Gimmicks: A List Of The Most Successful Characters In Wrestling

[Joesgonnakillyou]

""I'm not from around here! I have my own customs! Look at my crazy passport!"

The Foreigner/Anti-American.

[Schlomey]

Originally Posted by Joesgonnakillyou ""I'm not from around here! I have my own customs! Look at my crazy passport!" The Foreigner/Anti-American.

"I'm not from here! I have my own customs! Look at my craaaaaazy passport!"
— The Foreigner, Futurama, "Raging Bender"


The Foreign Wrestling Heel is one of the major stock characters of Professional Wrestling. He's from another country, and loves his own country and hates America. Usually, the reason for this is because Americans (and American wrestling fans specifically) lack something that his country has in spades (or so he believes). For example, Brits and Frenchmen may look down on Americans because they lack class and sophistication; Japanese, because Americans lack honor; and Canadians, because Americans lack respect for wrestling tradition. These are the most common varieties of Foreign Wrestling Heel, but far from the only ones; one particular instance, Ludvig Borga, was an evil Finn who hated Americans because Americans lacked respect for the environment.
A Foreign Wrestling Heel will often feud with an All American Face; the typical climactic match to this feud is a Flag Match, where the flags of the two nations of the participants are placed upon opposite turnbuckles, and the winner is the first man to recover his own flag and wave it. Clashes with the Foreign Wrestling Heel generally cause International Showdowns by Proxy like this, as he is usually the villain in those situations.
During the Cold War, many (perhaps most) Foreign Wrestling Heels were Soviets, and spoke proudly of Communism and Glorious Mother Russia. It was difficult to find a wrestling promotion that didn't have an Evil Russian or three kicking around. Perhaps the best known of these was Nikita Koloff, and he also became the biggest subversion of the trope; when his arch-nemesis, Magnum T. A., suffered a career-ending injury in a car accident, Nikita decided Magnum was a Worthy Opponent, gained a new found respect for him, and all Americans by extension, and dedicated the remainder of his wrestling career to his fallen foe; he thus became the first Russian face... well, ever, and did it without renouncing Communism or Russia.
Note that it is possible to be foreign and not a Foreign Wrestling Heel; however, the instant one shows any pride in being from a country that is not the US, he starts down the path to becoming one. Canada's Bret Hart, for example, wrestled most of his career as a face with his Canadian-ness being treated as an afterthought (unlike, say, the obviously Canadian heel The Mountie), until his 1997 heel turn, when he became proudly Canadian and launched a feud with all American fans and wrestlers. This led to him being a hated heel in in the States, but unsurprisingly led to his becoming loved even more by Canadian fans. Also, it's not necessary for the Foreign Wrestling Heel to be an actual foreigner. Simply looking foreign or having foreign ancestry is often enough for a wrestler to be given an Foreign Wrestling Heel gimmick (don't think too hard about this when it comes to American wrestling).
Lest the gentle reader think this is solely a gimmick for culturally insensitive Americans, consider the team of Art Barr, Eddie Guerrero, and Louie "Madonna's Boyfriend" Spiccoli, who wrestled as Los Gringos Locos in Mexican federation AAA, and were Evil American Foreigners. Likewise with most Japanese media having Foreign Wrestling Heels. Also, no jokes about any news outlets.
If a Foreign Wrestling Heel is particularly hated by the crowd, look for them to piss him off with a chant of "USA! USA! USA!" Even if his opponents that evening aren't Americans. A Foreign Wrestling Heel may end up popular in the nation he hails from if his only negative trait is to praise said location.

[Arrogance]

I don't know if you would call it "successful," but WWE has a pretty long tradition of having super heavyweights dancing, or generally being some kind of ladies-man comedy act.

[Schlomey]

Originally Posted by Arrogance I don't know if you would call it "successful," but WWE has a pretty long tradition of having super heavyweights dancing, or generally being some kind of ladies-man comedy act.

Very valid point. You have Mabel/Viscera, Brodus Clay, Big Dick Johnson, Rickishi, and Dude Love come to mind.

[Arrogance]

Also...