The Magnificent Seven: The Top 7 Heel Foreigner Acts

Happy Fourth of July weekend! Traditionally speaking, wrestling in the United States is nothing if not a bit jingoistic, oftentimes returning to the standby tale of patriotic good guys battling bad guys from abroad. Some of the portrayals have been insensitive, if not downright racist. Others have been clever and portrayed and booked in such a way to tap into unparalleled heat. It’s this latter collection of acts that I’m focusing on in this week’s column, looking back at the top seven heel foreigner acts.

#7. William Regal

Whether he was playing Lord Steven Regal, the technically gifted mid-carder in WCW’s TV title scene, or different dimensions of his now-better-known role as William Regal in the WWF/E, whenever Regal has performed as a heel in the US, he has been a heat magnet. In interviews and his memoir, Regal explained the character as playing exactly the sort of arrogant, aristocratic jackass he hated in his home country, and those mannerisms worked to a tee in making him a love-to-hate, old-fashioned villain on this side of the pond.

Beyond the personality traits he portrayed, Regal’s ring work also deftly contributed to character. When American wrestlers would use chinlocks, he favored his cravat front facelock. When American wrestlers punched, he delivered European uppercuts. And then there was the Regal Stretch—a brutal submission finisher in which he modified the STF and combined it with an abdominal stretch to assemble a realistic hold that looked great for the cameras. Each of these elements of offense was just a little off beat, and reminded fans of the fundamental differences between Regal and his US counterparts. Moreover, when he wasn’t on offense, Regal more often than not played the model chicken-shit heel, begging off, running away, and, particularly in WCW, more than willingly accepting time limit draws and countout or DQ losses as moral victories that still allowed him to retain his championship.

#6. Fritz Von Erich

When we think about Fritz Von Erich’s legacy today, we tend to remember the rise and fall of this family–that he ran the red hot World Class Championship Wrestling promotion, in which his sons were over as main event faces. But if we take a step backward, we can remember Fritz Von Erich’s own career as a full-time wrestler, which paints a very different picture from that of patriarch and lovable legend.

Fritz Von Erich started out as a Nazi.

To be fair, a Nazi character, while outlandish, was not as absurd in the 1950s and 1960s as it would be today. Von Erich got over as a vicious villain, first teaming with his kayfabe brother Waldo, and then as a singles act, winning world title gold in the AWA and later challenging Gene Kiniski for the NWA World Championship, in addition to a stellar run in Japan. Perhaps most notably of all, Von Erich’s work as a heel foreigner saw the innovation of the Iron Claw as an unusual, distinctively foreign, and deadly finishing hold.

#5. Bret Hart

Bret Hart does not meet many of the stereotypical criteria that define an evil heel foreigner. He didn’t use an unusual accent, or have any mystical techniques or props from outside Western culture. Heck, his character, as leader of The Hart Foundation stable in 1997, didn’t even really hate the US so much as he subtly, condescendingly suggested that Canada was superior.

Thus was the brilliance of Hart as a heel foreigner. He only tweaked his character and, in so many ways, spoke the truth about someone could legitimately see as the great parts of Canadian life—if Stone Cold Steve Austin was his real self with the volume cranked up to eleven, Bret Hart in this character was his true self with the volume nudged up to seven or eight.

One of the best qualities of Hart’s heel foreigner act was how it played across the Canadian border. On US soil, he became a top heel—arguably the hottest his character had ever been as a heel or face. Meanwhile, up north, he became an even bigger hero, in a unique and amusing divide that the WWF played with masterfully at the time.

#4. Yokozuna

A potentially controversial statement that someone like Rusev may successfully invalidate in the next few years: Yokozuna is wrestling’s last great heel foreigner to sustain his act for over a year. A Samoan ostensibly characterized as Japanese, Yokozuna was a marvel of a super heavyweight–huge, but also remarkably mobile for his size. He stormed the WWF in late 1992, and went on to win the Royal Rumble in 1993 en route to picking up his first WWF Championship at his first WrestleMania. Yokozuna would go on to crush Hulk Hogan, hold off Lex Luger, and retain his championship against The Undertaker. He achieved the dominance of a nearly year-long run on top of the WWF via a keen combination of monster heel offense and classic heel shenanigans, with managers Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette persistently cheating on his behalf.

Yokozuna’s run was marked by the nexus of a unique physical specimen and largely shrewd booking during a challenging time in the WWF’s history. 1993 into 1994 was a rare long-term period in which the WWF succesfully booked a heel world champ for faces to chase. His size, power, and speed made him a champion above reproach. His offensive set, featuring the Banzaii Drop, a crescent kick, nerve holds, and a backward avalanches in the corner was both believably devastating and largely unique to his character, which helped put over his mystique as a heel foreigner. Add kimonos and his notorious salt bucket and you have one of the most memorable heel foreigner acts of all time.

#3. The Sheik

Though Ed Farhat was from Detroit, The Sheik—the Syrian madman character that he played for nearly forty years—was an epic heel foreigner. Some of his signature tactics were the use of the camel clutch finisher, gouging opponents with pencils, and—from as far as I can tell—innovating the use of fireballs in wrestling. Thus, The Sheik’s offbeat, technically grounded, but hardcore-infused ringstyle made him a groundbreaking and hugely influential character.

In his prime, The Sheik feuded with WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino (even picking up one countout win), Bobo Brazil, Fred Blassie, and dozens of other major talents across the US and also in Japan. As his own in-ring career tapered off, he furthered his legacy by training others, particularly two major names who would further the hardcore style for the next generation—his nephew, Sabu and Rob Van Dam.

#2. The Iron Sheik

After a decorated career as an a mateur wrestler, Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri became part of a long line top-notch amateurs who were even better pro wrestlers. He got his start in AWA, during which time he was patterned after The “Original” Sheik, as a vicious heel who denounced the US and finished off foes with the same camel clutch hold.He would go on to the WWWF to feud with men including Bruno Sammartino and Chief Jay Strongbow, before bouncing around the NWA territories for programs with men including Dusty Rhodes and Ron Garvin.

The Iron Sheik would earn his greates claim to fame, however, when he returned to New York and capped off 1983 with an infamous victory over Bob Backlund. Sheik locked on the camel clutch. Backlund, who had held the WWF Championship for six years and came into the match injured, was in dire straits, leading his manager, Arnold Skaaland, to throw in the towel and give up the title rather than see his charge injured. The Iron Sheik would reign over the WWF for about a month, only to drop the title to a young up and comer named Hulk Hogan.

Sheik would never reach quite the same heights in wrestling again, though he did have a memorable feud with another American Hero, Sgt. Slaughter, before going on to form a moderately successful tag team with Nikolai Volkoff, best remembered for winning the tag titles at the first WrestleMania. Sheik would disappear from WWF after an incident in which he and on-screen rival Jim Duggan were busted together for drug possession, but Sheik would go on to very reasonable runs in WCCW, WWC, and with Jim Crockett Promotions. Perhaps most telling of all, when Sgt. Slaughter became an Iraqi sympathizer and main event heel in 1991, the WWF brought Sheik back under the name Colonol Mustafa to help get him extra heat and get him over as a pseudo-heel foreigner himself.

The Iron Sheik would go on to work the independents for years, return to the WWF for one night to win the gimmick battle royal at WrestleMania 17, get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and make a handful of one off appearances and cameos from there. And while he may no longer truly be playing heel, he has built a fascinating cult following over the years to follow via shoot interviews and Twitter, constantly going on profanity-filled rants that walk the line between character work and the words of a crazy old man. Regardless of what is fact or fiction at this stage, The Iron Sheik is undoubtedly one of the most iconic heel foreigner acts of all time.

#1. Nikita Koloff

Nikita Koloff purportedly started his career in the NWA with a series of quick squash matches because management didn’t trust the young rookie not to hurt someone. Just the same, the powers that be must have seen something in him in booking him to achieve victory after victory to get over as a monster heel foreigner.

Koloff went on to spend a fair portion of his career in tag teams with his kayfabe uncle Ivan and later with Krusher Kruschev, in a run that most prominently featured the Russian powerhouses going toe to toe with The Road Warriors. But Koloff most fully came into his own under the billing of The Russian Nightmare—thus the antithesis of Dusty Rhodes’s American Dream character. At the height of Cold War tensions, Koloff was a deathly serious heel, warring with Rhodes, Ric Flair, and a host of other top talents of the day; most prominently, he battled Magnum TA in an epic best of seven series over the United States Championship, and implicitly over national pride.

It may be a testament to just how over Koloff was as an imposing heel force that as Cold War tensions tapered off, the NWA was able to so fluidly transition him to the role of powerhouse face, in many regards taking over the spot Magnum TA tragically had to give up when a car accident ended his career. Despite a few moments of heeldom in the years to follow, Koloff was a rare performer to get so red hot as a heel foreigner only to turn the page and succeed as a super human face who just happened to come from another country.

Who were your favorite heel foreigner acts? Mr. Fuji? The Great Muta? Baron Von Raschke? Kamala? Nikolai Volkoff? Ivan Koloff? Let us know in the comments section. Read more from Mike Chin at his website and follow him on Twitter @miketchin.