Line #89 Main/WrestlingMonster


1	[[quoteright:300:[[Wrestling/{{Vader}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vaderhelmet_5162.jpg]] ]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:'''"I FEAR NO MAN AND I FEEL NO PAIN! IT'S TIME! IT'S TIME! IT'S VADER TIME!"''']]
3
4	->''"I am the reaper of wayward souls, I am the world heavyweight champion and this, this is the holy grail of everyone who steps foot in this ring. And that is why it was so important that I possess it, because every wayward soul would stray from crossing the path of The Undertaker! But now, consumed by the lust of fortune and fame, the recognition that this championship brings will lead them down a road for which they will be sorry they ever embarked. Because that road ends in my yard. For them it will be a graveyard."''
5	-->-- '''Wrestling/TheUndertaker''', ''Friday Night Smackdown'', October 9, 2009.
6
7	Is he out [[ToBeAMaster to win championship belts? To stand at the top of the tournament]]? Does he live [[PerformanceArtist to entertain the fans]]? Is it [[MoneyDearBoy all]] about [[WrestlingDoesntPay the money]]? [[BloodKnight No, all he cares about is destruction, preferably the destruction of other living things]]. His shadow stretches far, his footsteps fall hard, he strikes swiftly, his BattleCry being the only warning, [[TheVoiceless if you're lucky]]. [[LightningBruiser He's as strong as he is fast, as tough as he is agile]], he's savage and is likely from PartsUnknown. He's a monster!
8
9	Some monsters are too dumb to understand anything other than fighting. Some are reasonably intelligent if a little disturbed, criminally psychotic by most standards outside of the wrestling world. Some turn out to not be that bad, simply misled by [[WrestlingManagersAreHeels a depraved manager]], but these are bad for the reigning champion, as the manager can give them a focus they would otherwise lack. A monster's strength and fury can be fueled by external forces like medicine that had unintended side effects on him. Some claim to have supernatural powers, some claim to be beasts that only take the guise of men.
10
11	What all monsters have in common is incredible endurance. They may be huge, but being big isn't enough. They may be crazy or vicious, but that still isn't enough. Many have power contested only by the TheGiant or the WorldsStrongestMan along with the agility of high fliers, but to be a monster, he must also be insanely tough. Some will teeter but not fall. Others will always get back up. The worst seemingly FeelNoPain at all: move them, bruise them, cut open their bodies, but it will do little to slow them down. After all, reducing his [[TheatricsOfPain selling]] is the easiest way to convince the audience this guy is abnormal.
12
13	The biggest thing that makes a monster different from TheGiant is movement. Monsters are tough, but being unmovable is not nearly as important to their psychology as for giants. Monsters are also more likely to chase down fleeing foes than giants. Wrestlers will often be given giant gimmicks to emphasize their appearance while distracting viewers from their lack of talent. Monsters may lack in some areas of WrestlingPsychology or [[LargeHam charisma]], but the gimmick is usually given so a wrestler can spend more time showcasing their offensive moves without having to slow down too much to sell. The WildSamoan is a subtrope.
14
15	The term "monster {{heel}}" is often used to describe this kind of wrestler, however, since monster gimmicks are usually given to talented athletes it is not unknown for them to take the {{face}} role. Depending on how abnormal {{the gimmick}} is supposed to be the face examples may overlap with MonsterKnight.
16	----
17	!!Examples
18	[[foldercontrol]]
19	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
20	* During the 1940s, the Russian born wrestler Maurice Tillet was starting to get over big in the United States as The French Angel. He was billed as "The World's Ugliest Man" and pushed as nearly unstoppable for two years as champion of the Boston territory (Known as The American Wrestling Association but unrelated to [[Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation that one]]) and then of the Montreal Territory. He was one of the shortest examples of this trope, standing only at 5'7, which wasn't very tall even in his era, but he had acromegaly, which gave him a fearsome look. Throughout the forties and fifties, [[FountainOfExpies several other wrestlers would take up angel gimmicks in his wake]].
21	* "Argentina's Mad Bull" Wrestling/PamperoFirpo, rumored to gain unnatural strength through his hair, which he had a lot of and was [[NoSell all but immune]] to what should have been the debilitating effect of pulling on it, possessing of HardHead, not asking for nor giving of mercy.
22	* Gary Hart's Army had "The Korea Assassin" Pak Song Nam. While he was of above average height at an imperial six foot five, Nam was also fairly thin and legitimately sickly. His illness made him ugly and unnerving to look at, but what really put him into monster territory were his hands and feet being abnormally large for his body, to disproportional levels. So even though his arms and legs weren't too thick people still fretted when he tried to cave in the heads of his opponents. Nam was so fearsome he was one of the first wrestlers chosen when it was time for "The Bull Of Woods" Wrestling/DustyRhodes to undergo a HeelFaceTurn.
23	* Wrestling/BruiserBrody made a career of being a monster heel, and was one of the most feared men in the ring back in the day -- so much so, in fact, that he may have been killed for it.\
24	\
25	There are two common theories floating around as to why José Gonzalez killed Brody. One is that Gonzalez's daughter supposedly drowned in the swimming pool while on a visit to Brody's family's house.\
26	Another is that Brody and Gonzalez were going to have a match together once, but Brody didn't want to do it because he thought Gonzalez was too small, which he also said to his face (he called Gonzalez a "fucking midget" to be precise). Gonzalez then stabbed Brody but apparently did not intend to kill him. Unfortunately, Brody had taken 7 aspirins because he wanted to get a good blood flow in his match (a common trick in Pro Wrestling) and as a result he was bleeding too heavily for the doctors to save him. However, at the end of the day nobody knows why Gonzalez did it.
27	* [[Wrestling/{{Vader}} Big Van Vader]], in the early-to-mid 90's was, according to Wrestling/MickFoley, "The greatest monster in the business", and Mick said he saw rookie wrestlers on several occasions actually quit WCW instead of work a match with Vader. Part of it was that Vader had a tendency to get carried away in the ring and was a notoriously "stiff" performer. In the words of Zach Arnold:
28	--> ''"He revolutionized what people thought of a monster heavyweight wrestler. He elevated the standards of what it meant to be an agile giant who could make fans believe that he could destroy everyone."''
29	** Additionally, Vader was an incredibly hard man. During a match against Wrestling/StanHansen he suffered a broken orbital bone that caused a stiff punch from Hansen to ''[[EyeScream knock his eye out of its socket]]'' (only the swelling of his eyelid kept it from falling out and dangling down his face). Vader simply pushed it back in with his fingers and carried on.
30	* Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}, who steamrolled through the entire roster during his WCW reign and became the biggest face in the company. His monster status became most obvious when he no-sold a flurry of offense from the similarly undefeated Wrestling/{{Glacier}}. It took a taser, and Wrestling/KevinNash's [[ExecutiveMeddling newly acquired superpowers]] [[WagTheDirector as head booker]], to keep him down.
31	** To put this in perspective, Goldberg has apparently ''never'' lost a match cleanly (save for a No DQ match, which may or may not count) until his ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 33'' match with Brock Lesnar. In standard matches, he's ''always'' come out on top unless cheating is involved.
32	* Wrestling/TheUndertaker, but less so during his biker gimmick. Being a soul-stealing zombie gravedigger, it came with the territory. Besides the standard monster endurance, he could also control electricity and instantly move through darkness, helping to his supernatural side.
33	* Wrestling/{{Kane}}, being the little brother of the Undertaker. He was less known for winning titles than for torturing the rest of the roster. Doomsday (his USWA gimmick) was a prototype of this character. In more recent days, it's been shown that Kane is extremely intelligent and fully aware of his monstrous nature, and has even served as the voice of reason at some points; he warned Wrestling/AJLee off of starting a relationship with him by explaining that his psychosis makes him "not exactly boyfriend material", and also served as the (relative) StraightMan [[Wrestling/TeamHellNo in a team with]] [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]].
34	* Wrestling/{{TNA}}'s The Monster Wrestling/{{Abyss}}, being equal parts an {{expy}} of [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mankind]] and Kane. His time spent not playing this role is considered something of an AudienceAlienatingEra.
35	* Cibernético trying to kill off his would be successor, Asesor Cibernético, caused him to come back from the dead as El Mesías, Wrestling/{{AAA}}'s wrestling zombie. In TNA, Mesías was revealed to be Judas, brother of Abyss and son of Wrestling/JamesMitchell. He went on to become Mil Muertes in Wrestling/LuchaUnderground (see below).
36	* [[Wrestling/SidEudy Psycho Sid]] was nominally billed as one, though many fans thought he fell short. He was pretty convincing against smaller guys like Shawn Michaels if nothing else.
37	* Wrestling/JohnTenta during his heel run as Earthquake was this, with his finishing move being a running [[AssKicksYou sitdown splash]] called the "Earthquake Splash", which he would often [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown do over and over after the match had ended]], usually resulting in his unfortunate opponent having to be carried out on a stretcher. He famously had a feud with Wrestling/HulkHogan himself in which he put Hogan out of commission for a while with the move after a sneak-attack during [[TalkShowWithFists "The Brother Love Show"]], with Hogan subsequently recovering and defeating him in a series of matches across the country.
38	* Jon Heidenreich, a violent poem reading barbarian who could not accept the fact he lost to the Undertaker. Famously kidnapped and suggestively punished Wrestling/MichaelCole. Became best friends with Wrestling/BookerT after the latter bashed him upside the head with a chair; Heidenreich thought they were friends anyway.
39	* The Legion of Doom's primary members, Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors Hawk and Animal, a monster tag team. Heidenreich was also briefly in the Legion of Doom.
40	* "The Inhuman Monstrosity" Superbeast, most commonly seen in ''Empire State Wrestling'' and ''In Your Face Wrestling''.
41	* [[Wrestling/DrewHankinson Festus the "Corn Fed Colossus"]] was usually subdued, only becoming this trope when he heard the sound of a bell. It was revealed that his family were using drugs to keep him sedate, but Jesse discovered that bells made him come alive for some reason, and decided to sick him on ''WWE''.
42	** Prior to this, Drew Hankinson had also played the gimmick of the impostor Kane. These days however, the monster gimmick is played down in his role as Luke Gallows.
43	* Wrestling/{{Batista}} used to be this trope, especially in ''OVW'' where he was "[[Wrestling/JimCornette The Leviathan, The Demon Of The Deep, Guardian Of The Gates Of Hell, Right Hand Of The Devil Himself!]]". It pretty much came to an end once he was allowed to hold a microphone for over a minute. He remained a tough competitor, but lost the invincibility and the mystique.
44	* Wrestling/BrockLesnar, the Next Big Thing. ''[=SmackDown=]'' had a nice amount of cruiserweight wrestlers to feed him and he was faster than most of them too. He also out-muscled those in his weight class and was pretty much booked to be an invincible heartless bastard, helped by the fact he [[RealLifeWritesThePlot broke Hardcore Holly's neck]], and the fact he finished a match when his own was broken! And then he [[DefeatingTheUndefeatable broke The Streak]]. And now, with a dominating win over Wrestling/JohnCena at Wrestling/SummerSlam 2014 in the books, Lesnar is now being pushed as the ultimate, invincible monster. Being one of the most legit members of the rosters by way of being [[UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship a UFC champion]] also helps.
45	** The scary thing is, Heyman's WWE promos touting Lesnar as unbeatable might indeed be true, if what Heyman said (in a legit interview about Lesnar's potential as a mixed martial artist) about Lesnar being a once-in-a-lifetime athlete, comparable to Jim Thorpe, UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan, UsefulNotes/WiltChamberlain, Gordie Howe and UsefulNotes/WayneGretzky [[http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2163951-paul-heyman-at-100-health-no-fighter-could-have-touched-brock-lesnar are true]] (and Lesnar, who has had legit health issues including with diverticulitis, remains healthy).
46	* Hitting moonsaults while weighing around 91 kg at 1.70 meters (201 pounds and 5'7") was impressive enough, but Wrestling/BullNakano sometimes completely no-sold back suplexes just to drive in how futile her opponent's effort was.
47	* [[Wrestling/KiaStevens Amazing Kong/Awesome Kong/Kharma]] has been booked as a giant style wrestler, but she can play this role as well. Best seen in TNA where she started as an immovable giant but became better known for never staying down, her all-around skill and her evil manager.
48	* Her "mentor/rival" Wrestling/AjaKong is a similar case, who (not unlike the Undertaker) played a monster that claimed to be worse than the devil, yet was a face for long portions of her career. She was even built up as a monster in the WWF where she practically won the Survivor Series by herself.
49	* To address complaints fans had over Wrestling/SamoaJoe's booking, TNA tried to turn him into one of these. Given the trope's nature, this only led to [[WildSamoan more complaints]]. Full Impact Pro had managed to give Joe the whole monster angle to much greater success before hand (but they didn't have a national TV deal)
50	* The Wrestling/{{Boogeyman}} was more so this trope in Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he appeared out of nowhere when the heels [[JustForFun/CandleJack spoke his name]] and briefly no-sold whatever they tried before beating them around the arena. Not so much in WWE, but he would still only briefly gyrate when struck with anything less than a mallet or a SignatureMove and would just keep coming. He broke clocks over his head, carried around a heart, and swallowed and regurgitated worms to be force-fed to the wrestlers he defeated. {{Face}}. Unlike similar monster gimmicks, The Boogeyman did not have any powers. He was just an actor for a canceled UPN show who got LostInCharacter, though [[PartsUnknown he was billed from]] [[Literature/TheBible "The Bottomless Pit"]].
51	* Speaking of Kharma, the original Awesome Kong was one half of a tag team. The Colossal Kongs are most famous for their [[FashionVictimVillain odd dress]] and for being called the worst tag team of 1993 by ''Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter'', but they were convincing monsters. Pretty much all their matches were {{Squash Match}}es that were over in under four minutes. That is, until ''Wrestling/{{WCW}} Clash of the Champions XXIV'', August 18, 1993, when they found themselves facing BadassNormal Wrestling/RicFlair and LightningBruiser Wrestling/{{Sting}}. More specifically, Sting, who slammed both 400 lbs.+ guys in succession with ease and hit Awesome with a Stinger (leaping to an opponent in the corner) Splash and a top rope splash for the win in about 2:14.
52	* Already something of an InvincibleHero, WCW tried to turn the Wrestling/UltimateWarrior into one of these. He had many squash matches, but the run is mostly remembered for an infamous [[SpecialEffectFailure mirror scene]].
53	* [[Wrestling/CharlesWright Papa Shango]], who would often drop the wrestling and simply use a Voodoo curse to defeat his opponents, not that he couldn't get it done in the ring.
54	* Big Bad Mama of Wrestling/{{GLOW}} had voodoo powers too, but she used hers for mind control. Eventually, someone turned her voodoo around on her, so she resorted to squashing wrestlers the old fashion way. She even got to use the gimmick on an episode of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''. May she rest in peace. Matilda The Hun was a more mundane example, being a large indomitable athlete with ForeignWrestlingHeel overtones. Both of them feuded with [[TheGiant Mount Fiji]], the only one who could undermine Mama's voodoo powers and Hun's claims of master race superiority.
55	* Evil Dead, [[Wrestling/JuggaloChampionshipWrestling JCW]]'s wrestling corpse. [[PrettySpryForADeadGuy A little less intact than the Undertaker]], [[EvilIsVisceral his outer layer of flesh is gone]]. [[TheProblemWithFightingDeath He feels no pain, knows no fear]], and has to be restrained by a pair of {{Monster Clown}}s when he's not in matches. [[GroinAttack However, his testicles are still alive, and thus still vulnerable.]]
56	* There was an attempt to get world judo champion and STO innovator Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa some monster cred by having him squashing smaller wrestlers and then fight evenly with Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}.
57	* President Ramu, lovingly nicknamed by fans as "La hija del Undertaker", was an eight-year-old girl whose strength was boosted to superhuman levels after she was possessed by a demon.
58	* Missy Sampson, Aka Big Van Missy, Wrestling/{{WSU}}'s riff on Vader. She eventually set up TheWorfEffect for Hailey Hatred and Jessicka Havok, the latter being an even worse monster who tried to kill Wrestling/MercedesMartinez, air raid crashed new owner DJ Hyde, beat up Alpha Female and even fought ''Wrestling/SamiCallihan''.
59	* Mordecai, a zealous Christian-in-all-but-name out to prove strength in the faith of God to all the sinners of the world, was one of the many monster characters WWE introduced with the failed long term plan of feuding with The Undertaker. Unfortunately, Kevin Fertig (the man who played him) had stage fright issues, and had to go back to developmental. He later got called back up and repackaged as Kevin Thorn, a wrestling vampire out to feed on the blood of ECW. Kevin Thorn was a "legit" ECW monster after they ran weeks worth of parodies such as shambling zombies for [[Wrestling/JimFullington the Sandman]] to beat with his cane. Fans suspect he was there to meet the science fiction requirement, back when Creator/{{Syfy}} was still called Sci-Fi.
60	* [[Wrestling/DavidHeath Gangrel]] and Rio Storm are two more wrestling vampires and they are known for teaming up on occasion. Rio Storm is the more monstrous of the two(though Gangrel had better fangs). He'd also team up with Billy Blade in the {{tag team}} known as "Bloodline" and sometimes have Ariel as a valet, whom Billy claimed to have "[[ILoveYouVampireSon turned]]".
61	* LLF has Reina Vampira and Vampireza.
62	* One half of Wrestling/{{Wrestlicious}}'s "Ghouls Gone Wild" was wrestling Vampire [[Wrestling/DaffneyUnger Draculetta]]. The other half, White Magic, was a hoodoo sorceress.
63	* After Hulk Hogan's ''Film/NoHoldsBarred'' movie, someone got the bright idea to bring his opponent Zeus from the movie into the wrestling world and give him the same monster gimmick. He completely no-sold everything unless his opponents [[AttackItsWeakPoint went for his eyes]], which not only hurt but apparently made him vulnerable to other things.
64	* Speaking of Wrestling/HulkHogan, the man himself was this in the early part of his career, starting off as a heel who dragged on matches with seriously outclassed opponents just because he could, and was one of the few guys who even held a candle in terms of size to Wrestling/AndreTheGiant. He was called [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] for a reason.
65	* Apocalypse in UPW, who was basically a stand-in for WWE's Kane. In Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE he was the Himalayan Bigfoot and could take a whole lot of punishment without flinching because of his {{Delayed Reaction}}s but moved really slow. Bigfoot would move a lot faster though if someone poured ice cubes on him.
66	* The monster army of Wrestling/FightingOperaHustle would expand its members by brainwashing regular wrestlers and then turning them into monsters too, such as turning Sonjay Dutt into Monster J, Steve Corino into Monster C or in the case of extant ones, more monstrous, such as MONSTER Naoya Ogawa.
67	* Wrestling/GiantSilva whenever he wrestled in Japan as a heel.
68	* Because HUSTLE loved this trope, [[BigBad Generalissimo Takada]] introduced a superpowered cyborg based on him called The Esperanza, who could even shoot wrestlers with [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]]. He was so powerful that not even the legendary Great Muta could defeat him.
69	* [[Wrestling/{{Akebono}} Monster Bono]] of HUSTLE, born when Wrestling/TheGreatMuta's [[RuleOfSymbolism green mist got on the crotch]] of [[FemmeFatale Yinling The Erotic Terrorist]]. The ManChild was one of the too-dumb-to-know-better examples, as he lost his daddy to The Esperanza and he accidentally {{Killed Off\| For Real}} his mother.
70	* HUSTLE had a flying vampire tag team.
71	* Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} of course has a few, such as the mute swamp monster.
72	* Wrestling/KaijuBigBattel is basically what happens when 90% of the roster is made up of wrestling monsters, many of whom have SizeShifter powers.
73	* The first ever World Wrestling League Heavy Weight Champion, Monster Pain, as his manager Mistress Glenda Lee would tell you in so many words if his name fails to get the point across. In fact, she has to keep him chained up when away from the ring and sometimes even that doesn't work.
74	* Argentinan Titanes En El Ring had La Momia, or the "The {{Mummy}}"
75	* The Wrestling/DungeonOfDoom had several: Wrestling/{{Kamala}}, [[Wrestling/JohnTenta the Shark (John Tenta)]], Wrestling/{{Meng}} (whose RedBaron ''was'' "The Monster", though that came only ''after'' the group had disbanded), [[Wrestling/GiantHaystacks Loch Ness]], and, most importantly, the centerpiece [[Wrestling/TheBigShow the Giant (Paul "The Big Show" Wight)]].
76	* Lucha Underground has had a few.
77	** Mil Muertes, the man of a thousand deaths. A menacing masked luchador, at the time he debuted he was the largest man on the LU roster. His backstory: He was nearly killed in an earthquake as a young boy, and his soul is linked to a piece of rubble from the quake. Which means now that he has superhuman strength, endurance and durability, and even if he should be defeated, he just comes back even stronger. He was portrayed by El Mesias, also known as Judas Mesias in TNA.
78	** Cage "The Machine" is another example - bulging with muscles, stuffed with brutality and almost impossible to put down, he absolutely [[BerserkButton HATES it]] when an opponent gets up after he's knocked them down and will make them pay for their audacity. Not a perfectly straight example as although he's a power wrestler, he's also ''startlingly'' [[LightningBruiser agile for his size]] (like most of the LU roster) and is easily capable of flying over the top rope in pursuit of his victims... which only makes him even ''more'' intimidating!
79	** Matanza Cueto quickly stole the mantle of the biggest monster in Wrestling/LuchaUnderground. His brother Dario Cueto entered him as the last man in Aztec Warfare, and Matanza made quick work of nearly half the active roster, winning the Lucha Underground title in emphatic fashion. Like Cage, Matanza isn't a giant (while he's scarily bulky, he's only about 5'10"), but also like Cage he's also ''much'' more agile than a man that strong has any right to be, capable of pulling off ''a standing shooting star press!'' And for good measure, he defeated both Cage and Mil Muertes in singles matches.
80	* United States champion Wrestling/{{Rusev\|AndLana}} may border on it, but so far he's been billed as an indestructible fighting machine who has so far defeated everyone in his path, with only [[Wrestling/JohnCena one person]] unofficially giving him his first real defeat since his debut. And then he had the misfortune running into Wrestling/RomanReigns...
81	* Wrestling/SylvesterTerkay cut his teeth in the wrestling business as Predator, the resident wrestling monster of Pro Wrestling ZERO-1. He was brought to WWE and briefly given a monster heel push, but he somehow never really connected with the fans and was released less than a year into his run.
82	* Wrestling/JasonTheTerrible, a {{legacy\|character}} monster gimmick that started in Canada's Stampede and is based on the ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' films. While no one knows anything about the powers of the villains in the movies, Zodiac claimed Jason was blessed by CosmicEntity The Almighty Luke.
83	* "The American Tragedy" Zack Monstar would start out as a {{expy}} to Jason from ''Friday The Thirteenth" movies in New Era Wrestling and also show up as the "human horror show" in Nova Pro. REAL Pro Wrestling, by contrast, decided to give him a FreakyIsCool baby face push, though he remained as violent as ever and thrived in {{gimmick matches}}.
84	* Following the new Brand Extension in 2016, ''Raw'' gained two: Former Wrestling/WyattFamily henchman Wrestling/BraunStrowman for the men, and Wrestling/NiaJax of the Samoan wrestling dynasty for the women. Both have routinely squashed {{jobber}}s (up to three at once in Strowman's case), and each also has [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped]] a main roster opponent twice (Wrestling/SinCara for Strowman, Wrestling/AliciaFox for Nia). Both are sold as unstoppable monsters in their respective divisions, with the ''Raw'' commentary crew often wondering how one stops Strowman, and Strowman has even gone so far as to personally threaten ''Raw'' general manager Wrestling/MickFoley in the name of getting better competition. As a result, he got Wrestling/SamiZayn.
85	** Conversely, ''[=SmackDown=]'' has only one: Wrestling/BaronCorbin. He hasn't bothered much with jobbers, unlike Strowman and Jax, and went straight up after the main roster superstars that irked him, such as Kalisto and Wrestling/JackSwagger, curb stomping almost all of them. His finisher, the End of Days, has never been kicked out of after he's delivered it to his opponent. And at the ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'' Corbin did the thing many other wrestlers would consider impossible: he eliminated Strowman.
86	* Also on TheNewTens is Wrestling/{{WALTER}}. Unlike other examples on this list, WALTER admittedly doesn't have much on the WrestlingPsychology side, but between his size, appearance, and the fact that in many promotions he has been fed ''midcarders and main eventers alike''. Not to mention [[ThatOneAttack THOSE. CHOPS.]]
87	* Wrestling/KingKongBundy was 6'6, 458 lbs., very strong, had the five-count gimmick, and was the rare wrestler who was ''not'' intimidated by [[Wrestling/JakeRoberts Jake "The Snake" Roberts]]' snake Damien.
88	* Wrestling/BrayWyatt was a borderline case up until he lost far too regularly for fans to take seriously any more...and then he became [[MonsterClown the Fiend]], an unstoppable EldritchAbomination who can kick out of any finisher on the WWE roster, shrug off weapon shots unfazed, and survive being ''set on fire''.
89	* Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre is a subtle, but consistent long-term example. Starting from his NXT days, where he won the brand championship to the tune of kicking out the [[Wrestling/BobbyRoode Glorious DDT]] ''three times,'' the giant Scot has gone on to prove, even while he was stuck in the main roster midcard, that he's almost unprecedentedly hard to defeat. It took Drew a 16-foot fall through the announce desk and a [[Wrestling/RandyOrton surprise RKO]] at ''Wrestling/HellInACell 2020'' to lose his first WWE Championship, and he's one of the only people in the known universe to have kicked out of the [[Wrestling/RomanReigns Spear]] and the [[Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} Jackhammer]].
90	* Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling have recruited a number of established monsters, as well as created a few new ones of their own:
91	** Wardlow, Wrestling/{{MJF}}'s hulking [[TheDragon bodyguard and enforcer]], is a cold, emotionless monster who crushes whoever MJF points him at. He eventually [[HeelFaceTurn turned face]] after he got massively over with the crowd by changing his FinishingMove from the F10[[note]]a spinning [[Wrestling/BrockLesnar F5]] which was hard to execute properly[[/note]] for the "Powerbomb Symphony" where [[BoringButPractical he grabs his opponent and powerbombs him]]... [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown over and over and over again]].
92	** From NJPW they recruited [[RedBaron "the Murderhawk Monster"]] Lance Archer, pairing him with the legendary Wrestling/JakeRoberts as his manager. [[AxCrazy He lives to destroy everyone, regardless of whether they're his opponent or not]], in accordance with his CatchPhrase "Everyone dies!"
93	** Jake Hager, enforcer of the Wrestling/InnerCircle, and [[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs MISTER]] Brodie Lee, the Exalted One of Wrestling/TheDarkOrder, are examples of performers who weren't really booked as monsters in their previous runs in WWE (as Wrestling/JackSwagger and Wrestling/LukeHarper respectively) where their imposing size didn't stand out so much against other large wrestlers. In the comparatively smaller AEW, Hager is an imposing, stoic thug who does Wrestling/ChrisJericho's bidding with brutal efficiency, leveraging his genuine undefeated MMA record. Mister Lee, on the other hand, is a cold, calculating, ''intelligent'' monster who directs the Dark Order with callous brutality, but is a sadistic, violent juggernaut when it comes time to get his own hands dirty, [[RankScalesWithAsskicking justifying his position as the Exalted One]]. He ended inaugural TNT Champion [[Wrestling/CodyRhodes Cody's]] reign in less than five minutes of pure savagery, shrugging off Cody's opening flurry and ''[[SquashMatch destroying]]'' him without mercy.
94	** They also recruited the aforementioned Brian Cage, who was initially managed by Wrestling/{{Taz}}. After Cage eventually split from Team Taz, their new monster was the huge and muscular [[ScaryBlackMan "Powerhouse" Will Hobbs]].
95	** In the women's division, [[RedBaron "the Native Beast"]] Nyla Rose is possibly the most-feared competitor, a Native American [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} trans woman]] who is far bigger and more brutal than any other woman in the division (with [[Wrestling/KiaStevens Awesome Kong]] having retired), sadistically destroying anyone who opposes her.
96	** Abadon, the Living Dead Girl from the Black Hills, is the other terrifying member of AEW's women's division. While much smaller than Nyla Rose (she's actually quite short but stocky), she's a psychotic, zombie-like ''literal'' monster who communicates in gutteral snarls and screams, shrugs off her opponent's best efforts with little effect, and looks like she's constantly only a hair's breadth from leaping onto her opponent and eating their face.
97	* Invoked ''and'' subverted with The Mauler. WCW repackaged career undercarder Mike Enos as biker and gave him a diminuitive jobber named Steve Doll to manhandle. The match dragged on with Mauler beating and beating on Doll, [[NoSell no-selling]] what little offense Doll got and not trying to actually win, the crowd was vocally displeased with the match... and then Wrestling/ScottHall showed up, overshadowing The Mauler so badly that Mauler just wandered away from the ring, disappeared for a couple months and returned to being Mike Enos.
98	[[/folder]]
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100	[[folder:Fictional Examples]]
101
102	[[AC: Anime And Manga]]
103	* ''Franchise/OnePiece'' has Jesus Burgess, a {{Top Heavy\| Guy}} ogre of a man who claims to be a wrestling champion and instigates fights with whoever he can to prove it. He is strong enough to rip a hotel from the ground and toss it at his enemies.
104	* A few heels in ''Manga/TigerMask'' have such gimmicks.
105	* A story arc in ''Manga/CityHunter'' had a gang leader use help from his {{Yakuza}} boss father to enlist the help of a gigantic former wrestler who was banned from fighting for killing an opponent. Ryo beat the crap out of him ''off-screen'', and even complained about it having been too easy.
106	* One show up in ''Manga/KyouKaraOreWa'', having been hired as a bodyguard by the villain of that story arc... [[OhCrap Who loses control of him]]. Mitsuhashi, who was the one who pissed him off, defeats him by [[CombatPragmatist tricking him into a race until he became tired before punching him out]].
107	* A story in the ''Manga/{{Batman}}'' manga has a masked wrestling Monster Heel known as the Hangman (guess the gimmick), who tries to set himself up as an AntiHeroSubstitute for Batman. It is revealed that he was outright evil from the beginning, talking a brain-damaged retired wrestler into committing a robbery so that he could [[EngineeredHeroics kill him to set up his rep]] as a ruthlessly effective vigilante. The story climaxes with Batman invading a wrestling show and challenging him to a "[[GimmickMatches loser unmasks]]" match.
108	* A literal example is the monster Rhino Wrestler in ''WebComic/OnePunchMan''.
109
110	[[AC: Comics]]
111	* Since AllMythsAreTrue in Marvel's FantasyKitchenSink, wrestling leagues often employed real monsters. Most of these were from the group known as the Deviants, who were too ugly to live unexposed in regular society.
112	* "The Other" in ''Super Pro K.O.'', a bizarre, massive creature who seems to have tentacles coming out of his head. It doesn't talk, it has very unclear motivations for everything it does, and it's pretty much an even more mysterious, creepy, and threatening version of the Undertaker.
113	* [[Characters/BatmanRoguesGallery Waylon Jones a.k.a. "Killer Croc"]] has a rare condition which gives him a crocodilian appearance as well as superhuman strength and endurance. For a time he wrestled as part of a traveling circus, where his monstrous nature was an advantage.
114
115	[[AC: Film]]
116	* Parodied in ''Film/NachoLibre''. The local monster team is made of two hairy, horned, beast men who squeal like pigs...and are only three feet tall...and pull off some of the most impressive offensive maneuvers in the whole film.
117	* El Mascarado from the slasher film ''Film/{{Wrestlemaniac}}'' is a luchador serial killer who 'unmasks' his victims by ripping their faces off.
118	* In the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'' movie, Bonesaw [=McGraw=] (played by the legendary "Macho Man" Wrestling/RandySavage) embodies this during his [[OneSceneWonder brief moment on screen]]. He is kicking the crap out of an entire gauntlet of wrestlers to the point where one has to be carried out on a stretcher. Even though Peter is superhuman, he is still nervous when he gets into the ring. Of course, his demeanor changes once he realizes he can beat Bonesaw.
119	* ''Film/MonsterBrawl'' is a most literal example, featuring a wrestling tournament for monsters.
120	* ''Film/NoHoldsBarred'' has Zeus, played by 'Tiny' Lister.
121
122	[[AC: Live Action TV]]
123	* The Golden Boy from ''Series/NightMan'' was given this kind of gimmick and he secretly hated it because {{Kayfabe}} meant people thought he was a monster in real life.
124	* ''Series/KennyVsSpenny'': In the episode "Who's the Best Pro Wrestler," Spenny becomes "The Nice Guy", and Kenny becomes "Yarp Yarp," an uncontrollable monster from an experiment gone wrong.
125	* In ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'', the gladiator Theokoles The Shadow Of Death is portrayed as something of an Ancient Roman version of this. He's a huge man who mostly screams and hisses instead of speaking, takes ungodly amounts of punishment, and sometimes pretends to be dead so that he can shock the crowd and his opponents by "coming back to life".
126	* A literal example from an episode of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', where the magical fugitive Konane escapes Time Bureau custody and winds up as a wrestler dubbed "El Lobo" (since he's a wolfman) in 1961 Mexico City.
127
128	[[AC:Tabletop Game]]
129	* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' had the Extreme Wrestling Confederation, run by a subsidiary of Pentex, in which vampires, shapeshifters and other supernaturals compete. First mentioned in the Children of the Night sourcebook, along with the Nosferatu luchador El Diablo Verde.
130	** It's worth noting that WWE took the name "Gangrel" and the whole idea of the Brood, his team with Wrestling/{{Edge\|Wrestler}} and Wrestling/{{Christian}}, from this game. Any [=CDs=] that included his music or any releases/publications that included Gangrel always included a mention in the liner notes/credits that Gangrel was a trademark of White Wolf, Inc.
131	* Another literal example can be found in "The Unspeakables", an entire team of wrestling ''{{eldritch abomination}}s''[[note]]a man turned into a slug-like abomination after accidentally encountering a Lovecraftian god below the sea, a sorceress from a race of pre-human SnakePeople, and the ''spawn'' of the aforementioned Lovecraftian god-thing[[/note]] in the ''TabletopGame/StreetFighterTheStorytellingGame'' RPG. Ironically, it was ''also'' done by ''Creator/WhiteWolf''.
132
133	[[AC:Video Games]]
134	* In ''VideoGame/ProWrestling'', the Amazon is a masked wrestler who plays a HalfHumanHybrid and bites people.
135	* "Monster" is one of the reversal templates one can choose for their CAW in the WWE Day Of Reckoning games. It and UNDERTAKER are the most elaborate of the "big man" choices and Undertaker's an example of this trope anyway.
136	* The King of Dinosaurs from ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'', whose gimmick is that he's a beastly and savage dinosaur wrestler whose attacks often involve biting and clawing at his opponents and talks about striking fear into the hearts of the crowd. [[spoiler:He's actually Tizoc, having undergone a FaceHeelTurn due to him losing a match against newcomer Nelson and wanting to settle a grudge match with him, even though said behaviour is unbecoming of a Face like him, neccesitating the turn. He also has a pretty bad habit of slipping back into his original Tizoc self sometimes, such as going on about justice, before correcting himself. Also, [[PaperThinDisguise the rest of the cast aren't exactly fooled by his change in the slightest]].]]
137	* ''Ring of Destruction: [[VideoGame/SaturdayNightSlamMasters Slam Masters]] II'' brings us Wraith, a hulking brute in a cloak who attacks by producing snakes from his sleeves and hood.
138	* While he officially uses Vale Tudo as his fighting style rather than professional wrestling, Craig Marduk from the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' series otherwise fits the trope pretty well. He's a hulking NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Nathan Jones (with a few references to Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} and Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin thrown in) who's an absolute brute both in and out of the ring. He fights because he likes hurting people, it remains his motivation even after he has a HeelFaceTurn at the end of ''Tekken 5'' and becomes the tag team partner of King. Somewhat ironically for this trope, despite being set in a world where people have {{Ki}} powers or the genetic ability to turn into winged monsters that breathe fire or have EyeBeams, he's an ordinary human save for cutscenes portraying him as having CharlesAtlasSuperpower level strength.
139
140	[[AC:Western Animation]]
141	* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' Executive Promoter of GWA (Global Wrestling Association), Jackie Oakes uses an UpgradeArtifact to turn himself into a giant jackal man and attacks the wrestlers booked in the main event without anyone batting an eye because they think it's AllPartOfTheShow. It actually was planned to be part of the show but Jackie turned it into a shoot. His two prized wrestlers, Pain King and Steel Toe (Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} and [[Wrestling/{{Test}} Andrew "Test" Martin]]), were also this trope, [[MeanCharacterNiceActor but their biggest real-life fault was to think the idea of Jackie fighting them was a joke.]]
142	* The ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' episode "Wrestle Maniacs" had the gang come up against a monstrous wrestler known only as the Titanic Twist, so named because he was given a forbidden wrestling move of the same name that caused both of his arms to be on one side of his body.
143	* Parodied in the ''[[WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory Dial M For Monkey]]'' episode "Rasslor," a WholePlotReference to [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel Two-In-One Annual #7]]. The title character, an unbeatable alien pro wrestler (voiced by Wrestling/RandySavage) comes to Earth to challenge its greatest heroes for the fate of the world. He clobbers the Justice Friends until only Monkey is left. Despite being repeatedly pounded into the ground, Monkey [[{{Determinator}} refuses to give up]]. His display of fortitude moves Rasslor to spare the Earth for producing an [[WorthyOpponent opponent whose spirit could not be broken]].
144	* In ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekProdigy'', Rok-Tahk used to be this in a staged battle show where nobody could understand her speech and vice versa. The "hero" (an older swordsman) would fight her, but his swordstrokes were actually harmless on her rocky skin. Eventually, she got too upset and frustrated at being the big scary one and turned one show into a slapstick farce, which went over great with the crowd but ''not'' with the owners, and they sold her to Tars Lamora.
145	* The ProWrestlingEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has Amethyst [[VoluntaryShapeshifting turning into]] a huge (male) wrestler named Purple Puma to compete in the local circuit and proves pretty much unstoppable. In a possible inversion, Amethyst is ''actually'' a [[MagicalGirlWarrior super-powered]] alien, but [[PaperThinDisguise seems to be trying]] to pretend she's a human so the other Crystal Gems won't find out about her. Amethyst is also [[PercussiveTherapy too interested]] in [[ProWrestlingIsReal beating people up]] to cultivate any specific image, only managing to be an effective heel thanks to Steven's showmanship once he becomes her tag partner.
146	* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'''s Fast Forward episode, "[[ProWrestlingEpisode Headlock Prime]]", the villainous [[MultipleHeadCase three-headed]] behemoth Triple Threat makes his grand return to 2105's version of Madison Square Garden. In addition to trying to rob the arena's latest wrestling event, he reclaims his old heel persona to prove how "[[PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil soft]]" the field of professional wrestling has become, taking down the main contenders one by one [[ProWrestlingIsReal for real]].
147	[[/folder]]

Context Main / WrestlingMonster