Nikolai Volkoff had the right gimmick at the right time as a 1980s heel character that was from the Soviet Union at a time when Americans really didn't like the Soviets. He was part of tag teams for much of his WWE career, at first with The Iron Sheik as anti-Americans and later with a wrestler named Boris Zukhov as part of the Bolsheviks tag team. Volkoff did everything he could to upset the fans, usually by singing the Russian national anthem before every match. He did it so often and for so many years that if you watched WWE programming regularly you might know the Soviet national anthem. It's funny because when you watch a Volkoff match on WWE Network you might find yourself humming along to it since you might have remembered it from when you were younger. http://youtu.be/3TVU-sjy5_4 Most people remember him as a heel, but he actually had a face run as well. They said he was a Lithuanian after the Soviet Union had split up and suddenly people were cheering him because he was liberated from his country. It was such a unique face turn for a guy that was booed for so long simply due to where he lived. He was never a guy that was considered a great in-ring performer or somebody known for being that memorable aside from his singing. However, he made the gimmick work. The funny thing about that was that he was actually Croatian and not Russian, but he was able to pull it off.