10 "Foreign" Wrestlers Who Weren't Really Foreign At All
4. Nikita Koloff
As a product of NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions, "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff would become one of the most feared heels of the 1980s. Teaming with his kayfabe uncle Ivan Koloff - who was born in Quebec himself - Nikita was a Goldberg-esque performer with little training, winning matches in mere seconds or allowing Ivan to do the dirty work.
Koloff quickly became a star attraction for Jim Crockett Promotions, later known as WCW, generating plenty of hatred from the audience in high-profile feuds against some of the finest performers in the company.
However, Koloff was not a Russian, despite his name. He was in fact born Nelson Simpson from Minneapolis - becoming an accomplished high school and college football player before joining pro wrestling - and legally changed his name in 1988. I guess "The Minnesota Nightmare" doesn't have the same ring to it.