who saw him in the ECW Arena. By the end of 1999, the blue trunks had been replaced by long baggy leather pants, his smile was a lot more sinister than before, and if any of his opponents thought they might be getting the upper hand, they'd be met with green mist and a kick to the head so hard they would forget what their own birthday was. The Japanese Buzzsaw was born.

2000 was Tajiri's breakout year in ECW, and you really are doing yourself a disservice if you haven't seen his matches against the likes of Steve Corino and Psicosis, while his Mexican Death Match (and his feud as a whole) with Super Crazy really has to be seen to be believed. WWE fans were then introduced to Tajiri in 2001 when he joined after ECW went out of business, where he showcased his comedic chops while also still being a force to be reckoned with in between the ropes. He won the WCW United States and WWE Light Heavyweight Championships during the Invasion storyline, enjoy three separate reigns with the Cruiserweight Championship, perhaps the only man to hold the title three times while it had three different names (WCW, WWF, and WWE respectively), and even had two stints as a WWE Tag Team Champion alongside Eddie Guerrero and William Regal.

While he may have had a brief return to WWE as part of the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic tournament, it's his work in the 2000s that is most fondly remembered, and these days, he can still be found wrestling in Japan for Kyushu Pro Wrestling, where he recently surpassed the 30 year mark as an in-ring performer. Tajiri has also featured in some more well known promotions as recently as this year, reuniting with his ECW rivals/friends Super Crazy and Little Guido at GCW's "The People vs. GCW" pay-per-view in January 2025, and as part of Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement tour at New Japan Pro Wrestling's "Wrestling Dontaku" event in May.

From 2001 to 2005, Maven Huffman had the best job in the world; he was a WWE Superstar. That's a phrase you've probably heard a lot over the past few years, but Maven was genuinely living the dream thanks to a reality TV show that changed his life.

Maven was one of the winners of the inaugural season of "WWE Tough Enough," the company's reality TV show that was created to piggyback off the success of shows like "Survivor" and "Big Brother," and was immediately granted a multi-year contract with WWE as a result. He would begin life being managed by Al Snow, one of the trainers on the show, while routinely mixing it up with veterans like Tazz, Raven, and Booker T. However, it was in 2002 where Maven truly made a name for himself by eliminating The Undertaker from that year's Royal Rumble match, one of the most memorable moments in Rumble history, and as a reward, he was given a truly nasty unprotected chair shot the head and thrown into a popcorn machine.

It did improve for Maven over the following months, challenging for the WWE Undisputed Championship, the WWE Tag Team Championships, and even winning the WWE Hardcore Championship on three separate occasions, including a pinfall win over The Undertaker (who must have hated him at this point), and at WrestleMania 18. His career in WWE would be halted in May 2002 as he broke his leg in a match on "WWE SmackDown" and after recovering, he never found the success of his initial post-"Tough Enough" glory days.

These days, Maven has arguably become more well known and more popular than when he was an active wrestler. He runs his own YouTube channel that currently boasts over 700,000 subscribers, where he is extremely open about his time in wrestling, even exposing hidden secrets of the business such as how WWE wrestlers get paid and how many of them used steroids. His channel has led to him appearing on various podcasts and radio shows, and on the rarest of occasions, he will lace up his boots and get back in the ring for cameo appearances, last wrestling for Booker T's Reality of Wrestling promotion in March 2024.

If you were a young man growing up in the 2000s and you happened to catch an episode of WWE programming, chances are you ended up having a massive crush on at least one WWE Diva, and as time has gone on, most people, including some of those in the business, that Stacy Keibler is perhaps the most beautiful woman to ever step into a wrestling ring.

Debuting in WCW in 1999 as Miss Hancock, Keibler became a member of the WWE roster as part of the Invasion angle in 2001 where, like most women were forced to at the time, she ended up appearing in more "Bra and Panties" matches and lingerie contests than she did wrestling matches. However, that didn't stop her from becoming a beloved member of the Divas division by the fans, as she ended up managing the likes of The Dudley Boyz, Test, and Scott Steiner, as well as being Vince McMahon's personal assistant for a brief period, producing the now iconic meme of Vince falling out of his chair with a delirious look on his face.

It was clear as day that Stacy had more crossover potential than most WWE Superstars, as she was routinely voted as one of the sexiest women in the world by Maxim magazine, was one of the most requested women in history to appear on the cover of Playboy, which she turned down twice, and even finished third on the second season of "Dancing with the Stars," something that caused uproar on the show at the time as many tipped her to win. She would go on to have a successful acting career, return to modelling for a brief time, and even lived out many ladies dreams of dating George Clooney.

After being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2023 by her close friend Torrie Wilson (who Keibler inducted back in 2019) many questioned what Stacy had been doing since leaving wrestling. The answer is simply focusing on her family and being the best possible mother to her three children that she can possibly be. When she's not being a mother, she's being an influencer and brand ambassador on social media, with most fans being able to keep up with her goings on via her Instagram page. 

Not every WWE career turns out to be a success, with some of them being remembered as such catastrophic failures that they remained etched in people's memories forever. That's unfortunately what happened to Muhammad Hassan, who was portrayed by Marc Copani, a New York native of Italian descent, who signed a developmental contract with WWE in 2002 and spent the formative years of his career in OVW. In 2004, WWE were looking to have an Arab-American character featured on television, and after being offered the opportunity to move up to the main roster, Copani agreed, and Muhammad Hassan arrived on the scene in December of that year.

To say Hassan wasn't received well would be like saying the sky is blue or the sun is hot. Obviously portraying a heel in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 and the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, Hassan was loathed by virtually everyone, but was receiving a sustained push on TV and mixing it up with some of WWE's biggest names. After all, his attack on Eugene at WrestleMania 21 was interrupted by none other than Hulk Hogan. He was even on course to have a feud with The Undertaker throughout the summer, but this is where things went horribly wrong for Hassan's character.

On July 4, 2005, Hasaan ordered five men in black ski masks and camo pants to attack The Undertaker with clubs and piano wire. It was bad enough that the angle ran on July 4 of all days, but it was even worse when the episode of "WWE SmackDown" it was taped for aired on July 7, mere hours after a very real terrorist attack in London, England that killed 56 people. Obviously WWE weren't to know something like that would happen, but people were so outraged that the segment aired unedited that WWE scrapped Hassan's character at the behest of the UPN network, and Copani was released by the end of September.

Fortunately, Copani landed on his feet after his release and went back to college to become an educator. After a period of time where he was a world history teacher at Hannibal High School in Hannibal, New York, he would go on to be the Assistant Principal, and eventually the Principal of Fulton Junior High School in Fulton New York. His career in education has only grown more important over the years as Copani is now the Director of Human Resources for the Fulton City School District, and as one would imagine, has no interest in getting back in the ring any time soon.

Rounding out our fab five with one of the most famous wrestlers to ever step foot in a wrestling ring. Dave Bautista came through the famous Ohio Valley Wrestling class of 2002 that included John Cena, Randy Orton, and Brock Lesnar, and for a brief period of time, in genuinely looked like "The Animal" was going to become the biggest success story out of those four.

After having the benefit of learning from the likes of Triple H and Ric Flair in Evolution, Batista gradually became more and more popular to the point where the night he decided to choose "The Game's" World Heavyweight Championship over JBL's WWE Championship in the lead-up to WrestleMania 21 is one of WWE's finest hours. In three short years, Batista had gone from being Reverend D-Von's deacon to a WrestleMania main eventer, where he dethroned Triple H in 2005. For the next four years, Batista would go on to win the World Heavyweight Championship four times, the WWE Championship twice, and became a Tag Team Champion with the likes of John Cena and Rey Mysterio. He was one of the most popular stars of the entire decade, but eventually called time on his wrestling career in 2010 after not liking the direction WWE was going, as well as having a number of nagging injuries.

As for what Batista is doing now, all you need to do is go down to your local movie theater and you'll probably be able to spot the former WWE Champion's face somewhere. While some would say Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has had a more successful movie career, Batista might have had the more critically acclaimed career thus far. He is a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Drax The Destroyer, he appeared in the James Bond franchise as Mr. Hinx in 2015's "Spectre," and had a starring role in both "Dune" movies which are widely regarded as two of the best films of the modern era. When it comes to what's next, Batista has various roles on the horizon, including the latest attempt to reboot Nickelodeon's "Avatar: The Last Airbender" series with 2026's "The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender."