World Wrestling Entertainment majority owner, chairman, and CEO Vince McMahon grew up in an 8-foot-wide trailer in North Carolina, where he did not meet his father, a wrestling promoter, until the age of 12.

From those humble origins, McMahon, who turned 69 earlier this week, rose to become the head of a billion-dollar company. In growing WWE from the regional organization it was when he took over to the global empire it is today, McMahon has relied on an incredible work ethic that is unmatched in the wrestling business.

For more than three decades, he has lived, breathed, and sometimes bled WWE, both in the boardroom and on television, where he plays a fictionalized version of himself.

This post was originally written by Aaron Taube.