History Characters / WWEWorldWideWrestlingFederation

* BadassTeacher: His trainees include [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys D-Von Dudley]], Wrestling/TommyDreamer, Wrestling/{{Tazz}}, and Wrestling/HughMorrus.

* BadassTeacher: Taught Wrestling/MickFoley, Shane Douglas and and the late Brian Hildebrand how to wrestle.

!!! Stan Stasiak (George Stipich) 1971-1979

* HumanShield: A non-lethal example from Wrestlemania IV; Bravo pulled the referee in front of himself to bock an attack from his opponent DonMuraco. This got Bravo defeated by disqualification.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Bravo left the company for about a year when a match in Canada against HulkHogan was suddenly cancelled. When Bravo heard the cancellation was because the WWF feared the Canadian crowd might cheer him and boo Hogan, Bravo was apparently pissed about it.

!!! Wrestling/EddieGilbert (Edward Gossett) 1959, 1960, 1964. 1965, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973)

* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/AndreTheGiant, Wrestling/BobBacklund and Tony Atlas.
* CurbStompBattle: Want to see Hogan in a pure squash match, where his opponents put up absolutely no resistance? Watch any of his matches from his 1979-1981 run and you'll see plenty.
* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Even in his heel run, it was incredibly difficult to defeat Hogan cleanly -- that is, squarely in the center of the ring and with both shoulders on the mat at the three count. Wrestling/AndreTheGiant is known to have scored one decisive pinfall win, but his most famous pinfall win during the WWWF Era -- their August 1980 match at Shea Stadium -- was disputed, as Hogan clearly kicked out of Andre's pinfall attempt (after Andre delivered his patented seated senton splash) before the three-count was registered. Tony Atlas also owns several pinfall wins over Hogan ... but all of them were Hogan placing his foot on the rope before three and the referee failing to notice.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: He made his WWE debut in 1979 as a heel managed by Wrestling/FreddieBlassie and wearing ''blue'' tights, kneepads and trunks; these alternated with a singlet. And had a full head of hair. Also, his trademark use of the word "daddy" instead of "brother." And his post-match flexing would draw boos instead of huge cheers.
** Also, how weird is it to see Wrestling/TedDiBiase cheered and Hogan booed? Hogan's first main-event caliber opponent was [=DiBiase=] (in fact, Hogan's first match at Madison Square Garden was against a clean-shaven, humble [=DiBiase=]) ... and indeed, many of these matches weren't too different than the far-more famous encounters they'd have in the late 1980s into the 1990s.
* FinishingMove: The nigh-infamous Leg Drop, originally used as a way for Hogan to take pressure off a dodgy knee, eventually became the finisher we all know. During his heel run, he also used a crooked-arm clothesline (the "Ax Bomber," which was his primary finisher in Japan and a secondary finisher in the United States) and the over-the-shoulder bodybreaker (which he rarely used after his face turn).
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Several promos from 1980 highlight this, including "Classy" Freddie Blassie noting that Hogan would one day grace the cover of large-circulation magazines (a skeptical Wrestling/VinceMcMahon chuckled, ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' ... which actually came to pass(!)), and would one day be a movie star. Shortly thereafter, Hogan boasted of a supposed friendship with Creator/SylvesterStallone and that he was going to be a leading character in ''Rocky III''' ... and lo and behold it happened!
** During Hogan's epic 1980 match against Wrestling/BobBacklund for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship (at the Philadelphia Spectrum), play-by-play announcers Dick Graham and Kal Rudman remarked that they had the feeling they were seeing a future world champion. Rudman even admitted that Hogan -- for his wrestling ability and determination to dethrone Backlund -- gained many new fans that night.
* LineOfSightName: In his Terry Boulder days he was being interviewed alongside Creator/LouFerrigno. The host looked at them and proclaimed Boulder was "bigger than [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk The Hulk]]!" The name stuck for the rest of his career.
* NWordPrivileges: Anyone who has continued to follow Hogan's battle with Gawker after the release of video footage in 2015 of him using racial slurs may have forgotten a promo he once cut in early 1981, in anticipation of his feud with Tony Atlas, where he called Atlas a "jungle monkey" and other racist names.
* SmugSnake: His persona fit this to a "T" -- he was the greatest and was going to prove it.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: Even in the early 1980s, he was determined to show up both his manager, Freddie Blassie, and his opponents.
* TakeThatCritics: From the very git-go, Hogan was determined to make his critics -- among them Wrestling/AndreTheGiant, Wrestling/BrunoSammartino and Wrestling/BobBacklund eat their words that he was nothing more than hot air. While he didn't quite accomplish it during his 1979-1981 go-around, he surely would in time ... and there were plenty of signs that he was more than capable of backing up his boasts with action.
* TotallyRadical: ''Dude.''
* UnderwearOfPower: Hogan's famous yellow trunks.
* UnskilledButStrong: Hogan showed signs that he could be a good wrestler, even in the WWF, but he was usually fairly sloppy and awkward in his attempts to be a technical wrestler. An aversion came during a memorable 1980 match at the Philadelphia Spectrum, where he took Wrestling/BobBacklund to the limit before winning by countout.

* WrestlingFamily: His son Scott, who wrestled for the company in 1997 and Wrestling/{{WCW}} in 1998-1999.

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stan_stasiak_5727.jpg]]
* AlliterativeName
* CanadaEh
* FinishingMove: The BearHug, the Heart Punch
* PartsUnknown: "Buzzard Creek, OR"[[note]]There ''is'' a Buzzard Creek in Oregon, but it is just that, a body of water, not a town.[[/note]]
* RedBaron: "The Man"
* UnderwearOfPower
* WrestlingFamily: His son is former [=WWE=] and Wrestling/{{WCW}} wrestler, Shawn Stasiak.

[[center: ![-[[Characters/{{WWE}} Main Index]] | '''WWWF Era''' | [[Characters/WWERockNWrestling Rock 'N' Wrestling Era]] | [[Characters/WWENewGeneration New Generation Era]] | [[Characters/WWEAttitude Attitude Era]] | [[Characters/WWEInvasion InVasion Era]] | [[Characters/WWERuthlessAggression Ruthless Aggression Era]] | [[Characters/WWEUniverse WWE Universe Era]] | [[Characters/WWEInc WWE, Inc. Era]] | [[Characters/WWEReality Reality Era]] | [[Characters/WWENew New Era]] | [[Characters/WWETagTeams Tag Teams]] | [[Characters/WWEDivas Female Talent]] | [[Characters/{{WWENXT}} NXT]] | [[Characters/{{WWENXTUK}} NXT UK]] | [[Characters/WWEMcMahonFamily McMahon Family]] | [[Characters/WWEManagers Managers]] | [[Characters/WWECommentators Announcers, Commentators, and General Managers]]-]]]

[[Characters/{{WWE}} Main Index]] | '''WWWF Era''' | [[Characters/WWERockNWrestling Rock 'N' Wrestling Era]] | [[Characters/WWENewGeneration New Generation Era]] | [[Characters/WWEAttitude Attitude Era]] | [[Characters/WWEInvasion InVasion Era]] | [[Characters/WWERuthlessAggression Ruthless Aggression Era]] | [[Characters/WWEUniverse WWE Universe Era]] | [[Characters/WWEInc WWE, Inc. Era]] | [[Characters/WWEReality Reality Era]] | [[Characters/WWENew New Era]] | [[Characters/WWETagTeams Tag Teams]] | [[Characters/WWEDivas Female Talent]] | [[Characters/{{WWENXT}} NXT]] | [[Characters/WWEMcMahonFamily McMahon Family]] | [[Characters/WWEManagers Managers]] | [[Characters/WWECommentators Announcers, Commentators, and General Managers]]

!!! Wrestling/HulkHogan (Terry Gene Bollea) 1979-1980, 1983-1993, 2002-2003, 2005-2007, 2014-2015

[[Characters/{{WWE}} Main Index]] | '''WWWF Era''' | [[Characters/WWERockNWrestling Rock 'N' Wrestling Era]] | [[Characters/WWENewGeneration New Generation Era]] | [[Characters/WWEAttitude Attitude Era]] | [[Characters/WWEInvasion InVasion Era]] | [[Characters/WWERuthlessAggression Ruthless Aggression Era]] | [[Characters/WWEUniverse WWE Universe Era]] | [[Characters/WWEInc WWE, Inc. Era]] | [[Characters/WWEReality Reality Era]] | [[Characters/WWENew New Era]] | [[Characters/WWETagTeams Tag Teams]] | [[Characters/WWEDivas Female Talent]] | [[Characters/{{WWENXT}} NXT]] | [[Characters/WWEMcMahonFamily McMahon Family]] | [[Characters/WWECommentators Announcers, Commentators, and General Managers]]

* LineOfSightName: In his Terry Boulder days he was being interviewed alongside Lou Ferrigno. The host looked at them and proclaimed Boulder was "bigger than [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk The Hulk]]!" The name stuck for the rest of his career.

** During Hogan's epic 1980 match against BobBacklund for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship (at the Philadelphia Spectrum), play-by-play announcers Dick Graham and Kal Rudman remarked that they had the feeling they were seeing a future world champion. Rudman even admitted that Hogan -- for his wrestling ability and determination to dethrone Backlund -- gained many new fans that night.

* TakeThatCritics: From the very git-go, Hogan was determined to make his critics -- among them Wrestling/AndreTheGiant, BrunoSammartino and BobBacklund eat their words that he was nothing more than hot air. While he didn't quite accomplish it during his 1979-1981 go-around, he surely would in time ... and there were plenty of signs that he was more than capable of backing up his boasts with action.

* UnskilledButStrong: Hogan showed signs that he could be a good wrestler, even in the WWF, but he was usually fairly sloppy and awkward in his attempts to be a technical wrestler. An aversion came during a memorable 1980 match at the Philadelphia Spectrum, where he took BobBacklund to the limit before winning by countout.

* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/AndreTheGiant, BobBacklund and Tony Atlas.

** Also, how weird is it to see TedDiBiase cheered and Hogan booed? Hogan's first main-event caliber opponent was [=DiBiase=] (in fact, Hogan's first match at Madison Square Garden was against a clean-shaven, humble [=DiBiase=]) ... and indeed, many of these matches weren't too different than the far-more famous encounters they'd have in the late 1980s into the 1990s.

[[index]]

[[/index]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Several promos from 1980 highlight this, including "Classy" Freddie Blassie noting that Hogan would one day grace the cover of large-circulation magazines (a skeptical Wrestling/VinceMcMahon chuckled, ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' ... which actually came to pass(!)), and would one day be a movie star. Shortly thereafter, Hogan boasted of a supposed friendship with SylvesterStallone and that he was going to be a leading character in ''Rocky III''' ... and lo and behold it happened!

* TakeThatCritics: From the very git-go, Hogan was determined to make his critics -- among them AndreTheGiant, BrunoSammartino and BobBacklund eat their words that he was nothing more than hot air. While he didn't quite accomplish it during his 1979-1981 go-around, he surely would in time ... and there were plenty of signs that he was more than capable of backing up his boasts with action.

!!! Wrestling/EddieGraham (Edward Gossett) 1959, 1960, 1964. 1965, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973)

!!! [[Wrestling/JimmySnuka Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka]] (James William Reiher Snuka) 1982-1985, 1989-1992

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Several promos from 1980 highlight this, including "Classy" Freddie Blassie noting that Hogan would one day grace the cover of large-circulation magazines (a skeptical VinceMcMahon chuckled, ''MadMagazine'' ... which actually came to pass(!)), and would one day be a movie star. Shortly thereafter, Hogan boasted of a supposed friendship with SylvesterStallone and that he was going to be a leading character in ''Rocky III''' ... and lo and behold it happened!

* CurbStompBattle: Want to see Hogan in a pure squash match, where his opponents put up absolutely no resistance? Watch any of his matches from this run and you'll see plenty.

* NWordPrivileges: Anyone who has continued to follow Hogan's battle with Gawker after the release of video footage in 2015 of him using racial slurs have forgotten a promo he once cut in early 1981, in anticipation of his feud with Tony Atlas, where he called Atlas a "jungle monkey" and other racist names.

!!! [[Wrestling/AllenCoage Bad News Brown (Allen James Coage) 1978-1979, 1988-1990]]

* WrestlingFamily: His son Leona competes for the [=Dradition=] promotion in Japan

!!! Wrestling/KenPatera 1977-1978, 1980, 1984-1985, 1987-1988

!!! Pat Patterson (Pierre Clermont) 1979-2004
[[quoteright:232:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/patterson-pat07_688.jpg]]
* AlliterativeName
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996.
* CanadaEh
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: For [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince [=McMahon=]]] in the Wrestling/AttitudeEra.
* FinishingMove: Atomic Drop
* PowerStable: Wrestling/TheCorporation and the [=McMahon=]-Helmsley Regime
* {{Retcon}}: The tournament where he supposedly became the first Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion never happened.
* StraightGay
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Gerald Brisco as Vince [=McMahon=]'s stooges in Wrestling/TheCorporation.

* UrExample: Was the first [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]].
* YesMan: To Vince [=McMahon=] in the Wrestling/AttitudeEra.

!!! Wrestling/AntoninoRocca (Antonino Biasetton) 1952–1963,1975–1977

!!! Johnny Rodz (Johnny Rodriguez) 1967-1985
[[quoteright:154:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johnnyrods_2951.jpg]]

* BadassTeacher: His trainees include [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys D-Von Dudley]], Wrestling/TommyDreamer, Wrestling/{{Tazz}}, and Wrestling/HughMorrus.
* FinishingMove: Diving headbutt.
* {{Jobber}}: For most of his WWWF career.
* RedBaron: "The Unpredictable"

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain

* BruceLeeClone: Has the looks when younger. In fact, while wrestling in United States, regional promotors used to ask him seriously if he was a Creator/BruceLee relative.