8 Wrestlers You Didn't Know Were Jewish

This Sunday is the first night of Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights. Sure, the anticipation for Christmas has been raging for weeks already, but for the all of the Jewish people around the world, we've only got a few more days to go. Chanukah may not be the most important of our holidays, but it's hard to find one that's more fun - for eight days we exchange presents, eat potato pancakes, and spin a top. All I'm saying is, I'm not jealous of your yuletide festivities. With Chanukah frenzy at a high, I thought it would be fun to celebrate the holiday on WhatCulture, courtesy of your favorite form of entertainment and mine: professional wrestling. Over the years, there have been several great Jewish grapplers, men and women who have represented all sorts of different fighting styles and brought many different styles and talents to the ring. Here, in honor of the eight nights of Chanukah, are eight of the absolute best (though not ranked in any real order). Enjoy, and no matter which holidays you celebrate (if any), I hope you have a great season! Quick note: There are lots of lists of Jewish wrestlers online with dubious entries and no citations. For the purposes of this list, I've stuck to wrestlers who have been confirmed as identifying as Jewish.

Honorable Mention: Barry Horowitz

Sure, Barry Horowitz didn't have the most impressive resume when it came to the world of sports entertainment, but this list couldn't go by without a mention of everyone's favorite jabroni. Horowitz was trained by Jewish legend Boris Malenko and first started competing in Florida under the name Jack Hart, gaining a reputation as a solid technical worker on the indies. WWE soon took notice and offered him a job. Unfortunately, in the early 1990s, solid technical workers without much charisma were usually used to make other wrestlers look good. After hundreds of losses, Horowitz finally got something of a push in 1995, upsetting Chris "Skip" Candido in a match on Action Zone, then beating him in a SummerSlam rematch. Horowitz began to wear his heritage on his sleeve, using classic Hebrew song "Hava Nagila" as his entrance music and emblazoning a Star of David on his trunks. The push didn't last very long, but it helped Horowitz become a part of every WWE fan from that era's childhood.