- Lou Thesz
Aloysius Martin Thesz (April 24 1916 - April 28 2002), better known as Lou Thesz, was a legendary professional wrestler and six time NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He is widely considered by his peers and experts alike to be one of the most influential people in the history of professional wrestling. Among his many accomplishments, he is credited with inventing popular professional wrestling moves such as the Lou Thesz press, …
- Ric Flair
Ric Flair (real name:Richard Morgan Fliehr, born on February 25, 1949 in Minneapolis, MN), is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its "SmackDown!" brand. Also known as "The Nature Boy," Flair is considered by many as the best all-around pro wrestler ever, as he combined superlative ring skills with unparalleled showmanship while crafting the model for the ideal champion in the modern era.
- Hulk Hogan
Terrence Gene Bollea (born on August 11, 1953) is an American actor and semi-retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan. He currently stars on the VH1 reality show "Hogan Knows Best".
- Harley Race
Harley Leland Race (born April 11, 1943), is a retired American professional wrestler and current promoter. During his career as a wrestler, he amassed eight National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Heavyweight Championship reigns at a time when wrestlers rarely repeated as champion, and worked for all of the major wrestling promotions, including the NWA, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
- Roddy Piper
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper (born Roderick George Toombs on April 17 1954) is a Canadian professional wrestler, and film actor. Raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he is billed from Glasgow, Scotland and is known for his signature kilt and bagpipe entrance music. He earned the nickname "Rowdy" by displaying his trademark "Scottish" rage, spontaneity, and quick wit, and is also nicknamed "Hot Rod".
- Ted Dibiase
Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. (born Theodore Marvin Willis on January 18 1954) is an American former professional wrestler who wrestled as the "The Million Dollar Man". He worked for World Wrestling Entertainment's "SmackDown!" brand as a booker and Producer until 2006 when he was released. He is also a Christian minister and a member of Alpha Tau Omega
- Verne Gagne
Verne Gagne (born February 26, 1926) is a former professional wrestler, trainer and wrestling promoter. He was the former owner/promoter of the American Wrestling Association (AWA) based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which was the predominant promotion throughout the mid-west and Manitoba, Canada for many years. He remained in this position until 1991, when the company folded. He has a son, Greg, who also wrestled.
- Frank Gotch
Frank Alvin Gotch (April 27, 1878 - December 17, 1917) was an American professional wrestler credited for popularizing professional wrestling in the United States. He competed back when the contests were largely legitimate (see catch wrestling), and his reign as World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion (from 1908 to 1915) is the second longest in the history of wrestling. He became one of the most popular athletes in America from the 1900s to the 1910s.
- Bruno Sammartino
Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (born October 6, 1935), is a former professional wrestler, best known for being the longest-running champion of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), holding the title across two reigns for over 12 years in total, as well as the longest World Heavyweight Championship reign in professional wrestling history.
- Nick Bockwinkel
Nick Bockwinkel (born December 6 1934) is a former American professional wrestler, mainly competing in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the United States. He held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship 6 times.
- Buddy Rogers
"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, born Herman C. Rohde, Jr., (February 20, 1921-June 26, 1992) was a professional wrestler and one of the biggest wrestling stars in the beginning of the television era. His performances inspired generations of professional wrestlers, such as "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, who used Buddy Rogers' nickname, as well as his look, his attitude, and his finishing hold, the Figure Four Leglock.
- Terry Funk
Terrance (Terry) Funk (born June 30, 1945) is an American professional wrestler, known chiefly for the hardcore wrestling style he adopted in the later part of his career that inspired many later wrestlers, most notably Mick Foley. He is affectionately known as "The Funker".
- Dory Funk Jr.
Dorrance Funk, Jr. better known as Dory Funk, Jr. (born February 3, 1942) is a professional wrestler and wrestling trainer. He is the son of Dory Funk Sr. and brother of Terry Funk. He is credited with the invention of the Texas cloverleaf submission hold, and runs the Funking Conservatory, a professional wrestling school. His students and friends participate in a wrestling show, local to Ocala, Florida, called !BANG!.
- Bobby Heenan
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (born Raymond Louis Heenan on November 1, 1944), is an American professional wrestling manager and commentator. He is legendary in the business for his skill in drawing heel heat for himself and his wrestlers, and for his masterful on-screen repartee with Gorilla Monsoon as a color commentator.
- Jack Brisco
Freddie Joe Brisco known to most as Jack Brisco (born September 21, 1941) is a former professional wrestler who was popular and successful during the 1970s, and into the 1980s. Brisco turned down a football scholarship at University of Oklahoma to wrestle at Oklahoma State. He was the first Native American to win a NCAA National Championship. His first NWA World Heavyweight Championship reign came when he defeated Harley Race in Houston, Texas on July 20, …
- Ricky Steamboat
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, (born Richard Blood on February 28, 1953 in West Point, New York) is a former professional wrestler who went on to become a wrestling road agent. He was well-known among wrestling fans as being one of the few wrestlers that stayed a face throughout the expanse of a long career.
- Pat Patterson
Pierre Clemont (born January 19, 1941 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Pat Patterson. He is currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment as a Producer.
- Johnny Valentine
Johnny Valentine (born John Theodore Wisniski, September 22, 1928 - April 24, 2001) was a professional wrestler with a career spanning almost three decades, ending because of an aircraft accident in 1975 (which Ric Flair was also in) which left him crippled. He is the father of Greg Valentine. He was approximately 6' 4" tall and weighed 255 pounds, with bleach blonde hair and striking good looks.
- Penny Banner
Penny Banner, (born Mary Ann Kostecki on August 11, 1934 in St Louis, Missouri) was a professional wrestler. She is best known for her time spent in the American Wrestling Association.
- Mae Young
Johnnie Mae Young (born March 12, 1923), is a former professional wrestler who is a native of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, USA. She was one of the most recognizable female wrestlers during the 1940s. Beginning in 1999, the retired Young had a high-profile "second career" in the World Wrestling Federation, now WWE.
- Ray Stevens
Carl Ray Stevens (September 5, 1935 - May 3, 1996), better known as Ray "The Crippler" Stevens or Ray "Blond Bomber" Stevens, was an American professional wrestler. Stevens was a wrestling superstar since the early years of the television era until he retired during the early 1990s.
- The Fabulous Moolah
Lilian Ellison, better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah (born July 22, 1923), is a female professional wrestler who is marketed by World Wrestling Entertainment for holding the record for the longest title reign by any athlete in any professional sport. She is well known as being the first NWA and WWF Women's Champion.
- Danny Hodge
Dan Allen Hodge (born May 13, 1932) is an American athlete. He is renowned for his wrestling career, both amateur and professional, and has also been a boxer. Hodge grew up and still lives in Perry, Oklahoma.
- Dick Beyer
Dick Beyer is a retired professional wrestler who is best known by his ring names, The Destroyer or Doctor X. He is one of the most famous American wrestlers to have worn a wrestling mask.
- Gordon Solie
Gordon Solie, real name Francis Jonard Labiak (January 26, 1929 - July 27, 2000), was a professional wrestling play-by-play announcer working for World Championship Wrestling. Solie was also the regular announcer for Georgia Championship Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, and Continental Championship Wrestling among others.
- André The Giant
André the Giant was the stage name of André René Roussimoff, a French professional wrestler and actor. He was at least 2.09 metres (6 ft 10 in) tall and believed by many to have been over 2.13 metres (7 ft) at his tallest. His great size was a result of excessive growth hormone, a condition known as acromegaly, and led to him being dubbed "The Eighth Wonder of the World".
- Rikidozan
Rikidozan gained worldwide renown when he defeated Lou Thesz for the NWA International Heavyweight Championship on August 27, 1958. In another match, Thesz willingly agreed to put over Rikidozan at the expense of his own reputation. This built up mutual respect between the two wrestlers, and Rikidozan never forgot what Thesz did. He would go on to capture several NWA titles in matches both in Japan and overseas.
- Pat O'Connor
Patrick "Pat" O'Connor (1924-1990), was a professional wrestler from New Zealand who held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from 1959 to 1961. He first won the title from amateur standout, and Lou Thesz protege, Dick Hutton, holding the belt for over two years. On June 30, 1961, O'Connor dropped the title to Buddy Rogers in front of 38,622 fans at Comiskey Park, a record that would last nearly 20 years.
- Sam Muchnick
Sam Muchnick (August 22,1905 - December 30, 1998) was an American professional wrestling promoter from St. Louis, Missouri. He was instrumental in formation of the National Wrestling Alliance in 1948. Muchnick served as the NWA's president from 1950 to 1960 and from 1963 to 1975. He operated the St. Louis Wrestling Club, one of the primary members of the NWA based in St. Louis, Missouri. Born in 1905 in the Ukraine to a Jewish family, …
- Don Leo Jonathan
Don Heaton (born in Hurricane,Utah April 29,1931) (more commonly known as Don Leo Jonathan) is a former professional wrestler.
- Fred Blassie
Fred Blassie (February 8, 1918 - June 2, 2003), better known as "Classy" Freddie Blassie, was an American professional wrestler and manager born in St. Louis, Missouri who was a popular wrestling villain. He was a master at antagonizing the crowd, and inspired legendary animosity.
- George Steele
George Steele, better known as George "The Animal" Steele, real name William James (Jim) Myers (born April 16, 1937), is an American professional wrestler from Detroit, Michigan whose career lasted from the early 1960s until 1989 and would make occasional wrestling appearances into the 1990s and 2000s. In May 2007 he was named the fourth wildest superstar in WWE history.
- Mildred Burke
Mildred Bliss (August 5,1915- February 14, 1989) was an American professional wrestler, who wrestled under the name Mildred Burke. A member of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame as well as the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. Her heyday lasted from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, when she held the World Women's Championship for almost twenty years.
- Stanislaus Zbyszko
Stanislaus Zbyszko (born April 1, 1879 - died September 23, 1967) was a professional wrestler popular in the United States during the 1920s. The surname Zbyszko was only a nickname, which was given him by friends due to his bravery when he was a child - it was the name of a legendary medieval Polish knight. He was the brother of Wladek Zbyszko.
- Jim Londos
Christos Theofilou or Christopher Theophelus better known as "The Golden Greek" Jim Londos, was a professional wrestler who was one of the most popular stars wrestling offered during the Great Depression.
- Antonino Rocca
Antonino Rocca was a professional wrestler from Argentina of Italian descent. Rocca was an enormously popular "good guy" with both Italian-American and Hispanic audiences.
- Orville Brown
Orville Brown (March 10, 1908 -January 24, 1981) was a professional wrestler. Born in Sharon, Kansas, Brown was NWA Champion twice, and was recognized as the first NWA champion in 1948. Brown's pro-wrestling career ended on November 1, 1949, when he suffered severe injuries in an automobile accident.
- John Tolos
John Tolos is a retired Canadian professional wrestler who, during the 1950s and 60s, was part of the Canadian Wrecking Crew with Chris Tolos. He also has a brief managerial career in Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation as well managing The Beverly Brothers and Mr. Perfect for a short stint in the World Wrestling Federation during 1991, replacing Perfect's former manager Bobby "the Brain" Heenan then moving into a broadcaster's role.
- Earl Caddock
Earl Caddock was a professional wrestler who was active in the early portion of the twentieth century. As the first man to bill himself as "The Man of 1,000 Holds" (a nickname used many times since), Caddock was one of pro wrestling's biggest stars between the years of 1915 and 1922.
- Bill Longson
"Wild Bill" Longson (died December 12, 1982) was a professional wrestler, who spent most of his career in St. Louis, Missouri. He perfected the role of the arrogant heel. He is credited with inventing and popularizing the piledriver. Longson is a member of both the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. Longson was three times the National Wrestling Association world champion during the 1940s.