39 Best Wrestlers From 39 Different Countries

37. Austria: Otto Wanz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da2-3wCGTeI

Birthplace: Graz, Austria

Modern wrestling fans many know the name Otto Wanz due to JBL’s commentary each and every Monday night. The former Acolyte seems to love dropping Wanz’s name in at every given opportunity.

To older wrestling fans and historians of the sport, Wanz is remembered as a bull of a man who battled some of his day’s biggest names and who at one point was the AWA World Heavyweight Champion.

In order to give an idea of the Austrian’s star power, he was at times paired up against huge names like Andre the Giant, Antonio Inoki and Nick Bockwinkel.

Wanz is also the man who ran Germany’s famed hard-hitting Catch Wrestling Association for so many years. For those not familiar with CWA, it was a promotion that saw a who’s who of wrestlers pass through its doors at one point in time; names such as Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Lance Storm, William Regal, Jushin Liger, 2 Cold Scorpio, Fit Finlay, Owen Hart, Scott Hall, JBL, Vader, Tatsumi Fujinami and even Ultimate Warrior.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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 dayjob, 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.