World Wrestling Entertainment/Characters/World Wide Wrestling Federation

Lists the various WWE wrestlers active during the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) Era, from 1963 through 1984. Please limit associated tropes to that wrestler's time in the WWE.

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André The Giant (André René Roussimoff) 1973-1991

• Afro Asskicker
• Bigger Is Better
• Big Fun (Face)
• The Big Guy (Face)
• The Brute (Heel)
• Charlie Brown From Outta Town: The Machines storyline.
• Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Mostly subverted; he was French and liked wine, but he never backed down from a challenge.
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Cool Mask: As Giant Machine.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: Beating the stuffing out of Bobby Heenan at Wrestlemania VI after being his stooge for three years.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Ended Hogan's four-year title reign. It took an Evil Twin referee to do it, but Andre still got the belt...for about 30 seconds.
• Dumb Muscle
  • Unfortunate Implications: Andre was of average intelligence, but his size, caveman-like appearance (his forehead, in particular), and his thick accent caused people to think he was dumber than he actually was. In the fans' defense, though, Andre never went out of his way to show he was smarter than the general perception.
• Evil Foreigner: An aversion, he wasn't always a good guy, but was never a bad guy because he was from France.
• Funny Afro: Before it got shaved by Big John Studd.
• Gentle Giant (Face)
  • And in Real Life, too. As long as you don't piss him off.
• The Giant: DUH!
• Go Nagai Sideburns: Towards the end of his career Andre would sport mutton chops.
• Hard Head: Was known for his headbutts.
• Iconic Wrestler: First inductee into the WWF/E Hall of Fame.
• Mighty Glacier: Especially later in his career.
• Nice Guy: Before his Face Heel Turn, of course.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Again, Giant Machine.
• The Unintelligible: His rumbling/gargling voice (somewhat like The Big Show) combined with a thick accent made him really hard to understand at times.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Literally during a feud with Jake Roberts.

Antonio Inoki (born 猪木寛至, Inoki Kanji) late 1970s - early 1980s

• Alliterative Name: One of his ring names "Tokyo Tom".
• Canon Discontinuity: His WWWF World Heavyweight Championship reign after defeating Bob Backlund.
• Evil Foreigner
• Lantern Jaw of Justice
• Underwear of Power

Antonino Rocca (Antonino Biasetton) 1952–1963,1975–1977

• Carpet of Virility
• Does Not Like Shoes
• Face: The defining example of his era.
• Twofer Token Minority: Italian-Argentinian
• Underwear of Power
• Ur Example: Responsible for introducing the fast, high-flying style to wrestling.

Billy Graham (Eldridge Wayne Coleman) 1975-1978, 1982-1983, 1986-1988

• Badass Mustache
• Bald of Awesome
• Fluffy Fashion Feathers
• Gorgeous George
• Name's the Same: With the Reverend Billy Graham.
• Red Baron: "Superstar"
• Rhymes on a Dime
• Shout-Out: Took his ring name in honor of the preacher.
• Unrelated Brothers: To Dr. Jerry Graham, Eddie Graham and "Crazy" Luke Graham.

Bob Backlund (Robert Lee "Bob" Backlund) 1977-1984, 1992-1997, 2000, 2007

• Alliterative Name
• Antiquated Linguistics
• Beware the Nice Ones: By all accounts, Backlund was an even-tempered competitor who always gave calm interviews, even to the point of being respectful to his fiercest enemies ... unless you got him really angry (at which time he went off like a raving lunatic). Additionally, he wrestled by the book but was also a skilled brawler whose skills came in handy more than once.
• Everything's Better with Bob
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness
• Squash Match: Lost the WWF title to Diesel in eight seconds.
• These Hands Have Killed: After applying his Crossface Chickenwing finisher on opponents in 1994.
• Underwear of Power
• Unstoppable Rage

Bobo Brazil (Houston Harris) 1963-1968, 1976-1977, 1984

• Alliterative Name
• Appropriated Appellation: His name was supposed to be "Boo-Boo Brazil", but a promoter misprinted his first name as "Bobo", the rest is history.
• Arch Enemy: The Sheik.
• Canon Discontinuity: His NWA World Title win over Buddy Rogers.
• Hard Head: His finisher, the Bobo Butt
• Old Master: To Rocky Johnson.
• Underwear of Power
• Ur Example: The first African-American to get over big with white audiences.

Bruno Sammartino (Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino) 1959-1988

• Beyond the Impossible: Held the World title for eight years, when nowadays holding any title for eight months seems like an impossible feat.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Was a scrawny underweight child in his youth who almost died of Rheumatic fever. He would dedicate his young adulthood to weight training, becoming a formidable power lifter before later becoming a world renowned wrestler.
• Iconic Wrestler: His nickname is "The Living Legend".
• Red Baron: "The Living Legend"
• The Time of Myths: Bruno wrestled in an age where matches could be finished with hammer locks, and kept championships for years on end.
• Underwear of Power
• World's Strongest Man: In 1960 he set a world record in the bench press at 565 pounds. One newspaper referred to him as "The Italian Sampson."

Buddy Rogers (Herman Gregory Rohde, Jr.) 1961-1963, 1982

• Dirty Coward
• Dyeing for Your Art: He bleached his hair in preperation for the oncoming of television.
• Legacy Wrestler: He was the first of many Nature Boys in pro wrestling with Ric Flair being the most famous.
• Follow the Leader: Was the first WWWF Champion.
• Gorgeous George
• Red Baron: "Nature Boy"
• Smug Snake
• Underwear of Power

Dino Bravo (Adolfo Bresciano) 1977-1978, 1986-1992

• Canada, Eh?
• Dyeing for Your Art: He bleached his hair blonde when he began teaming with the Dream Team.
• The Mafia: The nephew of a Canadian crime boss in Real Life and him crossing the Trope Namer is the suspected reason behind his murder.
• Red Baron: "Canada's Strongest Man"
• Underwear of Power
• World's Strongest Man: After he lifted 715 pounds, allegedly (Jesse Ventura helped him with the lift).

Ernie Ladd (Ernest Ladd) 1964, 1968-1970, 1972, 1975-1976, 1978, 1980-1981

• Afro Asskicker
• The Giant: He was likely the biggest man in professional football when he played the game. There were plenty of professional wrestlers larger than him however.
• Red Baron: "Big Cat"
• Scary Black Man
• Underwear of Power
• Ur Example: The first professional football player to take up pro wrestling, which he did during the off season.

Gorilla Monsoon (Robert James "Gino" Marella) 1959-1999

• Catch Phrase: "Will you stop?!" (to Heenan or Ventura, usually)
  • "What a miscarriage of justice!"
  • "Concussion City!", or if it was The Undertaker, "Tombstone City!"
    • "Clothesline City" was another favorite of his.
  • "This place is going bananas!"
  • "Please." (In response to a corny line from Ventura or Heenan.)
• Cool Shades
  • Blind Without'Em: They were actually tinted glasses.
• Evil Foreigner: Early in his career, was billed as being from Manchuria.
  • Fake Nationality
• Ho Yay: With Jesse Ventura and Bobby Heenan (in Real Life).
• The Nicknamer: Coined the phrase "Excellence of execution" and used it to refer to many wrestlers before it became one of Bret Hart's nicknames.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: "External occipital protuberance," anyone?

Haystacks Calhoun (William Dee Calhoun) 1958, 1964-1965, 1968-1969, 1973-1976, 1978, 1979

• Ass Kicks You
• Big Fun Personified
• Deep South
• Farm Boy
• Mighty Glacier
• Red Baron: "Haystacks" and before that "Country Boy"

Ivan Koloff (Oreal Perras) 1963, 1969-1971, 1975-1976, 1978-1979, 1983

• Evil Foreigner: Really Canadian Eh
• Fake Nationality
• Leotard of Power
• Red Baron: "The Russian Bear"
• Unrelated Brothers: With Nikita Koloff

Johnny Rodz (Johnny Rodriguez) 1967-1985

• Fake Nationality: As the "Arabian Wildman" Java Ruuk.
• Jobber: For most of his WWWF career.
• Red Baron: "The Unpredictable"
• Underwear of Power

Ken Patera 1977-1978, 1980, 1984-1985, 1987-1988

• Bear Hug
• Hotblooded Sideburns
• Jerk Jock
• Leotard of Power
• Lightning Bruiser
• Red Baron: "World's Strongest Man"
• Ted Baxter
• Ur Example: Paved the way for other Olympians (i.e. Mark Henry and Kurt Angle) to come into Pro-Wrestling.
• Wearing A Flag As A Wrestling Attire

Killer Kowalski (Władek (later Walter) Kowalski) 1957-1958, 1962-1964, 1968-1970, 1974-1977

• Alliterative Name
• Badass Teacher: Taught Triple H, Chyna and Kofi Kingston how to wrestle.
• Canada, Eh?
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast
• Red Baron
• Underwear of Power

Larry Zbyszko (Lawrence "Larry" Whistler) early 1974-1980

• Deceptive Disciple: To Bruno Bruno Sammartino.
• Red Baron: "The New Living Legend"
• Spell My Name with an "S": Officially, his last name is spelt Zbyszko, but is sometimes misspelled like Zbysko or Zybysko.
• Underwear of Power
• Wrestling Family: Married into the Gagne family.

Mil Máscaras (Aaron Rodríguez) 1972–1973, 1977–1978, 1981, 1997

• Alliterative Name
• Cool Mask
• Jack of All Stats
• Masked Luchador
• Meaningful Name: His Name is "A Thousand Masks" in Spanish
• Won't Work On Me: Has been accused of this by Billy Graham, Chris Jericho and Mick Foley
• Ur Example: He was the inspiration for several luchardores and Japanese masked Wrestlers like Rey Mysterio and the origional Tiger Mask.
• Wrestling Family: Brother to Dos Caras and Sicodélico and uncle to Alberto Del Rio and Sicodélico, Jr.

Pat Patterson (Pierre Clermont) 1979-2004

• Alliterative Name
• Canada, Eh?
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: For Vince McMahon in the Attitude Era.
• Follow the Leader: Was the first Intercontinental Champion.
• Invisible to Gaydar
• Those Two Guys: With Gerald Briscoe as Vince McMahon's stooges.
• Underwear of Power
• Yes-Man: To Vince McMahon in the Attitude Era.

Pedro Morales 1959, 1963-1964, 1970-1974, 1980-1982, 1986-1987

• How Much More Can He Take?: He and Bruno Sammartino wrestled for 75 minutes straight, neither one managing to get the three count
• Stuck in Their Shadow: During his career, he could never get fans to forget about Bruno Sammartino, but today he's better appreciated.
• Underwear of Power
• Ur Example: The First Triple Crown Champion in WWF.
• Welcome to the Caribbean, Mon: One of the most iconic Puerto Rican wrestlers

The Sheik (Edward George Farhat) 1964-1969, 1973-1974

• Arab Oil Sheikh
• Do Not Call Me Paul: Wouldn't respond to be called "Ed" even on the phone.
• Evil Foreigner
• Fake Nationality: He was an American of Lebanese descent playing a rich man from the Syrian Desert.
• Garbage Wrestler
• Playing with Fire: If he wasn't the first wrestler to throw fireballs, then he was the first notable one.
• Red Baron: "The Sheik", "The Sheik of Araby" and "The Original Sheik".
• Underwear of Power
• Ur Example: One of those responsible for introducing the hardcore style to wrestling.
• Wrestling Family: His nephew is ECW legend Sabu.

Stan Stasiak (George Stipich) 1971-1979

• Alliterative Name
• Canada, Eh?
• Fake Nationality: He was billed as being from Buzzard Creek, Oregon...in America.
• Finishing Move: The Bear Hug
• Red Baron: "The Man"
• Underwear of Power
• Wrestling Family: His son is former WWE and WCW wrestler, Shawn Stasiak.