World Wrestling Entertainment/Characters/Rock N Wrestling

Lists the various WWE wrestlers active during the Rock 'N' Wrestling Era, from 1984 through 1993. Please limit associated tropes to that wrestler's time in the WWE.

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Adrian Adonis (Keith A. Franke) 1982-1987

• Alliterative Name
• Camp Gay
• Dyeing for Your Art: Became a blonde when he became "Adorable".
• Finishing Move: Good Night, Irene (Sleeper)
• Gorgeous George: Specifically, a homage of Adrian Street.
• Real Men Wear Pink: And makeup.
• Red Baron: "Adorable"
• Sissy Villain
• Traumatic Haircut: Gave Brutus Beefcake one, but he retaliated by shaving Adonis bald..
• Underwear of Power

Bad News Brown (Allen James Coage) 1978-1979, 1988-1990

• Angry Black Man: Somewhat implied in his interviews, though never expressed outright.
• Badass: A real life Olympian.
  • To take it further, he won the bronze in the judo heavyweight division at the '76 games, making him the only American representative to medal in the Olympics at that weight class.
  • A popular story tells that Bad News stood up to Andre the Giant when Andre apparently cracked a racist joke with Brown in earshot. Andre not only backed down, he never told another joke like that again (at least not with Bad News around).
• Badass Beard
• Bald of Evil
• Catch Phrase: "Lemme tell you beer-bellied share-croppers one thing..."
• Finishing Move: Ghetto-Blaster (Jumping Enzuigiri)
• I Work Alone
• It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": For some reason, he would pronounce the "wrestle" in WrestleMania as "res-la."
• Jive Turkey
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Earned the nickname Bad News in judo before he started wrestling.
• Scary Black Man: And how!
• Shout-Out: Used the enzuigiri as a finisher in honor of his wrestling mentor Antonio Inoki.
• Underwear of Power

Barry Windham (Barry Clinton Windham) 1984–1985, 1989, 1996-1998

• All-American Face: During his original run in the WWF along with Mike Rotundo (aka IRS) as the U.S Express.
• Badass Long Hair
• It Runs in The Family: Son of "Blackjack" Jack Mulligan and brother to Kendell Windaham.
• Nice Hat: During his cowboy gimmicks.
• Parts Unknown: Billed from "The Environment" as the Stalker.
• Red Baron: "The Widowmaker", "The Stalker" and "Blackjack".
• Suplex Finisher: A Superplex, specifically
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: A wrestling cowboy as the Widowmaker and Blackjack Windham.

The Big Boss Man (Raymond Walter "Ray" Traylor, Jr.) 1988-1993, 1998-2003

• Complete Monster: Handcuffing Hulk Hogan to a guardrail and beating him down repeatedly with his nightstick on the Brother Love Show; handcuffing Miss Elizabeth and threatening to beat her; killing Al Snow's dog and then feeding it to him; tormenting the Big Show over the death of his father.
• Cool Shades
• Dirty Cop: His gimmick during his original heel run. Subverted when he had his Heel Face Turn; after he recovered the Million Dollar Belt from Jake "The Snake" Roberts, he discovered that his manager, Slick, had taken a bounty from Ted DiBiase to recover the belt, and promptly broke ways with him, saying that he "will not be bought!"
• Finishing Move: Bossman Slam (Scrapbuster Slam)
• Foe Yay: With Hulk Hogan.
• For the Evulz: What his acts of Complete Monsterdom were done for.
• Ho Yay: With Akeem the African Dream, formerly known as the One Man Gang.
• Police Brutality (Heel)
• Real Life Writes the Plot: He was a former Prison Guard.
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: Normally a wrestling prison guard (which was Traylor's prior occupation in Real Life), he often seemed more like a wrestling police officer, especially with his talk of "bringing law and order to the World Wrestling Federation!"
• X-Pac Heat: It was originally Bossman Heat, but was changed out of respect for Ray Traylor after he passed.

Big John Studd (John William Minton) 1982-1986, 1989

• Badass Beard
• Badass Long Hair
• The Brute
• The Giant: He claimed to be the "true" giant of wrestling, though he was clearly shorter than Andre the Giant.
• Red Baron: "The 'True' Giant"
• The Rival: Andre the Giant
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules: Studd refused to accept Ted DiBiase’s offer to eliminate himself from the 1989 Royal Rumble. He instead won by eliminating DiBiase.
• Suplex Finisher: Double-Arm Suplex
• Traumatic Haircut: Gave one to Andre the Giant,

Bob Orton (Robert Keith Orton) 1982, 1984-1987, 2005-2006

• Ho Yay: With Roddy Piper
• Red Baron: "Cowboy"
  • Also "The Ace" and "The Bodyguard"
• Ring Oldies
• Suplex Finisher
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: A wrestling cowboy, not that's ever in short supply in WWE.
• Wrestling Family: With his father, Bob, Sr., brother Barry and son Randy.

Brooklyn Brawler (Steve Lombardi) 1983-

• Alliterative Name
• Brooklyn Rage
• Jobber
• The Other Darrin: One of many men that became Doink the Clown after Matt Borne.
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: Became Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz, a baseball player for a short time during the 1994 baseball strike.

Brutus Beefcake (Edward Harrison Leslie) 1984-1993

• Alliterative Name
• Fashion Victim Villain (Heel) / Impossibly Tacky Clothes (Face)
• Finishing Move: High-Knee; Sleeper
• Not in the Face: A stipulation added to all his matches after his parasailing accident.
• Red Baron: "The Barber"
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: Because he was Hulk Hogan's close friend, this is allegedly why he found work in the 1980's and why he had a talk show segment after his parasailing accident in the summer of 1990.
• Talk Show With Fists: "The Barbershop"
• Traumatic Haircut: Been given one by Adrian Adonis, he returned the favor.
• Weapon of Choice: Hedgeclippers
• What Could Have Been: He was scheduled to win the Intercontinental Title from Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam '90 before his parasailing accident.
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: A wrestling barber at first.

Don Muraco (Donald Muraco) 1981-1988

• Finishing Move: Piledriver
• Jerkass: As a Heel.
• Red Baron: First "The Magnificent" then "The Rock" (no not him)
• They Changed Him Now He Sucks: Muraco was long successful as a bad guy, after his Heel Face Turn, not so much.
  • It didn't help that he became even worse in the ring thanks to upping his steroid use.
• Underwear of Power
• Ur Example: The first winner of the King of the Ring.

Dusty Rhodes (Virgil Riley Runnels, Jr.) 1989-1991, 2005-2007

• Acrofatic
• All-American Face
• Awesome, Dear Boy: The reason Dusty loves the "American Dream" gimmick even though some fans though it was demeaning.
• Finishing Move: The Bionic Elbow
• Ham and Cheese: His sons have this ability as well.
• Leotard of Power: With polka dots
• Red Baron: "The American Dream" and "Common Man"
• Ring Oldies: In his 60s and still wrestling from time to time.
• Wrestling Family: His sons are Dustin and Cody Runnels, Goldust and "Dashing" Cody Rhodes respectively.

George Steele (William James Myers) 1968-1970, 1972, 1976, 1984-1988, 1998-1999

• Bald of Awesome
• Carpet of Virility
• Confusion Fu: Fought like an unpredictable animal
• Crazy Consumption: Of the turnbuckle on Raw
  • Once an Episode: For a time he did this every match
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
• Distracted by the Sexy: During a feud with Randy Savage, he was constantly distracted by Elizabeth just being there.
• Finishing Move: Lifting Hammerlock
• Red Baron: "The Animal"
• The Unintelligible: All his promos.
  • Combined with Hulk Speak.
• Walking Shirtless Scene
• Wild Man

Greg Valentine (John Wisniski, Jr.) 1978-1981, 1984-1992, 1993-1994

• Badass Long Hair
• Dyeing for Your Art: Dyed his hair black when he tag teamed with Elvis Impersonator, the Honky Tonk Man as "Rhythm and Blues".
• Four Is Death: His finisher, the Figure-Four Leglock.
• Fridge Logic: How does wearing a shin guard backwards make a figure-four hurt more?
• Instrument Of Destruction: The guitar while in "Rhythm and Blues".
  • Also Jimmy Hart's megaphone and the shin guard he wore for a while.
• Red Baron: "The Hammer"
• Wrestling Family: The son of Johnny Valentine and Brother-In-Law to Brian Knobbs.

Haku (Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifita) 1985-1992, 2001

• Afro Asskicker: In his second run with the company.
• Badass: Widely considered to be one of the biggest Real Life badasses in the business.
  • Recently confirmed the long-standing rumor that he bit the nose of a guy who hassled him.
• Does Not Like Shoes: His first run with his company.
• Finishing Move: Savate Kick; Tongan Death Grip
• Hard Head
• I Have Many Names: King Tonga, King Haku, and Haku.
• What Could Have Been: Asked to compete in UFC during its infancy but turned it down.
• Who's on First?: Fellow wrestlers like to rib him due to the fact that he's a Tongan named Tonga.
• Wild Samoan: Actually a Tongan, though.
• Wrestling Family: The father of Tevita, better known as Camacho.

Harley Race (Harley Leland Race) 1986-1989

• Awesome McCoolname: He gets extra points for that being his real name.
• Badass Grandpa
• Red Baron: "King" or "Handsome"
• Suplex Finisher: Fisherman's Suplex, to be specific
• Underwear of Power

Hillbilly Jim (Jim Morris) 1984-1997

• Badass Beard
• Deep South
• Finishing Move: Bear Hug; Big Boot
• Fun Personified
• Unrelated Wrestling Family: Cousins Luke, Junior, Henry and Phineas and Uncle Elmer.

The Honky Tonk Man (Roy Wayne Farris) 1986-1991, 1997–1998, 2001, 2008

• Captain Ersatz: Do You Still Have To Ask?
  • Played with as Honky would claim to not know who Elvis was.
  • Other times Honky would claim Elvis is a rip-off of him.
• Dirty Coward
• Fake Singer
  • Slightly subverted, he did sing two of his theme songs.
• Finishing Move: Shake, Rattle n' Roll (Swing Neckbreaker)
• Instrument Of Destruction: His guitar.
• Lethal Joke Character: Nearly crippled Jake Roberts with a stiff guitar shot. He also still holds the record for the longest Intercontinental Title reign.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Was brought in as a face (and an endorsement from Hulk Hogan, no less), but fans hated the character so much he was turned heel and the rest is history.
• Screw The Rules, I Have A Title!: AKA the "Honky Tonk Finish".
• Villain Song: I'm cool, I'm cocky I'm bad.
• Would Hit a Girl: Shoved Miss Elizabeth to the ground when she tried to protect Randy Savage. He might have been the first wrestler to attack her.
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: He's a wrestling Elvis Impersonator.
• Wrestling Family: Cousin of Jerry Lawler

Hulk Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea) 1979-1980, 1983-1993, 2002-2003, 2005-2007

• All-American Face (Right down to his entrance theme)
• Alliterative Name
• Animated Adaptation: Had his own Saturday morning cartoon show Hulk Hogan's Rock 'N Wrestling.
• Badass Beard
• Berserk Button: Used to be real touchy about his balding hair. He has lightened up quite a bit in recent years.
• Boring Invincible Hero
• Charlie Brown From Outta Town: When Vince McMahon banned him from WWE, "Mr. America" showed up to carry on his legacy. As Mr. America himself said, "I'm not Hulk Hogan, BROTHER!"
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Inverted. Hulk has Chronic Getting-Backstabbed Disorder; he never had a friend that didn't betray him and try to take him out, except for possibly Hillbilly Jim.
• Cool Mask: As Hulk Machine and Mr. America.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Beating Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III
• Dork Age: The fist helmet. My god, the fist helmet.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Upon his return as part of the nWo in 2002.
• Executive Meddling: WrestleMania IX is probably his most well-known offense (in the WWF/E, at least).
• Finishing Move: Atomic Legdrop; Axe Bomber
• Five Moves of Doom: No-sell offense, punch, Irish Whip, boot to the face, legdrop. Lather, rinse, repeat for over thirty years.
• Follow the Leader: He was the first person to have more than two World Title reigns.
• God Mode Sue
• Hypocrite: Despite his squeaky-clean image, he would choke, scratch, eye gouge, and use weapons as much as his opponents, sometimes more.
• Iconic Wrestler
• Jerkass: Whenever he was the champ, he was never shy about talking and acting like he was the best (in character and out). This lead to most of the above-mentioned back-stabbings (Paul Orndorff in particular).
• Large Ham
• Marvel Owns This Name: The name Hulk was owned by Marvel Comics. For one-shot appearances, Hulk would be referred to as "Hollywood Hogan" to get around the trademark.
• Red Baron: "The Incredible," "The Immortal," "Hollywood"
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad
• Ted Baxter
• Underwear of Power
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Does this on Wrestlemania VII. During his Mr. America gimmick in 2003, he wore the American flag as a Wrestling attire.
• Verbal Tic: "BROTHER!"
  • He would later add "dude" and "jack"

The Iron Sheik (Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri) 1979-1980, 1983-1987, 1988, 1991-1992, 1996-1997

• Bald of Evil
• Evil Foreigner
• Memetic Mutation: His shoot interviews have given rise to a lot of this; in particular, "FAAAAAACKING BULLSHEHHHHHT!"

"...break his back, fuck him in the ass, and make him humble!"

• Those Two Guys: With Nikolai Volkoff.
• Underwear of Power

Irwin R. Schyster (Lawrence Michael "Mike" Rotunda) 1984-1987, 1991-1995

• All-American Face: During his original run in the WWF along with Barry Windham as the U.S Express.
• Badass in a Nice Suit
• Fun with Acronyms: Wow, if you take the three initials in his name, it spells IRS.
  • Lampshaded in his ring introduction: "Irwin R. Schyster, otherwise known as IRS"
• Ho Yay: With Barry Windham (both in the ring and Real Life).
• Improbable Weapon User: A breifcase.
• Intimidating Revenue Service: His whole damn gimmick.
• Meaningful Name
• Narm Charm
• Punny Name
• Spell My Name with an "S": For some odd reason, before the IRS gimmick he went by Mike Rotundo instead of Mike Rotunda, his real last name.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero
• So Bad It's Good: His theme music.
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: A wrestling IRS agent.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts (Aurelian Smith, Jr.) 1986-1992, 1996-1997

• Ax Crazy
• Badass
• Badass Decay: During the mid 1990's.
• Complete Monster: His unprovoked attack on Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth's wedding reception, followed by him attempting to attack Elizabeth with a chair.
  • He followed that up by attacking Savage, tying him in the ropes, and having a real cobra bite Savage's arm.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Would often use his snake to imitate his "snake".
• Fallen Hero: The documentary Beyond the Mat shows how much he has fallen from grace, and how much his own daughter hates him.
• Follow the Leader: Invented the DDT
• Iconic Wrestler
• Magnificent Bastard
• Mascot: Usually a python (even more usually named Damien).
• Moral Event Horizon: Slapping Miss Elizabeth, absolutely unheard of at the time.
• Parental Incest: Sadly, the product thereof, the trauma of which caused many of his substance abuse problems.
• Red Baron: "The Snake"
• Smug Snake: Hence the name, and complete with Right Hand Snake
• Wrestling Family: Son of Grizzly Smith and half-brother of Sam Houston and Rockin' Robin.

Jim Duggan (James Edward Duggan) 1987-1993, 2005-2009

• All-American Face
• Badass Beard
• Badass Grandpa
• Catch Phrase: "Hooo!" and "U-S-A!"
• I Know Madden Kombat: His three-point stance into a tackle.
• Red Baron: "Hacksaw"
• Ring Oldies: In his 50s and still wrestling, too bad it's as a Jobber.
• Underwear of Power
• Ur Example: The first winner of the Royal Rumble.
• Verbal Tic: See Catchphrase
• Weapon of Choice: A 2 x 4
  • Carry a Big Stick
• The Worf Effect: For Hulk Hogan.

Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka (James William Reiher) 1982-1985, 1989-1992

• Badass Grandpa
• Does Not Like Shoes: In Real Life as well
• Loin Cloth
• Noble Savage
• Red Baron: "Super-Super-Superfly"
• Ring Oldies: 66 and still wrestling.
• Wild Samoan
• Wrestling Family: His son and daughter are wrestlers as well.

Junkyard Dog (Sylvester Ritter) 1984-1988

• Afro Asskicker
• Ass Kicks You
• Badass Beard
• Chained by Fashion Ruby
• Fallen Hero: In his prime he could've been as big as Hulk Hogan, but his drug and eating habits caused him to degenerate very quickly.
• Gentle Giant: He loved to dance with the kids.
• Hard Head
• Jive Turkey

Kerry Von Erich (Kerry Gene Adkisson) 1990-1992

• Badass Long Hair
• Handicapped Badass: Wrestled with an amputated right foot and managed to hide it his entire run.
• Red Baron: "The Texas Tornado"
• Underwear of Power
• The Von Trope Family: His family.

King Kong Bundy (Chris Pallies) 1985-1987, 1994-1995

• Bald of Evil:He was completely hairless, completely!
• But Not Too White
• Fat Bastard
• Leotard of Power
• Stout Strength

Koko B. Ware (James Ware) 1986-1994

• Cool Pet: Frankie the Macaw
• Cool Shades
• Dyeing for Your Art: Occasionally dyed the sides of his hair to look like an exotic bird.
• Fun Personified: Kids loved him.
• Identity Impersonator: Did this twice, once while teaming with the Killer Bees and once when he was trying to help prove his former Tag Team partner, wasn't the Blue Blazer (he was). Neither time worked because he was an African American replacing Caucasian males.
• Mysterious Middle Initial
  • Punny Name
• Red Baron: "Birdman"

Mad Dog Vachon (Maurice Vachon) 1984-1985

• Bald of Awesome
• Canada, Eh?
• Carpet of Virility
• Heel Face Turn: After years decades of being a Heel he was a Face for his short run with the company before he retired.
• Red Baron
• Ring Oldies: Was still wrestling at 55.
• Wrestling Family: Brother of wrestlers Paul and Vivian Vachon, and the uncle of wrestler Luna Vachon.

The Mountie (Jacques Rougeau Jr.) 1986-1994, 1998

• Always Gets His Man
• Canada, Eh?
• Civvie Spandex: Wrestles in his mountie gear.
• Cool Shades
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: Wrestling in WCW under his given name, he became one of the few people in wrestling history to get a CLEAN win over Hulk Hogan.
• Dirty Cop
• Dreadful Musician: Sings in both his Mountie and Quebecers themes... off-key.
• Evil Foreigner
• Nice Hat
• Sibling Team: With his older brother Raymond as the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers.
• Stun Guns
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: A wrestling mountie.

Nailz (Kevin Wacholz) 1992

• Axe Crazy
• Mighty Glacier
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Fired for allegedly assaulting Vince McMahon.
• Straw Man Has a Point: Claimed to be a prisoner abused by the Big Bossman. When you consider how violent the Bossman was as a heel...
• Unstoppable Rage

Nikolai Volkoff (Josip Nikolai Peruzović) 1968, 1970-1971, 1974, 1976-1977, 1979, 1984-1990, 1991-1992, 1994-1995

• Bald of Evil
• Bear Hug
• Dirty Communists
• Evil Foreigner
• Fake Nationality: Although billed as being from Russia, Nikolai Volkoff was actually from Yugoslavia
• Gratuitous Russian
• Husky Russkie
• Those Two Guys: With The Iron Sheik.
• Underwear of Power

One Man Gang / Akeem (George Gray) 1987-1990

• Eighties Hair: His Mohawk as the One Man Gang
• Fake Nationality: As Akeem, from the Deepest, Darkest Africa
• Fun with Acronyms: One Man Gang has OMG.
• Ho Yay: With the Big Boss Man while he was Akeem.
• Just a Stupid Accent: As Akeem
• Nice Hat: As Akeem
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Became Akeem to re-embrace his African Roots.
• Red Baron: Akeem, "the African Dream".

Paul Orndorff (Paul Parlette Orndorff, Jr.) 1983-1987

• Blond Guys Are Evil: If he's a Heel
• Heel Face Revolving Door
• My Name Is Not Durwood: Fans were encouraged to taunt him by calling him Paula.
• Red Baron: "Mr. Wonderful"
• Underwear of Power
• Ungrateful Bastard: To Hulk Hogan
  • Many fans felts Hogan was a complete jerk to Orndorff and that Paul was completely justified when he turned on Hulk.

Rick Martel (Richard Vigneault) 1980-1982, 1986-1995

• Canada, Eh?
• Cool Shades
• The Fighting Narcissist
• Foe Yay: With Tito Santana and Shawn Michaels.
• Gorgeous George
• Real Men Wear Pink
• Red Baron: "The Model"
• Improbable Weapon User: His cologne called "Arrogance" which caused Temporary Blindness.
• Underwear of Power
• What Could Have Been: Was planned to have one last run in the WWF as part of a tag-team called "The Super Models" with Don Callis (later known as "The Jackyl", and then "Cyrus the Virus" in ECW), which would have resulted in Martel turning face for the first time since Wrestlemania V, but it never panned out.
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: "Yes, I am a Model"

Rick Rude (Richard Erwin Rood) 1987-1990, 1997

• Alliterative Name: Both his wrestling and real names have RR initials. Even his Red Baron starts with the letter R
• Badass in a Nice Suit: In DX.
• Badass Longcoat: It fits his gimmick.
• Badass Mustache
• Catch Phrase: "What I'd like to have right now is for all you..." "Keep the noise down, while I take my robe off..."
• Improbable Weapon User: A steel briefcase in DX.
• Narm Charm
• Red Baron: "Ravishing"

Randy Savage (Randall Mario Poffo) 1985-1994

• Badass Beard
• Cool Shades: At least cool by 1980's standards.
• Crazy Survivalist: Bordering on With Great Power Comes Great Insanity at times.
• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: His marriage to Elizabeth (Kayfabe, since they'd already been married for years) at SummerSlam.
  • Arguably, their reunion at Wrestlemania three months earlier.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: By that I mean his voiceover work and not his rap CD.
• Iconic Wrestler
• Large Ham
• Nice Hat: When he started wearing a cowboy hat as part of his entrance attire from 1990 to 1996.
• Red Baron: "Macho Man"
• Sanity Slippage: Back in the 1980's, he would just get violently upset if he thought someone was making moves on Elizabeth. It went downhill from there.
• Ted Baxter
• Underwear of Power
• Verbal Tic: "OOHH YEAH..."
  • "Dig it!"
  • (as parodied by Macho Libre) "Sayin' everything twice... Sayin'. Everything. TWICE!"
  • A smaller "yeah" at the end of every sentence.
• Yandere

Ric Flair (Richard Morgan Fliehr) 1991-1993, 2001-2009

• Armor Piercing Chop: WOOOOO!
• Badass Grandpa
• Badass Long Robe
• Blond Guys Are Evil (If he's a Heel)
• Casanova
• Chivalrous Pervert
• Cool Old Guy
• Dirty Old Man: But we love him anyway.
• Dirty Coward: Made a career out of using this gimmick even when he was a face; one of his Red Barons is "The Dirtiest Player in the Game".
• Draco in Leather Pants (Oh dear..)
• Expy: His "Nature Boy" nickname and persona was lovingly ripped off of "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers.
• Four Is Death: His finisher, the Figure-Four Leglock. Aside from that, he was part of four men stables such as the Four Horsemen and Evolution.
• Grandpa What Massive Hotness You Have
• Handsome In Mink
• Handsome Lech
• Iconic Wrestler
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Triple H and Shawn Michaels, most notably.
• If You Know What I Mean: Two Words: "Space Mountain".
• Legacy Wrestler: He's the only man to be inducted in the WWE half of fame twice (once for himself and again as part of the Four Hoursemen).
• Leitmotif: Also sprach Zarathustra
• Loveable Sex Maniac
• Magnificent Bastard
• Memetic Mutation: His signature "WOOOO!" after the chops? Was actually started by Shane Douglas as a Take That to Flair, who he thought was making a simple chop too powerful. Flair eventually adopted it himself because the fans wouldn't stop interjecting it into every match.
• Red Baron: "Nature Boy," "The dirtiest player in the game"
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Probably the Ur-Example. There is a reason one of his nicknames is "Slick Ric".
• Suspiciously Similar Song: During his '90s run, the WWF used a knock-off of Also sprach Zarathustra. When he returned in '02, they used the real song.
• The Mentor: In his later years.
• Ted Baxter
• Underwear of Power
• Verbal Tic: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Ricky Steamboat (Richard Henry Blood, Sr.) 1985-1988, 1991

• Awesome McCoolname: Just look above, the only reason he didn't use it when wrestling is that "Richard Blood" doesn't suit a career Face too well.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: His match with Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 25. "HE'S STILL GOT IT! (clap clap clap clap) HE'S STILL GOT IT!"
  • From twenty years before that, his Wrestlmania III match with Randy Savage, considered one of the greatest of all time, and even upstaged the iconic Hogan/Andre main event.
• The Dragon: His Red Baron
• Face: Spent his entire career as a good guy, which is almost unheard of in Professional Wrestling.
• Flanderization: Originally nicknamed "The Dragon" due to his physical similarity to Bruce Lee. When he came back in 1991, he became an anthropomorphic dragon who breathed fire.
• Iconic Wrestler
• I Have the High Ground
• It Runs in The Family
• Lightning Bruiser
• The Master
• Recycled Soundtrack: His theme song since his comeback was originally used by Ultimo Dragon.
• Retired Badass (In 2009, And How!)
• Underwear of Power: Before switching to long tights in the mid-1980's.
• What Could Have Been: Was originally planned to be in the Survivor Series match against The Nexus, until he was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.

Rocky Johnson (Wayde Douglas Bowles) 1983-1984

• Badass Wrestling Family: Son-in-law to Peter Maivia, a member of the Samoan wrestling family and his son is The Rock.
• Canada, Eh?
• Hot Dad
• It Runs in The Family
• Red Baron: "The Soulman"
• Ur Example: He and Tony Atlas were the first black tag team champions, defeating the Wild Samoans.

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper (Roderick George Toombs) 1984-1996, 2003, 2005-

• Ax Crazy
• Cool Mask: As Piper Machine.
• Fake Nationality (billed from Scotland, actually from Saskatchewan)
• Hot-Blooded
• Iconic Wrestler
• Jerkass (Heel)
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold (Face)
• Man in a Kilt
• Underwear of Power
• Violent Glaswegian

Sgt. Slaughter (Robert Remus) 1980-1984, 1990-2002, 2005-2009

• Bald of Evil (If he's a Heel)
• Celebrity Toons/Hey, It's That Voice! (Did you know he was a member of G.I. Joe?)
  • Not only was he made into a G.I. Joe character, he voiced all his cartoon appearances.
• Cool Shades
• Drill Sergeant Nasty
• Iconic Wrestler
• Large Ham
• Military Maverick
• Nice Hat
• One-Man Army (If he's a Face)
• The Quisling (One of, if not, his most memorable Heel role)
• Sergeant Rock

Ted DiBiase (Theodore Marvin "Ted" DiBiase, Sr.) 1979, 1987-1996

• Badass Beard
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Was almost always in a tux or suit when out of the ring.
• Battle Butler: Virgil, DiBiase's bodyguard, fits the trope to a T.
• Catch Phrase: "Everybody's got a price."
• Dirty Coward
• Ear Worm: The Million Dollar Rap (His entrance theme)
• Evil Laugh
• Fiction 500
• Green-Eyed Monster
• Iconic Wrestler
• It Runs in The Family: Both backwards and forwards.
• Large Ham
• Magnificent and Manipulative Bastard
• Money Song
• Red Baron: "The Million Dollar Man"
• Rich Bastard
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money
• Smug Snake
• Underwear of Power
• What Could Have Been: Was originally scheduled to win the World Title at WrestleMania IV.

Tito Santana (Merced Solis) 1979-1993

• Badass Long Hair
• Catch Phrase: "ARIBA!"
• Demoted to Extra
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Tito Santana got this response when he became the first person to defeat The Undertaker in 1991. To be fair, the Undertaker was new at the time, but many keep forgetting this.
• Face: Along with Ricky Steamboat, one of the few wrestlers to spend his entire career as a good guy.
• Foe Yay: With Rick Martel.
• Underwear of Power: Berfore becoming "El Matador".
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: Late in his carrer, he became "El Matador".

Tony Atlas (Anthony White) 1983-1987, 1990-1991, 2008-2010

• All-American Face: His most famous gimmick, as "Mr. USA".
• Annoying Laugh
• Defeating the Undefeatable: He was the first man to pin Hulk Hogan. Actually Hogan had his foot on the bottom rope but the referee didn't see.
  • Note this was when Hogan was still a heel, and had not yet become a God Mode Sue.
• Never Live It Down: When he wrestled under the name "Saba Simba".
  • Money, Dear Boy: The only reason he took the job was because he was bankrupt and homeless.
• Red Baron: "Mr. USA"
• Underwear of Power
• Ur Example: He and Rocky Johnson were the first black tag team champions, defeating the Wild Samoans.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: His relationship with Abraham Washington developed into this.

The Ultimate Warrior (Warrior FKA James Brian Hellwig) 1987-1992, 1996

• Becoming the Mask: In Real Life
• Boring Invincible Hero
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Facial Markings
• Iconic Wrestler
• Large Ham
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: He's also a university professor, which means his official title is Professor Warrior.
• Parts Unknown: This is where he is billed from.
• Screaming Warrior
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Seriously. Just try and decipher a Warrior promo.
• Small Name, Big Ego
• Underwear of Power
• Ungrateful Bastard

Virgil (Mike Jones) 1987-1994, 2010

• Bald of Evil / Bald of Awesome
• Battle Butler: As Ted DiBiase's bodyguard, and he fit the trope to a T. He was also briefly the bodyguard of DiBiase's son.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Justified because of DiBiase's terrible treatment of him.
• The Dog Bites Back
• The Quiet One: For over three years, until he got sick about how he was being treated.
• The Stoic