18 Most Intimidating Wrestler Nicknames

13. The Mastodon

A mastodon is an extinct hulking beast related to the elephant and that used to dominate woodland areas up until around 10,000 years ago. Leon White is a hulking hoss of a man who is now a semi-retired professional wrestling that used to dominate the landscape of Japan, WCW and to a lesser extent the WWF. When it came to a tough, heavy-hitting wrestling style, there are very few in the history of the wrestling business who could compete with Vader. Whether it's dominating his opponents or toughing out stiff shots, Vader's reputation is the stuff of legend. Whereas many will be aware of Vader being the one opposite Mick Foley when he lost his ear during a match in Germany, there are a whole host of other tough guy stories out there about Vader, not least the footage of him continuing a match with Stan Hansen, another legendary tough guy, after his own eye popped out of socket. Vader would continue the match as he and the legendary "Lariat" would pummel the tar out of one another. The Mastodon nickname only really came to be once Vader join Vince McMahon's WWF. The story goes that Vince even wanted to change White's in-ring name to The Mastodon, which would've been a stupid move considering how much of a name White had previously made for himself as Vader. Sadly, White's WWF run would fall foul of Shawn Michaels simply being Shawn, meaning a proposed WWF Championship win at Summerlsam '96 was nixed. Still, those getting into the ring with The Mastodon over the years knew that it was going to be a long, long night.
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Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.