There's No Way You Can Name All These WWE Superstars
- by Will Morgan
- – on
- in Sports
WWE Superstars are some of the most recognizable people on the planet. Even if you don't follow pro wrestling, you have a suspicious feeling that the 6'8" 346 lb dude with a mohawk walking through the airport might be a wrestler. And if you do follow the product, you automatically absorb years of characters and backstory from a few episodes of video recap packages. We all know wrestlers when we see them, and if you have watched more than an hour of television, you most likely know them by name.
This is where it starts to get a little tricky. We all know the stars because they are bigger than life. They are in high profile matches. They show up on talk shows and local news when the company is in town. But what about the guys and gals still looking for their big breaks? Wrestlers can cycle through gimmick after gimmick, changing every aspect of their character until they manage to find something that clicks with the audience. Some eventually click. A lot do not. How well do you know your WWE history? Do you think you can name these wrestlers that never became giant stars? Some were on TV for years but are easily forgettable. Others showed up and were dropped before they even made it back to the dressing room. You may be able to get a couple of these, but there is no way you can get them all. How many of these WWE superstars can you name?
Who is this brooding vampire?
Back in the early days of the begotten Attitude Era, Edge and Christian debuted with this dude to for the brood. This was before anyone realized the Edge and Christian could actually hold their own on the mic. To be fair, they most likely had no clue how good they were either. So this guys story was he was a chubby dude with fangs and sometimes the lights would go out and when they came back on people would be bloody. Cool.
What's the name of this Puerto Rican superstar?
This little dude debuted in the pre-attitude days of Raw. He just barely missed being part of the New Generation era. Although he did get some time in during that lame gang warfare debacle, leading Los Boricuas. When he arrived, he was Razor Ramone's little buddy. Then he blossomed into his own well rounded character. That character was a Puerto Rican. That's it. That is pretty much the whole gimmick. His specialty was the Caribbean strap match. You know, because Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean.
Who is this former Vaudevillian?
Oh man, the freaking Vaudevillians. These dudes had a pretty good thing going in NXT. They were an old timey tag team that acted old timey and talked funny. I was just goofy and irreverent enough to get over in front of the NXT geek crowd. But then when they got the call up to the big time, the gimmick was totally exposed and they floundered. It sure didn't help that this dude was a huge goober and got into locker room fight.
Who is this star who said "it wasn't his fault"?
This big boy looks like the dumb bad guy camp counselor at the snobby rich kid camp on the other side of the lake. Either that or a freaking ogre. Just look at this dude. He was involved in a complicated storyline where Lita was forced to marry Kane fore some reason, then became pregnant with his hell baby, then she was into him and having the baby for some reason, then this dude made her miscarry. What a fun story!
What is the name of this jobber to the stars?
Now don't you try and get smart with me and say this is WWE backstage agent Steve Lombardi. Yes, no crap it is, smart guy. But what we are looking for is the name of this character, jerk. He probably reached his peak when Bobby Heenan claimed he could turn any jobroni into a winner and welcomed this geek into the fabled Heenan Family. He has shown up here and there since then, just to offer his butt up for a good kicking.
Who is this luchador that is actually on the current roster?
Do you remember a short time ago when we were all actually legit excited about the cruiserweight tournament. Looking back, it seems like a bajillion years ago. Everything they did right with that tournament, they managed to do wrong on the main roster. The division has gotten a little bit better now that no one is watching it. Word on the street is that Triple H has taken it over backstage. Too bad he didn't start off as a backstage agent, and made us suffer through 20 years of boring matches.
Who is this new addition to the women's roster?
Many many years ago, Ken Shamrock made his way into the WWE. He brought a crazy intensity as well as a tough guy credibility from his days as an MMA dude, specifically in the old UFC tournament days. He's the dud that popularized the tap out as a a way of submitting in the WWE. Big stuff, man. But now, if someone has some MMA training and they can't think of anything else to do with them, they just throw some gloves on them and MMA fighter is their gimmick.
What's the name of this not so gentle giant?
Imagine a giant, scary monster of a man. He is at least seven feet tall. He is well over three hundred pounds. He has a creepy creeper of a face. And he actually has some muscle definition. How terrible of a performer does he have to be to utterly fail to get any kind of reaction from a captive audience? To be fair, his horrendous gimmicks didn't exactly help. He was in the Truth Commission and The Oddities. Poor guy.
Who is this one-legged wonder?
Urban wrestling legend has it that a one legged wrestler was making some waves on the indie scene and Vinny Mac, in his infinite wisdom, told his minions to go out and sign him. Then they signed the wrong one legged wrestler. It's like they had a 50% chance of getting it right if they were going in blind. This one legged dude is famous for being a one legged dude. He also had a decent moonsault and Brock Lesnar once threw him down some stairs.
Who is this member of Team Angle?
Kurt Angle is a supreme wrestling machine. He came in, got really good really fast. And he had a killer theme song to boot! Well, at some point in his first WWE stint, before the craziness, the DWI's, and the crazy DWI's, he was paired with a pair of young up and comers. These lads, these followers of Kurt, came to be called Team Angle. It consisted of this dude and Shelton Benjamin. Shelton seems to have done a little better in the longevity department.
Who the heck was this guy?
This guy, believe it or not, was a member of the world famous BWO, or Blue World Order! You see, the NWO was popular, so ECW made a parody of them and it was the Blue World Order. Funny, right. He used his old WWE jobber character of Super Nova and transformed it into "Hollywood" Nova. Then, a few years later, he made it back to the WWE as a non-jobber. He had a personal trainer-guru gimmick. He went back to Nova when the BWO appeared at One Night Stand.
Who is this Attitude Era bust?
Even if you have never seen this guy wrestle and this picture is the only exposure you have ever had to him, one thing is abundantly clear, this guy screams a lot. This guy was a body builder, I'll give you a minute to recover from the shock, that became a professional wrestler. His gimmick was that he was an angry, muscular German. Any of those things would be terrifying enough when taken by themselves, but put all three together and you have a prescription for mayhem.
What was this embarrassing gimmick?
This gimmick is the dark side of the Attitude Era. For every great Stone Cold segment, there was one of these. The Headbangers were a pretty fun tag team, but when they split them up and saddled one of them with this thing, they really did a huge disservice to humanity at large. Anyone who still defends the talking rat turd with New York accent, Vince Russo, should be forced to watch all this character's appearances back to back with Judy Bagwell on a pole.
Who was this lethal lady?
Chyna was an awesome athlete. A hugely muscular woman that threw other ladies around like rag dolls and had competitive matches with men, even going so far as to win a men's title. If it worked once, why not try it again? So WWE dipped into the ECW well and pulled out this giant lady. She towered over Chyna and as Chyna slimmed down, this lady bulked up. She was also a frequent and awkward guest on the Howard Stern Show.
Who was this special wrestler?
A wrestler with a learning disability that is extraordinarily strong and copies the move sets of the popular wrestling stars that he idolizes could actually be an intriguing gimmick if handled delicately and with respect. Unfortunately, this is the WWE so it was handled in the exact opposite of that way. And, to the shock of everyone, despite the characters mishandling, he became hugely popular. So popular in fact, that he got to do what only the most popular wrestlers of this era got to do: be made to look bad by Triple H.
Who was this masterpiece?
In order for you to master this quiz, you will first have to master this question. Who is this guy? He referred to himself as the masterpiece and dared people to take his master lock challenge. The master lock challenged involved this master locking his master lock on a person while they try to escape. The master lock was his full nelson which he had mastered. I think that his name was That One Guy Who Is Really Good At Stuff.
Who is this controversial star?
If you want a well thought out, reasoned, and novel approach to the heightened hostilities and prejudice that Arab Americans faced in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, then WWE should not be your first choice. It started out okay. I mean the idea itself has some serious legs. He's an Arab American that is says he is what America is all about and is sick of being mistreated by racists. I think the first thing WWE did wrong, was cast an Italian guy to play this character.
What is this dude's name?
This dude was a decent young talent over in the WCW. He built up some good momentum and won the WCW Tag Team titles then went out and formed The Natural Born Thrillaz. Things seemed to take a turn for the worse in career when WCW went out of business. He just became one of the loser geeks in the Alliance in an angle we will pretend never happened. Speaking of things that we ignore, this guy was supposed to marry Billy Gunn on Smackdown.
Who is this light heavyweight?
In the 90s WCW was completely reinventing the way American audiences consumed wrestling. They brought in some of the best, most talented technical wrestlers and smaller guys and they ended up innovating an exciting style that is still pulled from to this day. WWE had to play catch up. Eventually they would go on to beat WCW in the Monday night wars by ripping off ECW. When they tried a light heavyweight division, this guy was one of the only bright spots.
Who's this Tough Enough winner?
Tough Enough was always going to be a weird proposition. Especially those first few years when WWE really pushed it on their main show, Raw. And it came on right afterwards. They spent the whole of Monday Night Raw presenting the storylines and violence to the audience as though it is real, and then right afterward they come on and straight up tell you it wasn't and this is how it works. This guy won. He eliminated the Undertaker from a Royal Rumble.
Who spits in the face of people that don't want to be cool?
This guy had a pretty fun gimmick. He was cool and he was a jerk about it. What is not to love about that? This dude repped Puerto Rico and would come to the ring dressed in Caribbean Flair. He would have his hair all teased out and he would always have his trusty apple in his hand. Depending on his mood, he would either eat the apple, take a bite and spit it at an opponent, or just hit them over the head with it.
Who is this star?
This is one of those guys that was huge when no one was watching any wrestling. Remember how WWE became the only game in town, and then stunk up the joint? Well this dude was getting pushed then. He also was aligned with pig man Donald Trump whenever at Wrestlemania 23 and fought Vince McMahon's chosen warrior, Umaga, resulting in Vince getting his head shaved. This dude traded the ECW title with Mr. McMahon during Vince's do-rag phase, which was Vince's third best phase.
Who's this martial arts master?
This guy was always on the precipice of popularity during the WWE Attitude Era. He was never over with the crowd in a huge way, but he always had a handful of die hard fans cheering him on. I had a friend whose little brother loved this guy and we all made fun of him for it. Oh man, those are some great memories. This dude was a master at nunchucks and sticks and stuff. All stuff that is not allowed in a wrestling match.
What was the name this wrestling porn star?
"Hello, ladies..." and with those words, this guy would make his way to the ring, covered up with nothing more than a towel and a layer of oil thick enough to cause an environmental disaster if it were to leak into the ocean. He would then get in the ring, strip off the towel and just sort of gyrate for a while, all while faux sexy porn music played in the background. The 90s really were a very different time.
What's the name of this Rocker?
This guy is most famous for getting super kicked in the face and being thrown through a barbershop window and then screwing up every second chance he got. Oh, and also for quizzing his Facebook followers if it would be cool if he dated a girl who up until recently he had mistakenly thought was his daughter. Oh, and also, one time a very long time ago, he was one half of one of the most influential tag teams of all time.
Who is this explosive star?
When I was just a small little quiz master growing up, there was nothing I like more than nuclear energy. I used to love playing nuclear scientist with my friends as we would dress up and discuss various way that we could split the atom. Well WWE must have known there were kids like me so they made this atomic themed character! He would have more success in WCW in the tag team Kronik. They wouldn't get much of a chance when they came over in the Invasion, because Undertaker has poopy pants.
Who is this scary convict?
This guy was one freaking scary dude! He was an ex-convict, or an escaped convict, or some kind of convict. Whichever kind he was, he was so tough that he never even changed out of his prison jumpsuit when he was released from prison! He claimed that while he was locked away, The Big Bossman abused him! Now he never produced any real proof, but after taking one look at The Big Bossman, I think that I believe this guy.
Who is this master of the crossface chicken wing?
This guy was Mr. WWF before Hulk Hogan came onto the scene. When you here about old school WWF, you here about their big time champions, Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan. Well this guy was champ in between them. This dude was the white meat babyface that lost the title belt to the Iron Sheik, so that the Iron Sheik could lose the belt to Hulk Hogan. He made a comeback in the 90s and beat Bret Hart fro the belt.
Who is this unlicensed medical professional?
This is the guy that, in a way, is responsible for that lame cowboy Bart Gunn getting knocked on his butt by Butterbean at Wrestlemania. Since WWE controls nearly all of wrestling history, they like to focus on the failure of others and not acknowledge that they have failed almost just as much. One of their all time biggest failures was the Brawl For It All tournament. This guy was primed to win, but Bart knocked him out and the rest is forgotten history.
Who was this early enemy of Hulkamania?
Here's a trivia question for you. What was the main event of the first ever Wrestlemania. If you answered that you don't know, but it involved Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Mr. T with a bucnh of dudes you don't know, then congratulations. You are correct. This is one of those dude that you don't know. He was over huge as a heel at the time. Wrestling legend has it, that this guy was backstage at Wrestlemania III in case Andre couldn't go on.
Who was this member of the Eliminators?
The Eliminators were so cool back in the ECW days. This guy was one of those bad boys. Their finisher Total Elimination had to be one of the best looking double team finishers in the business. He later went on to WCW and then, with a couple of his buddies, jumped ship to the WWE and put one of the final nails in the coffin of the Monday night wars. Then, they gave him a mop friend and named it Moppy.
Who is this?
This guy was huge in the WWE right around 2007 - 2008 which is the period where almost everyone stopped watching. Seriously, this entire quiz could just be a list of sports entertainers from that time period and every body would fail it super hard. This guy is from then. He is the first ECW champion from when the WWE pooped out their version of that show. He was also an intercontinental champion. He won belts, and you have no clue who he is.
What's the name of this big boy?
I kind of feel that the guys over at the WWF just sort of gave up with this one. They just gave this poor fellow a super unflattering costume and a dumb goober name and said, "Okay, just go out there and be fat and disgusting". I don't even think this guy lasted more than a month, which when converted to today's WWE would equal one segment on Raw. I don't even want to look it up. It makes me sad.
Who is the man that would be Big Daddy V?
This wrestler is best known for being fat. Not just fat. Ridiculously fat. Look at this fatty. He's repulsively titanic. He started out in the WWF as a part of a tag team called Men On a Mission, which was sometimes shortened to MOM, because that is an intimidation acronym. He later broke away and started a singles career, quickly winning the King Of The Ring tournament because he was so fat. Then, he became a fat follower of the Undertaker.
Who was this superstar with the all too brief WWE career?
This dude was so cool! It was that period of the 90s that was after the early 90s but before the mid 90s. Let's call it the early mid 90s. Brett "The Hitman" Hart had just become a main eventer and the fans had finally accepted him as a superstar. That is when WWF main events started to have actual good wrestling in them. This guy came in with his awesome fake tattoos, and his rope walk. Too bad he didn't stay longer.
Who is this guy with two jobs?
This former blacktop bully, as well as former member of Demolition, went out during his pro wrestling career and started a second career path as a master of the repossession arts. It's weird how many wrestlers around this same time period were holding down two jobs, and when they came to work they had a costume that played up and exaggerated aspects of their day job to a comical degree. The biggest thing this character ever did, was steal Macho Man's hat.
What's the name of this Heenan Family monster?
First of all, this guy is Samoan, so you can't hurt him with a headbutt. If you headbutt a Samoan in professional wrestling, it makes them stronger and it hurts your head. Second of all, this guy is not Samoan. He is Tongan. But Tonga doesn't exist in pro wrestling, so Tongans are Samoan. This dude was always solid in the ring, if not super noticeable as a fan. But if you hear any wrestler that knew him talk about him, they all say he is the toughest dude in the world.
Yes, this is a real person. Who is he?
I know your natural inclination is to argue with me on this one, but you just have to trust me here. Yes, the person pictured is a real human being. I know it looks like a cartoon skinny guy that wanted big muscles so he blew into his thumb to inflate himself but he accidentally blew too much so his muscles inflated to a comical degree. But it is not. He wrestled in a tag team called The Powers Of Pain.
Who is this fashion icon?
Here is another example of someone with a perfectly good day job deciding to moonlight and earn supplemental income as a professional wrestler. In this guy's case, he was a male model. He even had his own line of cologne which he called Arrogance, which he of course carried around in a giant, old timey insect sprayer. In the ultimate angle, he sprayed Jake "The Snake" in the face, temporarily blinding him. This lead to an epic blindfold match at Wrestlemania 7.
What's the name of this fashionista?
Finally, someone combines the two biggest activities in the western hemisphere, professional wrestling and ballroom dancing! This dude was of course the fame ballroom dancing wrestler that was escorted to the ring by Summer Rae. This guy had a very strong debut, making you wonder what, if any, plans they had for him in the beginning. He scored a pinfall victory over Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 29. The next night, the crowd sang along to his theme song, sealing his fate in the company.
Who was this swamp dwelling superstar?
You know every time you go to Florida, you see one of those gator boys on the side of the road, just beating up an alligator and they have mouthful of gross chewing tobacco that they keep drooling all over themselves and you think, "that guy should be a wrestler"? Yeah, that has never happened to me either. It would be weird if it did though, right? So this guy came in very early in the 90s and left pretty quickly after.
What's the name of this Bruiser Brody rip-off?
Do you remember this guy? He showed up at a weird time in the WWF. It was well before the whole New Generation debacle but definitely on the downswing of Hulkamania. He was kind of a Viking, maybe? He would hold his open hand with his other hand and repeatedly yell, "Huss!" He also seemed to copy his style and move-set wholesale from Bruiser Brody. His big finishing move was picking someone up and throwing them over the ropes. Not great for winning titles.
Who is this Olive Garden fan?
Oh man, just in case you didn't know, you should go onto your Twitter device and follow this guy right now. His handle is... Ah! You almost got me. You are good. Maybe a little too good. This guy was The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase's man servant. It was a strange time in America and an even stranger time in America. He went over to WCW where he became the least necessary NWO member. These days, he shows places and tries to sell pictures.
Who was this diva?
This lady, or diva as she was called at the time, started out over in the WCW and eventually made her way over to the WWE. She debuted with the Holly cousins when those two Holly dudes were doin the Holly cousin thing. Crash Holly was great. And Heavyweight Holly carrying out that scale before every match had a weird anti-charisma charisma that suited him perfectly. When she was added to the mix in sent them form the lower mid card, to the mid mid card.
Who is this former member of the Right To Censor?
Holy crap, remember the Right To Censor? It was an okay gimmick for this lunk here, but it totally derailed, and eventually destroyed the gimmicks of some previously popular and talented individuals. This guy wouldn't do much else, besides throw on a flack jacked and be the Big Boss Man's little big buddy. The Right To Censor was based off of the PTC which came down on the over the top vulgarity and sexuality of WWE programming at the time.
Who is the NWA champ that showed up on Raw?
Man, Monday Night Raw was really freaking weird in the early to mid 90s. When WCW decided to change directions and try, WWF was completely caught off guard. As the kids say these days, they was shook, daddio. Shut up. So WWF started to pull everything out of their butts and throw it all at the wall, hoping something would stick. Thus, their cross promotional use of Smokey Mountain, and NWA talent. This guy appeared on Raw carrying the NWA title.
What the heck is that?
What do you do when you have a repulsively titanic human being, but they have negative muscle definition and a weird looking body? Why put them into a full body leotard with muscles airbrushed on and fur covering the nasty bits so the dude's body looks even weirder of course! This guy was brought in and given up on quicker than your drunk uncles breaks promises. You need to have a serious talk with your uncle. We are all very worried.
Who was this tall drink of water?
Man, look at this guy. He was tall, had muscles on top of muscles, real meaty thighs, and a luxurious head of shimmering blonde hair. How could Vince not push him to the moon? Why isn't he a bigger star? Oh that's right, he roided up until his heart exploded. This dude was a solid performer throughout the era of attitude. He was in a tag team with Albert and managed by Trish Stratus. He was betrothed to Steohanie McMahon, before Triple H drugged her and married her.
Who is this wild man?
Hey, I know this guy! It's the dude that used to accompany Sable to the ring. Then he would like run around and wrestle or something while she cheered from the ringside area. This guy was Johnny B. Badd over in WCW. If you think that character was probably a stupid Little Richard rip-off, then congratulations, you watched WCW. You know what really strikes fear into the hearts of men? Little Richard. Yeah, I don't really get that one either.
Who was this legend from the BWO?
This dude right here can still be seen on the occasional indie show, but you are more likely to find him making appearances on the local comedy circuit. He was an ECW regular from back in the bingo hall days, serving as one of the founding members of the renegade outlaw group, the BWO, or the Blue World Order. He got his name form one of the characters in The Beatles' Yellow Submarine cartoon. Sorry Beatles fans, the Monkees are better.