Characters / Universal Wrestling Federation

Debuted in the original UWF

When It All Began

And Now For Something Completely Different

"The UWF was originally like any professional wrestling organization until Fujiwara, Takada, Yamazaki, and Sayama joined Maeda and Hayato. Then, within a few months these men came to a conscious decision to "return wrestling" back to its roots. Gone would be the top-rope techniques, the choreographed bumps, and the disqualification endings. Thus Go, Kimura, and Hamada left to All-Japan Pro Wrestling (of Giant Baba) as well. However, stiff strikes and an extra emphasis on groundwork would take priority in their work. Because of this, Osamu Kido, a colleague of Inoki whom debuted in the JWA in 1968 joined the roster on September 11, of that year. Within the time of the UWF's first year, Masami Soranaka, Karl Gotch's son-in-law, a Karateka, Judoka, and Sumo-tori became the organization's first true-born graduate. The organization would also hire very technical mat-savvy wrestlers such as Mark Lewin, Phil Lafon (of Can-Am Express fame) and Dean "Malenko" Simon (whose family Karl is close to) to work with the calibre of the UWF's talent. Unfortunately, this experiment had its drawbacks backstage. Akira Maeda, the ace of the promotion, was not able compromise with Satoru Sayama's interests (Sayama wanted to be the ace also). Thus 14 months after the promotion's premiere April 10, 1984 show, things came to a boiling point on September 02, 1985. On that show, which would prove to be the UWF's semifinal show, during a match between Akira Maeda and Satoru Sayama, Maeda would kick Sayama with all his power below the waist, of which Sayma would sell as low blows. Sayma would then attempt to strike Maeda harder than what was called for and a scuffle supposedly ensued. Because of this escalation Maeda left the UWF and the UWF had its last card 9 days later when Sayama left as well. Kido, Takada, Yamazaki, Fujiwara, and Maeda would return to New Japan in 1986, as part of a "UWF Invasion"."

— Alan Lee, an article writer for http://www.scientificwrestling.com.

"Before the first wrestler ever stepped into the ring for its debut show, things had already gone horribly wrong for the Universal Wrestling Federation. Antonio Inoki, the presumptive top star, remained with New Japan Wrestling rather than journeying out once again into the unknown. This was a bit of a shock to some. The company, which had sold out 90 percent of its shows in 1983, was seemingly ready to move ahead with Riki Choshu and Tatsumi Fujinami as headliners. Not only was the aging Inoki a product of the previous generation, but he’d spent a year draining the promotion of what were record profits. An investment in Anton Hisel, a bio-tech supplement company in Brazil, had gone horribly wrong—and Inoki had used the company to offset his losses. But this financial scandal, one that led to him stepping down as company president and his partner Hisashi Shinma being fired from the company, was suddenly forgiven when TV-Asahi told the promotion they would no longer air wrestling without Inoki’s involvement. His financial shenanigans, it turned out, were less important than retaining a television show that had been on the air since 1973. Inoki was safe thanks to his television overlords, reinstated as president, and empowered to hold off the next generation of superstars for another couple of years. Absent Inoki, the lead act, by default, became Akira Maeda, a 25-year-old prodigy with plenty of potential, none of it proven. With no established ace, Fuji Television, expected to air the start-up group, decided to pass on the new wrestling promotion. And so, before the first bell rang at the Omiya Skate Center, before the first tracksuit was donned or streamer thrown, the UWF was already on death’s door. While its future as a financial enterprise was seemingly doomed from the start, its artistic impact on the sport of professional wrestling is undeniable. The UWF would eventually become famous for creating “shootstyle” a throwback promotion grounded in realistic catch wrestling holds and other legitimate martial arts techniques. Some of the biggest stars of the 1990s were launched into the collective consciousness of hardcore Japanese wrestling fans on these obscure, niche shows. But the first shots of that artistic revolution were decidedly not fired at the promotion’s debut show. The UWF’s initial tour, with a rag tag collection of foreign talent booked by Terry Funk from the dregs of the Texas wrestling scene, was garden variety puroresu. Only the lack of star power betrayed the fact this wasn’t the New Japan promotion the native crew of Gran Hamada, Ryumo Go, Mach Hayato, Rusher Kimura and Akira Maeda had so recently departed. The revolution was coming—but it wasn’t here yet."

— Jonathan Snowden, on the first UWF show.

As a whole

• Early-Installment Weirdness: As the promotion's theme was not established yet when UWF formed, it featured several wrestlers who don't jive easily with what would later become shoot-style. Comedy wrestlers like Go, hardcore experts like Rusher Kimura and luchadores like Gran Hamada were part of the first generation before leaving for creative differences.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: Before he left, Shinma requested Giant Baba to help the UWF to supply the gaijin talents in order "to avoid another promotional war". Terry Funk was assigned by Baba as the booker for the gaijin talents. UWF brought in luchadors from CMLL, Americans from Continental Wrestling Association in Tennessee, Southwest Championship Wrestling in Texas, trainees from Malenko's Gym and Florida Championship Wrestling in Florida, Canadians from Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling, British from Joint Promotions (better known by the name of the television program they were featured in, World of Sport), and other Europeans from Catch Wrestling Association.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Legendary Kyokushin karateka Terutomo Yamazaki was a guest trainer at the UWF dojo.
• Lonely Together: They effectively banded together to have a promotion in which they could act as they wanted, as opposed to their former careers in NJPW.
• Power Trio: Sayama, Maeda and Fujiwara were this incarnation's top players.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Most of the main UWF players were controversial figures, counting on backstage troublemakers like Maeda and his pals, shady bookers like Shinma or downright wrestling outcasts like Sayama. Inoki and Baba's public opinion contributed to create this image.
• Special Guest: Karl Gotch was present for a match between Super Tiger and Yoshiaki Fujiwara.

Natives

Yoji Anjo

Fumihiro/Sambo Asako

• Acrofatic: Was almost 300 ibs and could pull of front flip sentons and flying heel kicks.
• The Apprentice: To Victor Koga.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He is pro wrestler Sambo Asako of FMW fame.
• Elite Four: Part of the Four Pillars of FMW.
• I Know Karate: He has knowledge of Sambo. Participated in the 1982 World Sambo Championships. He also trained in Judo in high school.
• Mighty Glacier: Big, strong but slow.
• Non-Action Guy: Not in UWF anyway, he was a sales man for UWF
• Power Trio: With Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto.
• Red Baron: "Team FMW's Third Man".
• Spell My Name With An S: Was introduced in FMW as Fumiharu Asako.
• Stout Strength: A hefty dude.

Hidetaka Aso

"I wasn’t happy about this one guy’s manners and attitudes, so I thought I was going to teach him a good lesson, but it became a little bit too rough. We were both head butting each other from the beginning and foot sweeps became kicking. If that was now, we both would probably get disqualified from the match, but I think it’s important to have this kind of mindset all the time. If you mess with me, I am ready to do something. Make your opponent understand it is dangerous to mess with you. It’s same as kids bullying in schools. It might be problem to say this but bullies pick only on kids who never do anything back. They never pick on kids who they think are dangerous to make them angry."

• The Apprentice: To Karl Gotch.
• Authority Equals Ass Kicking: Is an Executive Director of Japan Sambo Federation, Chairman of Japan Sports Jiu-Jitsu Association, Director of the Saitama Wrestling Association, and part of the Deliberation Committee of Sato Juku Karate Organisation.
• Bullying a Dragon: Described in the quote above, in one of his sambo tournaments in America in 1979, there was another competitor with which Aso nearly turned their match into an all out brawl, with head butts and leg kicks that the judges wrote off as foot sweep attempts. Aso trashed him by the end of it.
• Combat Pragmatist: Like any true Gotch trainee, his instructional videos often have him show off all sorts of things he could do if there weren’t any rules in a grappling contest, like headbutts, knees, elbows, groin shots, small joint manipulations, etc.
• Cool Teacher: Was brought into the UWF-I Snakepit to teach their shooters. Has multiple instructional videos and books on his Submission Arts Wrestling system.
• Guest-Star Party Member: For UWFI.
• Hidden Depths: He is an osteopath and the President of the Narimasu Central Osteopathic Institute.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: He is affected by this even worse than Caesar Takeshi.
• I Know Karate: A champion in Sambo under Victor Koga. He is also a 5th dan in Judo, an amateur wrestling champion and even tried Sumo Wrestling at one point. He later learned Kyokushin Karate, Daido Juku Kudo, a bit of Muay Thai, and even visited a few ninjutsu and traditional jujitsu dojos.
• Kaiju Defense Force: Was once part of the Japan Self Defense Force Physical Education School.
• Odd Friendship: Seems to have one with Daido Juku founder Takashi Azuma, and is even a Technical Advisor for the Daido Juku organisation.
• Start My Own: He founded Submission Arts Wrestling (SAW) whose events use a mixture of sambo and shoot wrestling rules. He also founded the All Japan Joint Technique Federation (AJJTF) as an international branch to SAW to spread the system and the International Federation of Budo Jiu-Jitsu (IBJ).
• Unknown Character: While he did train under Gotch, Aso was never a pro wrestler and never even appeared in a UWF event which has led to his My Friends... and Zoidberg status above.

Mitsuo Endo

• Authority Equals Ass Kicking: Was the first president of the Japanese Arm Wrestling Federation and was an arm wrestler himself. He was also Vice President of the Japan Body Building Federation,
• Combat Referee: The first referee of UWF. He was also the referee for International Wrestling Enterprise (IWE), and even the Japan Arm Wrestling Association.
• Cool Old Guy: Was in his 40s when the UWF began.
• Cool Teacher: Has his own bodybuilding gym and trained guys like Animal Hamaguchi and Tatsuo Nakano before they got into wrestling.
• Heroic Build: Not that he got to show it off in UWF due to being a referee, but he had it.
• Living Legend: Of Japanese arm wrestling and Bodybuilding.
• Old Master: Is a leading expert of strength training guidance in Japan.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Ryūma Gō

"We stood in the waiting area while the match before us went on. To put it kindly, the match was godawful, but the crowd was going crazy. Ryūma Gō and his two masked Americans were putting on one of the worst performances I've ever seen, but the sold-out crowd was eating up every bit of it... What I didn't realize is that Ryūma Gō is a big wrestling joke that the whole country is in on. His matches were supposed to be bad, and the fans love him for it."

— Mick Foley from his autobiography, Have A Nice Day.

• The Alcoholic: Was a heavy drinker, even after his wrestling career.
• The Apprentice: To Isao Yoshihara and Hiro Matsuda.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Founded a bizarre wrestling company, appeared in gay porno media and was jailed for mugging a woman. And according to Mick Foley's book, the guy was not any less crazy on the dojo.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: This may be surprising but before his Puroresu Baka gimmick he was a solid ring worker and defeated Tatsumi Fujinami for the New Japan's junior heavyweight title ending the champion’s two-year winning streak.
• I Have Many Names: Hiroshi Yagi (his real name), Mister Zinn, Ninja Go, Super Ninja.
• I Know Karate: He practiced amateur wrestling in high school, before his pro wrestling career. He also trained in Catch Wrestling with Karl Gotch trainee, Hiro Matsuda.
• Later-Installment Weirdness: He developed his Puroresu Baka character after his time in UWF.
• Power Trio: With Apollo Sugawara and Masahiko Takasugi.
• Real Song Theme Tune: Actually used "Eye of The Tiger" before Super Tiger in UWF and still used it in his Pioneer Senshi promotion.
• Red Baron: "Hana no Wakamusha" ("The Young Warrior of the Flower"), "Puroresu Baka" ("Pro Wrestling Idiot"), "Gokubuto Oyaji" ("Thick Father").
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: With Rusher Kimura, he left UWF after having disagreements with some employees in the office over the sources for the gaijin talents (not because they did not like the new direction toward the shoot style, as it is popularly believed).
• Start My Own: He founded a few promotions, Pioneer Senshi, Oriental Pro, Independent Wrestling Alliance (IWA), Go Gundan (or Ryuma Go Pro), and Samurai Project.
• Ur-Example: His first promotion Pioneer Senshi is the first Japanese independent wrestling promotion.
• Work Off the Debt: Apparently he fell into debt with the Yakuza and had to appear in a gay porno to pay it off.

Gran Hamada

"Gran Hamada would eventually leave this group to form his own promotion—also called the UWF. I collected tapes of this promotion religiously. It was the precursor to what is now Dragon’s Gate, a high flying, lucha-infused madcap style popularized in America by Hamada’s proteges in Michinoku Pro. I digress. All you really need to know is that, in his own way, Hamada was also an innovator and one of the most underrated workers in modern wrestling history. It’s no surprise he had the best match of the night. He pulled that off, again and again, over the course of a legendary career."

— Jonathan Snowden, on Hamada's first match in UWF.

• The Bus Came Back: Appeared in UWFI and Battlarts for a few matches (lucha libre styled ones, of course).
• Cool Teacher: Trained guys like Último Dragón, The Great Sasuke, Super Delfin, Kaz Hayashi, Men's Teioh, Jinsei Shinzaki, Dick Togo, etc.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: His short stature and Lucha Libre style of wrestling make a lot of people forget that he was candidate for the 1972 Olympic Judo team and was one of the first graduates of the New Japan Dojo, where being a tough guy is a requirement and additionally got Catch Wrestling training. He made good use of his skills in Mexico as security was poor in his time.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His first name is Hiroaki.
• Determinator: According to Killer Khan, he fought and beat prostate cancer in 2017.
• Fragile Speedster: Mostly due to age as he was one of the oldest guys in the promotion.
• I Know Karate: He has knowledge in Judo. Surprisingly, he was once actually considered a candidate to compete in the 1972 Olympics. He unfortunately never used it as part of his wrestling style.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: One of the shortest trainees of the New Japan Dojo, and with Yoshiaki Fujiwara, one of the first. He was also called Little Hamada when he debuted.
• Red Baron: "Chīsana Kyojin" ("The Little Giant"), "Chīsana Eiyuu" ("The Little Hero"), Chīsana Ijin ("The Little Great Man"), Maripōsa ("Butterfly").
• Ring Oldies: Nearly 70 and still wrestling.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Left UWF due to his loyalty to Hisashi Shinma.
• Spell My Name with a "The": In Mexico he is known as El Gran Hamada.
• Start My Own: The founder of Universal Lucha Libre (Universal Pro-Wrestling until 1991; Federación Universal de Lucha Libre afterward; UWF and FULL used as acronyms).
• Ur-Example: Was the first Japanese wrestler to learn the Lucha Libre style of pro wrestling. Also, his Universal Lucha Libre promotion was the first Japanese wrestling promotion to be fully based on Mexican Lucha Libre wrestling.
• Wrestling Family: His daughters Xóchitl Hamada and Ayako Hamada are also professional wrestlers. He is also a father-in-law to Pentagón Black, Tiger Mask IV, and formerly to Silver King.

Mach Hayato

• The Artifact: He insisted on using suicide dives even after the company established the shoot-style.
• The Apprentice: To luchador Rafael Salamanca.
• Cool Mask
• Dented Iron: An injury-prone wrestler, he retired after the UWF demise because he believed himself to be too age-worn to keep the level.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Shigehisa Higo.
• Expy: The Great Sasuke based his mask design on one of Hayato's masks.
• Foil: He was a luchador, very much like Gran Hamada, but unlike him, Hayato effectively adapted to shoot-style. He only declined a return for UWF Newborn due to injuries and age wear.
• Heroic Build: After he was kicked out by New Japan Pro-Wrestling for being too small he began training in Bodybuilding.
• Homage: Hayato Sakurai took the nickname "Mach" as a tribute to the luchador.
• I Know Karate: He knows karate and Judo. He also trained with Karl Gotch trainee Hiro Matsuda in Catch Wrestling.
• Masked Luchador: The first Japanese one, along with Tiger Mask.
• Odd Friendship: With Nobuhiko Takada, who he usually asked for help in adapting to shoot style.
• Red Baron: "Wasei Luchador" ("Japanese-made Luchador").

Satoru Hiromatsu

• I Know Karate: Trained shoot wrestling at the UWF Dojo.
• Jobber: Never got to be a big star as he retired after the original UWF closed.

Osamu Hoshina

• The Apprentice: To Satoru Sayama.
• I Know Karate: Trained shoot wrestling at the Super Tiger Gym.
• Jobber: Never got to be a big star as he retired after the original UWF closed.

Toshio Isahaya

• Non-Action Guy: Was the Planning and Advertising Manager for the original UWF.

Shinji Jin

• Hammy Herald: As a ring announcer in the original UWF.
• Large-Ham Announcer: His job in the original UWF.
• The Man Behind the Man: Served as the UWF Newborn's president.
• Non-Action Guy: Had no martial arts training of any kind.
• The Team Benefactor: He was apparently the money man behind the creation of Pancrase and is also stated to have secured some financing from Hachiro Tanaka of Megane Super for UWF-I.
• The Voice: Since UWF had no Combat Commentator, he did the most speaking at events. He was also a spokesperson for New Japan Pro-Wrestling before leaving for UWF.

Hidenobu Kanda

• I Know Karate: Trained shoot wrestling at the UWF Dojo.
• Jobber: Never got to be a big star as he retired after the original UWF closed.
• Spell My Name With An S: Is sometimes listed on wrestling sites as Hidenori Kando.

Osamu Kido

"Gotch or Inoki would go "Osamu Kido, go wrestle that dude and just tear him apart.""

— Josh Barnett when talking about the old stories of people challenging the New Japan Dojo.

"One of my boys, Kido. He's a hell of a performer and a good wrestler because I trained him. He was a good looking kid, too. Typical Japanese. Kind of chunky."

— Karl Gotch

• A Day in the Limelight: Won the Three Tour Tournament 1985 with the most wins and only one loss.
• Almighty Janitor: Compared to his peers; Antonio Inoki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Satoru Sayama, and Akira Maeda he was very low on the totem pole, he could still kick ass just as much as any of them and was also one of those who took on challengers in the NJPW and UWF Dojos.
• The Apprentice: To Karl Gotch. He was also an assistant to Youssef "Turko" Omar, a Japanese-born Turkish pro wrestler, referee, and judoka who trained under Masahiko Kimura.
• Badass Family: His daughter Megumi Kido is a pro golfer.
• Badass Teacher: Became a trainer at the New Japan Dojo and trained guys like Shinsuke Nakamura. He was also a coach for Fighting Opera Hustle.
• Boring, but Practical: Kido was a career mid-carder due to his effective yet unflashy wrestling style and inability to emote.
• Expy: Acknowledged as one to Yoshiaki Fujiwara, being similarly adept in Catch Wrestling and endowed with a distinctive appearance, and only less charismatic. One could argue that Fujiwara is actually a expy of Kido, because Kido was wrestling before Fujiwara even graduated from the New Japan Dojo.
• Finishing Move: Kido Clutch and Fujiwara Armbar.
• Flat Character: Had very little charisma and facial expression. According to Allen Coage, this was why Antonio Inoki never gave him a push in New Japan.
• Hidden Depths: Is also kind of an artist like Fujiwara, in 1984 an oil painting he made was exhibited on a NHK art program.
• I Know Karate: Learned Judo in high school.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: With his lack of charisma he never got pushed to the top even though he was probably the one of the oldest and most experienced guys there.
• Red Baron: "Sapporo Man", due to the strange popularity he enjoyed in Sapporo. He was also called "Ibushigin" ("Oxidized Silver"), "Kyūkyoku no Gikō-ha" ("Ultimate Technician"), and "Shin Nihon no Ryōshin" ("The Conscience of New Japan").
• Refused the Call: He was invited to go to UWF Newborn, but he stayed in New Japan Pro-Wrestling because Karl Gotch was not with the UWF guys (this is because Gotch at the time was helping Satoru Sayama at the Super Tiger Gym in developing Shooto, though he did eventually come and train the UWF boys).
• Retired Badass: Retired from wrestling in 2001. He came back to wrestling in 2005.
• Ring Oldies: A founding member of NJPW. 66 years old and still wrestles on occasion.
• The Un-Favourite: His pushes were very inconsistent, and whenever he got a big win, a big loss followed.
  • Averted with Karl Gotch, who considers him the son he never had.
• The Worf Effect: Some sources say he was on the losing end of a shoot with Ivan Gomes.
• Wrestling Family: Subverted in a tragic way. Tokio Kido, Osamu's older brother, joined the Japan Pro-Wrestling Association in 1963. However, he had spine injury during training sessions and was forced to quit before his debut, and suffered the injury for rest of his life until his death. It was what moved Osamu to become a professional wrestler.

Rusher Kimura

"Kimura, once the king of the cage match for the defunct IWE promotion, was 42 years old. Today, thanks to improvements in nutrition, training and less aggressive scheduling, that’s basically the prime of a wrestler’s career. Back in 1984, however, every 42-year-old man looked like Kirk Douglas at the Golden Globes. Kimura was no exception."

— Jonathan Snowden

• The Alcoholic: Tiger Jeet Singh once stated that Kimura loved drinking.
• The Apprentice: To Toyonobori, president of the JWA and its top wrestler after Rikidozan died, as he had been the second most important wrestler of the promotion during the Rikidozan era and founder of the short-lived, Tokyo Pro Wrestling.
• Authority Equals Ass Kicking: Was an honorary president of Pro Wrestling Noah.
• Bash Brothers: With Ryuma Go.
• Blood Knight: He loved to fight, especially in steel cages.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Try listening to anytime he grabbed a mike.
• Cool Old Guy: Was 42 when he wrestled in UWF.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Trained extensively in sambo under the legendary Victor Koga, but he never used it in pro wrestling because he believed it would conflict his own style. He also trained in Catch Wrestling under Billy Robinson and according to Lou Thesz between Giant Baba, Antonio Inoki and Kimura, Kimura was the toughest of the three.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real first name is Masao.
• Face of a Thug: Had one which notably got him trouble in getting taxis.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Was fond of dogs.
• Hidden Depths: He also likes karaoke.
• I Know Karate: He has training in Sambo and Catch Wrestling. He was also a former sumo wrestler under the name Kinomura though he only took it up to build his body for pro wrestling and quit before he could advance up the ranks.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Contrary to his in-ring personality, he was very personable and a gentle soul.
• Red Baron: "Kanaami Deathmatch no Oni" ("The Demon of the Steel Cage Matches"), "Maiku no Oni" ("Oni of the Microphone"), "Hoeru Tosho" ("Barking Brave Leader").
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: With Ryūma Gō, he left UWF after having disagreements with some employees in the office over the sources for the gaijin talents (not because they did not like the new direction toward the shoot style).
• Ring Oldies: Was the oldest guy in the promotion.
• Ur-Example: Was in the first televised cage match in Japan.

Motoyuki Kitazawa/Shoji Kai

"Mr. Kitazawa wasn't a big wrestler, but at that time he looked very big. When I saw his face, his nose was bent, and his chest was thick and powerful. I've seen his matches before, but after all, it was the first time I'd met a wrestler like this, so my heart was popping up."

— Tatsumi Fujinami on his debut

"The strongest in RINGS is not Akira Maeda, but Motoyuki Kitazawa."

— A popular rumor among fans

• A Day In The Lime Light: The highest point of his wrestling career was winning the 1976 Karl Gotch Cup.
• Almighty Janitor: His wrestling career had him mostly used as a Jobber and not much else, but he had a reputation for being a tough opponent to submit, even when sparring against guys like Volk Han, Andrei Kopylov, and the rest of the other guys in RINGS.
• The Apprentice: To Rikidozan, Antonio Inoki, and Karl Gotch. He also served as an assistant to Giant Baba while in Japan Pro Wrestling.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He was noted to be very strong, which made it hard for anyone to submit him.
• Combat Referee: Became one after he retired from wrestling. He was a referee of the original and Newborn UWF, as well as RINGS, Big Mouth LOUD, and Tatsumi Fujinami's Dradition (originally Muga World Pro Wrestling) promotion.
• Cool Old Guy: To the guys in RINGS especially.
• Determinator: Akira Maeda testifies to his toughness.
• Finishing Move: Camel Clutch.
• Hidden Depths: Was a dorm cook for the New Japan Dojo and was notable for his Chankonabe (a type of nabemono or one-pot stew commonly eaten in vast quantity by sumo wrestlers as part of a weight-gain diet).
• I Have Many Names: Wrestled under the names; Shoji Kai, Hirokatsu Shinkai, Kanji Kitazawa, Motoyuki Kitazawa (his real name), Sankichi Takasakiyama, Sarukichi Takasakiyama, Shoji Shinkai, Syouji Kai.
• I Know Karate: He is an expert in Catch Wrestling.
• Jobber: His wrestling career was mostly being this and is famous as the debut opponent of many legends, including Kotetsu Yamamoto, Rusher Kimura, Masa Saito, Tatsumi Fujinami, Osamu Kido, Mitsuo Momota, Satoru Sayama and Hiro Saito.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Was apparently a very tough guy compared to many of the other wrestlers in NJPW, yet never got out of his Jobber status.
• Red Baron: "RINGS no Hō no Ban'nin" ("The Law Keeper of RINGS"), "Tora" ("Tiger").
• Retired Badass: He retired from wrestling in 1981.
• Ring Oldies: He was in his 50s when he was sparring with the guys in RINGS. A founding member of New Japan Pro-Wrestling and was inducted into NJPW Greatest Wrestlers (their hall of fame) in 2007.
• Stone Wall: Not a great offensive grappler overall, but very hard to submit.
• Wrestler in All of Us: A veteran wrestler and wrestled for Tokyo Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Akira Maeda

Shigeo/Yukoh Miyato

• '80s Hair: At times, he came very close to having a mullet.
• A Friend in Need: During the Newborn days he had a chance encounter with Yoshihiro Takayama, they originally knew each other from the Original UWF dojo where Takayama was a trainee but had to quit due to a shoulder injury. They kept in contact and when UWFI began, Miyato called Takayama to be a trainee for the promotion despite being in his mid 20s, which was quite old for shoot style trainees.
• The Apprentice: To Satoru Sayama, Akira Maeda, Lou Thesz, and Billy Robinson.
• Arch-Enemy: There was bad blood between with Miyato and Tatsuo Nakano. Recently Miyato tried to sue Nakano for some remarks he made in his autobiography.
• Badass Bureaucrat: Was perceived as much better in the office than the ring, and mostly worked as an executive.
• Combat Commentator: Has done this in his retirement.
• Cool Teacher: Has a long history as a trainer, working as the head instructor in the UWF Snakepit and later in Inoki Genome Federation. He was also a former trainer at the Super Tiger Gym.
• Everyone Went to School Together: Trained at the same karate dojo as Zendokai Karate founder Takashi Ozawa and RINGS scorer and Sotenjuku owner Tokuichi Tashiro during their university years.
• Hidden Depths: After his retirement from wrestling, he trained to be a chef under the late Shū Tomitoku/Zhou Fude. He now has a chanko restaurant called “Chanko no Daidokoro”, which is next to his gym, where he serves as the chef
• I Know Karate: Was originally a Kyokushin stylist with some boxing and amateur wrestling experience before he became a trainee of shoot wrestling at the Super Tiger Gym. He later learned the more traditional Catch Wrestling at the UWFI Snakepit.
• Pet the Dog: In Billy Robinson's autobiography, he states he was in a bad place in his life (he got divorced, started drinking heavily because of that, put on a lot of weight, and had his hips and knees replaced so he basically could not do what he loved which was wrestling) before Miyato called him to be the main trainer for the UWF Snakepit. Billy states that this action probably saved his life.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Small and fiery, but less successful than most examples of the trope.
• Real Song Theme Tune: Once used Guns N' Roses’ "Welcome to the Jungle" in UWFI.
• Red Baron: "U Intā no Zunō" ("The Brains of UWF International"), "U no Shinma" ("U-System’s Shinma").
• Sadist Teacher: Was apparently one in the UWFI Snakepit. He seemed to have mellowed out after his retirement from UWFI.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Left UWFI as he was opposed to working with New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
• Signature Move: His rolling savatto kick made many opponents drop.
• Spell My Name With An S: Yukoh, Yuko, or Yukou?
• Underwear of Power: Inverted. He was one of the few that always wore long pants.

Hiroki/Yasuki Mori

• The Apprentice: To Yoshiaki Fujiwara.
• Combat Referee: Was a referee for RINGS.
• Cool Teacher: Owns and is the head instructor of RiRoots Conan.
• I Know Karate: A former karateka before he trained shoot wrestling at the UWF Dojo.
• Jobber: Never got to be a big star as he only wrestled for less than a year.
• Retired Badass: Retired after the first UWF closed, but came back for a match with Shuichiro Katsumura that ended in a draw at the Fumihiko Uwai Produces "STRONG STYLE HISTORY ~ GO FOR BROKE! FOREVER" 02/12/2016 show.
• Start My Own: Founded a MMA promotion called Red Zone.

Tatsuo Nakano

"Lame. You won't beat me with just kicks."

• '80s Hair: An Elvis-like mullet. One of the English commentators nicknamed him "Elvis" because of this.
• The Apprentice: Was a trainee under Rusher Kimura in International Wrestling Enterprise before being brought into the UWF dojo. He later trained under Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Kiyoshi Tamura speaks pretty bad of his former sempai, whom he described as abusive and short-tempered.
  • There was bad blood between with him and Yuko Miyato. Recently Miyato tried to sue Nakano for some remarks he made in his autobiography.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: At times, just look at the quote above.
• The Big Guy: Also literally, as he was the usually biggest guy among the native wrestlers. Except in the Original U, where that spot was filled by another trainee, Tsuyoshi Okamoto.
• Canon Immigrant: He originally tried to get into New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling before becoming Rusher Kimura’s apprentice when he was with the International Wrestling Enterprise promotion. He only got into UWF due to Rusher and was initially uninterested in shoot style unlike the other trainees.
• Challenge Seeker: In kayfabe, he kickstarted the UWF-i-NJPW feud, calling out the traitorous Yamazaki and challenging other big names from New Japan like Shinya Hashimoto and Riki Choshu.
• Determinator: Took a beating in almost every match he was in. He would frequently suffer from nose bleeding as a result, but he didn’t care.
• Handwraps of Awesome: Was the probably the only guy in UWFI who regularly used handwraps.
• I Know Karate: Subverted, he was one of the few shoot wrestlers who didn’t have a previous combat sports background. Some apocryphal sources however say he trained in Judo.
• I Was Quite a Looker: He originally did Bodybuilding to prepare for his wrestling career and actually had a body that showed it. He really let himself go during his full time wrestling career.
• Mighty Glacier: Big and slow, he could take some important beatings.
• Promoted Fan Boy: Was a Tatsumi Fujinami and Rusher Kimura fan before he became a wrestler.
• Real Song Theme Tune: Used "Cry for Tomorrow" by Joe Yamanaka from Tomorrow's Joe.
• Red Baron: "Hakata Man", "Guts Fighter", "Nobushi" ("Field Warrior"), "Shachihoko" ("Killer Whale"), "U Intā no Battoman" ("The Batman (the military term not that one) of UWF International").
• Ring Oldies: Is the only Original UWF trainee that is still actively wrestling.
• Sadist Teacher: According to Hiromitsu Kanehara and Yoshihiro Takayama, his contribution to the training done in the UWFI Snakepit was "Vale Tudo-like" sparring (basically allowing ground-and-pound), with Kanehara admitting that he tried his best to avoid his lessons.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Averted, as he almost quit pro wrestling after Akira Maeda shoot kicked Riki Choshu. It took Nobuhiko Takada inviting him to Newborn that convinced him to continue his career. He later played it straight when he asked to be released from UWFI.
• Stout Strength: Was rather wide of waist, but quite strong.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Noticeably lacked technique, but was tough as nails.
• Underwear of Power: Inverted, though he did start out with these in the Original U. From Newborn onwards, he was one of the few that always wore long pants.
• The Worf Effect: Is most known as the guy who faced the 600 pound Emmanuel Yarborough in a MMA fight and got smothered to submission under his abundant girth, and also one of Alberto Del Rio's victims. He was also the first wrestler that jobbed to Vader when he arrived at UWFI.

Tsuyoshi Okamoto/200% Machine

• The Artifact: Kept his shinguard and boots combination when he was with Big Japan Pro Wrestling.
• Cool Mask: As 200% Machine.
• Early-Bird Cameo: His UWF days are this, as he is Bruiser Okamoto of Big Japan Pro Wrestling fame.
• The Giant: By Japanese standards, he was the biggest guy from the original UWF Dojo (that debuted as a pro, the biggest trainee was Yoshihiro Takayama, who debuted years later in UWFI).
• I Know Karate: Trained in it in high school before his time at the UWF Dojo. He later trained in Uchida Juku Karate (a style that combines elements of traditional and full-contact karate, also known as "Fusion Karate") under Yorihisa Uchida after the first UWF closed. He also did a bit of Kickboxing under Toshinori Omori, and even had a 2 minute exhibition match for the Seidokaikan organization against Masaaki Satake.
• Jobber: Never got to be a big star as he only wrestled in UWF for less than a year.
• Mighty Glacier: A slow, but hard hitter.
• Mistaken Identity: He gets confused with Takashi Okamura’s only appearance at one of the last PWFG shows, this time though it is English sites list him there instead.
• Red Baron: "Bruiser", "Namakizu no Wakagashira" ("Young Head of Fresh Bruises").
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: He was the original 200% Machine, that was part of Yoji Anjo’s 200% Machines stable before he got replaced by Tom Burton. He got fired from Big Japan Pro Wrestling as he did not get permission from Big Japan management to wrestle for UWFI as the 200% Machine gimmick and was exposed when he had to wrestle on a Big Japan event on the same day he was supposed to face Nobuhiko Takada, though he did wrestle a few more times for Big Japan before he left.
• Shout-Out: His Bruiser nickname was a tribute to Dick the Bruiser.
• Stout Strength: Quite a chunky guy.

Satoru Sayama/Super Tiger/The Tiger/Tiger Mask

Hisashi Shinma

• Badass Family: Uncle of seiyu Minami Takayama (really), father of lucha libre promotor Hisatsune Shinma, and cousin of legislator and tarento Masatsugu Shinma. His father Nobuo Shinma founded Tokyo Professional Wrestling and also served a role in New Japan.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Wrestled a few gimmick matches for his late lucha libre companies, some of them in his suit.
• The Chessmaster: One of the great thinking minds behind New Japan Pro-Wrestling and later other companies.
• I Know Karate: He knows Judo and Bodybuilding.
• Non-Action Guy: As founding chairman of UWF, he was not active in the ring, although he did not lack training.
• Red Baron: "Kagekina Shikake Hito" ("Radical Gimmick").

Masami Soranaka

"Soranaka would just grab me and do these things, and I was a big boy! I mean, I'm not a little guy that you could just throw around and Soranaka was not that big. He probably topped out at 160 or 170 pounds, and when he said he was gonna do something, he just did it. And, I was trying to stop him! What if I did this or that, I said, and he always just showed me and I was real impressed with that."

— Bart Vale

"Sammy Soranaka was the first one that introduced them to submission wrestling in Tampa, Florida. He introduced me to the submission game."

— Ken Shamrock

• Affectionate Nickname: "Sammy" Soranaka.
• The Apprentice: To master Karl Gotch.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Helped Bart Vale start the International Shootfighting Association and was the president of it while Bart Vale was the vice-president until his death.
• Character Death: Passed away on June 11th 1992 from a failed biopsy for a brain tumor that left him in a coma and died a few days afterwards, he was 48 years old.
• Cool Teacher: To Bart Vale and Yuji Shimada as well as the other shoot wrestlers at the Malenko Gym.
• Combat Referee: Doubled both as wrestler and referee.
• I Know Karate: And Judo and Sumo Wrestling.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: According to Karl Gotch, he was not at the level of some his peers.
• Ring Oldies: He was already nearly 40 when he debuted in UWF and wisely decided to stick to refereeing after the original UWF closed. To give some context, only Rusher Kimura was older than him as an active wrestler in the promotion (Hisashi Shinma and Motoyuki Kitazawa don’t count since the former was the chairman while the latter had retired from wrestling and is now a referee).
• Spell My Name With An S: Some sources spell his last name as "Saranaka".
• Ur-Example: The first graduate of the UWF Dojo. He also the first one to bring shoot wrestling to the U.S.
• Wrestling Family: He was Karl Gotch's son-in-law.
• Younger Than They Look: His hair was already whitening in his mid 40s.

Hiromitsu Suzuki

• Non-Action Guy: Was part of the sales department in the original UWF and managing director in Newborn.

Nobuhiko Takada

Caesar Takeshi

"So what exactly is shootboxing then? The promoter's bill it as "standing vale tudo," and that's probably the best definition there is. Just about every strike, throw and submission you can do on your feet is allowed. But is it MMA? Sure. It's a mix of standard kickboxing, wrestling, judo and jujitsu techniques. In fact Caesar Takeshi created an MMA shootboxing organisation in 1985 - eight years before the Ultimate Fighting Championship debuted."

— Keith Vargo, writer for Black Belt Magazine.

• The Apprentice: To Satoru Sayama.
• Arch-Enemy: Rumored to be the K-1 executives, due to the rising popularity of shootboxing in some countries.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: In the early days of shootboxing, he fought in some of his own events.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Tomofumi Murata.
• I Know Karate: A professional kickboxer and trained at Nishio Gym, he was compared to the legendary Tadashi Sawamura by some pundits, although he never lived up to these expectations. He later trained in shoot wrestling at the Super Tiger Gym.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Takeshi gets rarely mentioned in articles about the UWF, because although he was a shoot-style practitioner, he was not a pro wrestler, and thus he never officially competed in UWF events beyond some shootboxing offer fights. He did train with them and worked in the UWF dojo for a time.
• Odd Friendship: With film director Takashi Miike. He has appeared in many of his films.
• Old Master: Founded the Caesar Gym, where he trained the first and finest shootboxers and continues to do so. He also taught kickboxing at the UWF dojo.
• Red Baron: "Oni no Shūte" ("Demon of Shoot").
• Ur-Example: Founded shootboxing.
• The Worf Effect: Although a good fighter, Takeshi was badly worfed by muay thai champion and Confusion Fu stylist Manson Gibson, who beat him without receiving a single punch.

Umanosuke Ueda

"Ueda had a lot of heat with everybody. He was a straight-shooter. He didn't give a damn about nobody."

— Tiger Jeet Singh

• Alliterative Name
• The Apprentice: To Isao Yoshiwara and Kiyotaka Otsubo (a 5th dan black belt in Judo and trainee under Masahiko Kimura).
• Bash Brothers: With Tiger Jeet Singh. The two men were the first team to win tag team titles in both New Japan Pro-Wrestling (the NWA North American Tag Team Championship) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (the NWA International Tag Team Championship). They were also this in real life.
• Bar Brawl: Was involved in one with several other New Japan wrestlers and was the only guy almost fired over it. Thankfully Tiger Jeet Singh managed to convince the company to not do so.
• Boring, but Practical: Before his Face–Heel Turn, his wrestling style was seen as very boring and is said to have made people fall asleep during his matches. He was even given the Embarrassing Nickname of "Nemuri Kyōshirō" ("Sleepy Eyes of Death") due to this.
• Cool Teacher: Trained Hiro Saito.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Was said to have been quite a force on the mat in sparring matches, with the double wrist lock as his best hold. He was even a trusted policeman (in wrestling jargon, a wrestler, often a respected or feared shooter or street fighter, responsible for enforcing the promoter's will against uncooperative wrestlers) during his career in the US.
• Delinquent Hair: Dyed his hair bleach blonde and is the Trope Codifier in puroresu.
• Fountain of Expies: Wrestlers like Mr. Gannosuke, Tatsutoshi Goto and Toru Yano later based their "dye job brawler" ring personas on Ueda's style. More recently, Takaaki Watanabe has based his "Evil" persona on Ueda.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Was involved in a car accident in 1996, which left him paralyzed and eventually forced him to retire two years later.
• Heavy Sleeper: In a Funny Moment, a story told by referee James Beard;
  "One of the funniest things I recall was working a tag match with him and Tiger Jeet Singh as partners. Ueda had put in his time in the ring and tagged Tiger in after taking a couple big bumps, the last of which sent him through the ropes and to the floor. Tiger worked for a few minutes and took some heat before a high spot that was supposed to go into the finish. When Tiger started his comeback, Ueda was nowhere to be found, still lying on the floor, selling; Or so we thought. When Ueda didn't come back in for the finish as planned, Tiger looked at me as said, "Where's Ueda?". I told him he was still on the floor. I then told Tiger to throw me out next to where Ueda was laying. When I went through the ropes, I landed right by Ueda and rolled over to tell him to get up and help with whatever kind of a finish we could adlib. When I reached over to nudge him, I heard him snoring. He was lying there asleep! I grabbed him and shook him, all the while trying to look like I was trying gain my own footing. When I finally saw he was coming around, he got the message and worked his way up and into the ring to help his partner, who had already canned the planned finish and was using chairs, his sword and anything else he could to fight off their opponents. They ended up taking the fight to the back and out of the arena. Ueda caught a lot of ribbing over that one, but that was one of his traits; He could fall asleep in a split second and it didn't matter where he was or what was going on around him. He was a funny character!"
• Heel: A well known one in puroresu.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Tiger Jeet Singh.
• I Know Karate: Was a pro sumo wrestler under the names Uedayama and Amanishiki for two years before his pro wrestling career.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: When he was still active, Ueda regularly visited the nursery homes and made donations for aged people. Since he was one of the greatest heels in the puroresu history, he couldn't rave about it in public.
• Older Than They Think: He actually used "Spartan X" as his entrance theme for a time, before it became more famously associated with Mitsuharu Misawa.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Is almost never mentioned as being part of the original UWF from its beginning like Gran Hamada, Rusher Kimura and Ryuma Go, though that might be because he only appeared at the debut show.
  • He was also this in when he debuted in Japan Pro Wrestling, since he started around the same time as Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki.
• Red Baron: "Madara Ohkami" ("Brindled Wolf), "Kinroh" ("Golden Wolf").
• Shout-Out: His ring name was inspired by samurai warrior and Shinsengumi member Umanosuke Ueda. His real first name is Hiroshi.
• Stout Strength: As a former sumo wrestler he was this naturally.
• Ur-Example: Ueda was considered one of the first "traitor heels" in Japan, as he broke societal mores by dyeing his hair and using a brawling style, and teaming with a hated gaikokujin heel, Tiger Jeet Singh.
• Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: Another thing he popularized was the carrying of a kendo stick for his entrances.

Noburu Urata

• The Chessmaster: President of UWF after Hisashi Shinma, the commissioner of International Shooto Commission and the chairman of Japan Shooto Association even after Sayama left until his death.
• I Know Karate: Wrestled at Chuo University and won the All-Japan Wrestling Championships of 1961 and 1962.
• The Man Behind the Man: For both UWF and Shooto.
• Non-Action Guy: Never competed in UWF or Shooto, but like Hisashi Shinma he didn't lack training.
• Yakuza: Has been known to work with them.

Fumihiko Uwai

• The Chessmaster: Joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a promoter, as well as the original UWF, appointed matchmaker of NJPW in 2002, became a executive officer of NJPW in 2003, was general producer for HERO'S, WRESTLE-1 GRAND PRIX 2005, and West Gate Wrestling Federation (Nishiguchi Pro Wrestling). He also helped create the Makai Club stable in NJPW.
• Non-Action Guy: Was a event promoter and producer.
• Spell My Name With An S: His surname is sometimes misspelled as Uwei or Uei.
• Start My Own: Started Big Mouth Loud and UWAI STATION.

Kazuo Yamazaki

"Sometimes it’s hard to remember that Kazuo Yamazaki was once just a kid, kind of the same way that it feels like Fujiwara was always just a grumpy old man. Yamazaki would go on to be one of the pillars of the style and a certified legend in Japan, with him still doing commentary during New Japan shows to this day. I’ll say this for skinny little Yamazaki: while everyone is trying to find themselves, it feels like he already knows what he wants and how to execute it as early as here, which is sort of amazing."

— Dave Walsh, on Yamazaki's debut.

"Why are you looking at me?"

— Kazuo Yamazaki

• The Apprentice: Was Super Tiger's assistant.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Notably surly. Just read the quote above.
• Bald of Evil: Had a pretty noticeable receding hairline.
• Challenge Seeker: Once commented that he would have liked to fight Rob Kaman.
• Combat Commentator: Takes up the role in NJPW sometimes in his retirement.
• Cool Teacher: Trained guys like Yuji Nagata and Kendo Kashin in the shoot style as a trainer in the NJPW Dojo and is described as a much more pleasant trainer than Kotetsu Yamamoto, who was too much shinai-friendly. He was also a former trainer at the Super Tiger Gym.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Was a New Japan Young Lion (usually at the side of Sayama of course) before he debuted in UWF.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Was one of Sayama’s first trainees in both pro wrestling and real fighting, though for some reason he was never given the limelight. It has been theorized that it is because of Sayama’s exit from the original UWF and his exposing of the business with his autobiography "Kayfabe" shortly after that, which got Yamazaki catching a lot of flack for being so closely associated with him.
• I Know Karate: Trained Judo at Tokyo Metropolitan Tamagawa High School before his wrestling career and is a 1st dan black belt. He also trained in Kickboxing and shootboxing under Caesar Takeshi and of course shoot wrestling.
• Kick the Dog: During a match with JT Southern in UWF-i, Yamazaki considered that his opponent was not showing enough fighting spirit, so he proceeded to humiliate him by showboating, grabbing hold of JT's leg only to push him down falling unceremoniously onto his backside, grinding Southern's face into his armpit, and later kicking him in the face. At one point the referee stepped in to check on Southern, but Yamazaki refused to respect the pause and swept JT's legs from under him, sending him to the floor. Even after JT had lost the fight by surrendering to Yamazaki's submission hold, Yamazaki refused to release the hold, leaving Southern squirming frantically until the referee intervened to rescue him; and yet the ordeal was still not over, as Yamazaki came back, towered over a collapsed Southern and continued to taunt him and threaten further punishment until the referee stepped again to stop him. Badly beaten in both his body and dignity, JT decided enough was enough and he quit the UWFI.
• Lean and Mean: Was quite skinny looking compared to his peers and more heelish in his style.
• The Quisling: He left UWF-i for New Japan Pro-Wrestling seeking retribution.
• Red Baron: "Ippikiookami" ("Lone Wolf"), "Kamisori Shūtā" ("Razor Shooter"), "Kikku no Sunaipā" ("Kick Sniper"), "Tatakau Seinen Shōkō" ("Fighting Youth Officer").
• Refusal of the Call: He was offered a contract with RINGS when he left UWF-i, but he decided to go back to NJPW instead.
• The Sneaky Guy: His style in shoot wrestling was more calculated and methodical compared to someone like Kiyoshi Tamura who had more flash and speed.
• Strong as They Need to Be: Was not known for his strength, but was capable of German suplexing superheavyweights like Gary Albright.
• Token Evil Teammate: In a shoot-style promotion without faces or heels, he was way more vicious and brawler-like than his colleagues.
• Took a Level in Badass: Almost winning the 1998 G1 Climax tournament, beating three past and future IWGP Heavyweight champions (Tatsumi Fujinami, Kensuke Sasaki, and Masahiro Chono) before losing to Shinya Hashimoto in the final round.
• Underwear of Power: Inverted. Unlike his shoot-style partners, who were fond of the classic banana hammock wrestling tights, Yamazaki always wore long pants since his debut, and they became his trademark.
• Unknown Rival: To Nobuhiko Takada, back since their NJPW rookie times. Yamazaki was a constant challenger, but he always came short, and Takada never saw him as more than a regular opponent. He even called him "Yama-chan".
• Ur-Example: While Sayama created the shin guards that shoot style would be known for, Yamazaki was technically the first wrestler to wear them in a match.
• Use Your Head: Deconstructed, he found out the hard way that Akira Maeda had a Hard Head when he tried to get out of a capture suplex by headbutting Maeda. Kazuo busted himself open with his own headbutt, was suplexed anyway, and the match had to be stopped.
• The Worf Effect: Despite being a high carder himself, Kazuo was the common victim to pushed wrestlers. The worst example was Koji Kitao, who just trampled him in his first match.

Terutomo Yamazaki

"My pupils were very surprised to see Yamazaki's fighting. His footwork is sharp and light. All of his techniques are fast, containing a lot of destructive power, and they thought it looked very fine. One of my pupils who watched the First World Open Championships asked me why Yamazaki did not participate in the First World Open Championships? Female and children pupils are most especially impressed from Yamazaki. They have said to me that Yamazaki is a stronger and better-looking man than Bruce Lee."

— Shigeru Ōyama

"We always hurt our hands and legs. Yamazaki has a technique which means defense is offense."

— What his pupils think of his fighting style.

• Attack! Attack! Attack!: His fighting style basically.
• The Apprentice: To Masutatsu Ōyama.
• Authority Equals Ass Kicking: Is the Kancho of the International Budo Karate Organization Gyakushin-Kai.
• Badass Teacher: Some fighters who have benefited by studying under Yamazaki are Katsuaki Satō, Miyuki Miura, Seiji Isobe (teacher of Glaube Feitosa, Francisco Filho and Andrews Nakahara), Howard Collins, Toshikazu Satō (champion of the Eighth All-Japan Full Contact Karate Open Championships), Takashi Azuma (champion of the Ninth All-Japan Open Championships and founder of Daido-Juku or Kudo), Makoto Nakamura (two time champion of the Second and Third World Full Contact Karate Open Championships) and Shokei Matsui. They are unanimous in their respect for Yamazaki.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Besides being an expert at kumite, he was also an expert at breaking. He broke four boards by punching, seven by kicking, six by knifehand strike and seven by elbow with a total of 24 cryptomeria boards to win the breaking championship at the Fifth All-Japan Open Championships in 1973. A record that would stand until Willie Williams broke it in 1979, though it should be noted that Williams was a lot taller and nearly double Yamazaki's weight when that happened.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Was guest trainer of the UWF dojo.
• Hero Killer: Took on and beat Muay Thai fighters like Kannanpai and Samanso when his fellow Japanese kickboxers like Tadashi Sawamura and Soeno could not defeat them.
• Hidden Depths: Once worked as a television producer.
• I Know Karate: A 7th dan Kyokushin black belt, and also trained in Muay Thai.
• Living Legend: One of the greatest Kyokushin practitioners still alive today.
• Old Master: Of Karate.
• Red Baron: "The Dragon of Kyokushin", "The Genius Karate Fighter".
• Refused the Call: He disliked professional karate and Kickboxing as it opposed his bushido code and retired at the age of 26, even though he was one of the most skilled and popular fighters of his era.
• The Rival: With Yoshiji Soeno, the founder of Shidokan Karate. It was a Tiger Versus Dragon type of rivalry with Soeno as the tiger and Yamazaki as the dragon.
• Start My Own: Founded the Gyakushin-Kai style of Karate.
• The Stoic: Peers have noted that he is.
• Stone Wall: Was also said to be a great defensive karateka.
• Unrelated Brothers: No relation to Kazuo.
• Ur-Example: Was the first champion of the All-Japan Full Contact Karate Open Championships.

Minoru Yoshida

• Non-Action Guy: Was a sales manager for the original UWF.

Gaijins

Perro Aguayo

"Aguyao was pretty old by the time most US wrestling fans got a chance to see him as part of the AAA main events tape traders skipped to watch the Rey Mysterio and Psicosis under cards, but he was a hellacious asskicker and this match got violent pretty quickly. He throws some great looking chopping hooks."

— Phil Schneider, on Aguayo's UWF match with Gran Hamada.

• '80s Hair: A mullet.
• The Apprentice: To Diablo Velasco and Apolo Romano.
• Cool Teacher: Trained luchador El Dorado.
• Guest Fighter: From CMLL.
• Heel: One of the top heels in lucha libre ever.
• I Know Karate: He trained in Amateur Wrestling and was a 4 time Mexican champion. He also trained in a bit of boxing.
• Real Name as an Alias: His full name is Pedro Aguayo Damián.
• Red Baron: "El Can de Nochistlán" ("The Hound of Nochistlán"), "El Mega Campeonato Está en Juego", "Yamainu" ("Mountain Dog").
• The Rival: One of the last rivals to El Santo.
• Spell My Name with a "The": Sometimes known as El Perro Aguayo.
• Ur-Example: He was the first person ever crowned the WWF Light Heavyweight Champion, though pre-1997 title reigns are not included in WWE's official "canon" for that title.
• Wrestling Family: His son was the late Perro Aguayo Jr or El Hijo del Perro Aguayo ("The Son of Perro Aguayo").

Ben Alexander

• Almighty Janitor: He was the owner-operator of a cleaning service.
• Cool Teacher: He coached wrestling at Charlotte Catholic High School.
• I Know Karate: He practiced amateur wrestling in high school at Independence High School where he was on the wrestling team.
• Red Baron: "Big Ben".

Omar Atlas

• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Buddy Marino, Buddy Moreno, Buddy Silver Wolf, El Gran Diablo, Cyclone Atlas, Mario Moreno, Omar Atlas, Omar Negro, Red Menace, Súper Gladiador, Super Steele, Young Atlas. His real name is Omar Mijares.
• The Jailer: Is a security monitor for the Bexar County Adult Probation Department.
• Jobber: In the UWF and WWE, and was the first opponent of Jesse Ventura. He had better success with other promotions.
• Red Baron: "Young", "Mr. Excitement".
• Unrelated Brothers: With Cyclone Negro, who Omar teamed with as Omar Negro.

Mike Bennett

"MMB certainly played the 'hard man' to perfection. Supreme wrestling ability plus the edge of being the villain and dishing out some 'stiff' punishment."

— Geoff Shoots

• The Apprentice: To Joe Hill and later Ernie Baldwin Michael.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• Hidden Depths: He runs his own courier business.
• I Know Karate: He knows Catch Wrestling
• Land Downunder: Emigrated to Australia after retiring from wrestling, where he still lives.
• Red Baron: "Marvellous", "Sure Shot".

Ángel Blanco Jr

• The Apprentice: To Diablo Velasco.
• Color-Coded Characters: White is the signature colour of the Ángel Blanco family.
• Cool Mask
• Guest Fighter: From CMLL.
• I Know Karate: Trained a little amateur wrestling at Arena Coliseo.
• Masked Luchador
• Real Name as an Alias: His real name is Salomón Meza Camarena and he is more well known as the luchador, Rey Salomón.
• Wrestling Family: His son is the luchador Höruz, is the former son-in-law of Ángel Blanco, the former brother-in-law of Ángel Blanco Jr, the former brother-in-law of El Hijo del Ángel Blanco #1 and #2.

Mike Brannon

• '80s Hair: A mullet.
• Affectionate Nickname: "Doc".
• The Apprentice: To Karl Gotch and Boris Malenko.
• Carpet of Virility
• Combat Commentator: At times when he was working in Florida.
• I Know Karate: Trained Catch Wrestling at the Malenko's Gym.
• Jobber
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He wrestled in the U.S. as Dr. Red Roberts and is a real Fort Lauderdale psychologist.

Wayne Bridges

• Amazon Chaser: His second and current wife Sarah Bridges is a former pro bodybuilder who trained under him
• The Apprentice: To Bert Assirati, Mike Marino, Karl Gotch, and George Gordienko.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Came from a weight-training and Bodybuilding background and even trained with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• Cool Old Guy: Currently hosts British Wrestlers Reunion every year at his pub; The Bridges on Horton Road, South Darenth, Kent, DA 4 9AX.
• Dented Iron: Underwent serious spinal surgery in a double operation, each taking 7 hours, but the nervous system was damaged beyond repair and although the pain factor has been removed, the nerves have never re-grown, leaving him struggling to walk or stand up straight for any length of time.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Billy Woodbridge.
• Evil Brit: Subverted, he is British but was mostly a face for his career.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• Hidden Depths: In his teens, he chosen to represent England many times in swimming, culminating by being chosen to swim for the British Team at the Rome Olympics in 1962.
• I Know Karate: He was part of the British wrestling team and later learned Catch Wrestling.
• Stunt Double: Was one for Sean Connery in all his James Bond movies.
• Wrestling Family: His son Dean was a pro wrestler under the name Dean Brisco until he died due to leukemia at 25 years old.

Leo Burke

• Cool Teacher: Has his own pro wrestling school and has trained Brody Steele, Chris Garvin, Christian, Doby Gillis, Edge, Hubert Gallant, Jeff Thomas, Johnny Handsome, Ken Shamrock, Kurrgan, Mark Henry, Massive Damage, Teddy Hart, Test and Wildman Austin.
• I Have Many Names: In the United States, he competed as Tommy Martin, The Atomic, Batman, Red Shadow. His real name is Leonce Cormier.
• Red Baron: "Lightning", "Kanada no Ara Shishi" (Canadian Lion").
• Ring Oldies: Still wrestles at nearly 70.
• Wrestling Family: Is part of the Cormier Wrestling Family with his brothers The Beast (Yvan Cormier), Bobby Kay (Romeo Cormier), Rudy Kay (Jean-Louis Cormier), and Mel Turnbow (Malcolm Cormier).

Scott Casey

• The Apprentice: To Dory Funk Sr.
• Bouncer: After retiring from active wrestling, Scott Casey worked security at various casinos in Nevada.
• Cool Teacher: Had a hand in training Booker T and Stevie Ray at Ivan Putski's gym, and is now a pro wrestling trainer at the Las Vegas Wrestling Academy (formerly the Ultimate Wrestling Federation under Nick Bockwinkel) and also trained Kenny King.
• Everything is Big in Texas: From Amarillo.
• Hidden Depths: He took jobs in car dealership and construction after his retirement.
• Red Baron: "Cowboy", "Texas Tornado", "Seigi no Kaubōi"("Cowboy of Justice").
• Wrestling Family: His brother, Steve is also a pro wrestler.

Richard Charland

• Bratty Half-Pint: Debuted as a pro at the age of 16.
• I Know Karate: Trained Judo before meeting Mad Dog Vachon. He later learned amateur wrestling after Vachon's suggestion under Ray Ricci, a former Canadian champion. He also trained under Edouard Carpentier, Omer Marchessault and Luigi Macera.
• Red Baron: "Le Magnifique".
• Ring Oldies: In his 60's and still wrestles on occasion.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Once adopted the moniker "Blast", in an attempt to resurrect the Demolition name and gimmick, with Bill Eadie as Ax, but were eventually sent a cease and desist letter by the WWF.

The Cuban Assassin

• Arch-Enemy: "Bad News" Allen Coage. The two were almost like Heterosexual Life-Partners at one point and Cubie was even the best man at Bad News' wedding, but that all changed once Bad News got married. The best friends wives didn’t get along as well as the two wrestlers themselves and that started tension between Bad News and the Assassin. Their friendship deteriorated after a period of time. It got so bad at one point, that the Assassin once allegedly threatened Bad News Allen’s wife over the phone. One day the two couples met in a diner parking lot and Bad News remembered how the Assassin threatened his wife and the two former friends started getting into a physical altercation. During the melee, the Cuban Assassin pulled out a knife and slashed both Bad News and his wife. The police were called but by the time they arrived the Cuban Assassin and his wife had fled. As a matter of fact, the Cuban Assassin would not return to Calgary Stampede while Bad News Allen was still there. Fast forward to 1988 and Bad News was signed by the WWF. During that time, the Cuban Assassin was offered a WWF tryout. When word got back to Bad News, he told friends that if he saw the Assassin he would kill him. Sure enough, Bad News spotted the Assassin entering the arena for his tryout and Bad News reportedly grabbed a metal camera tripod and went right after the Assassin. The Assassin saw Bad News charging him and pulled out his knife and the two began swinging wildly at each other. The two had to be separated by several WWF officials. The end result saw the Cuban Assassin sent home and never getting his big opportunity. Bad News Brown got a slap on the wrist and remained with the company.
• Identical Stranger: He created the ring persona off his heritage as well as his resemblance to Fidel Castro due to his beard and hair.
• I Know Karate: He practiced amateur wrestling and boxing in high school.
• Odd Friendship: With Phil Lafluer.
• Spell My Name with a "The"
• Wrestling Family: One of his two sons, Richie Acevedo is also a pro wrestler under the names Cuban Assassin #2, then later Cuban Assassin Jr. He is also a cousin of Bill Alfonso.

El Fantasma

• The Apprentice: To Rafael Salamanca, El Rebelde and Villano I.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Pink is his colour.
• Cool Mask
• Cool Teacher: Trained luchadors El Ángel, Draiger, and Dunkel.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Juan José Hernández Ornelas.
• Guest Fighter: From CMLL.
• I Know Karate: He knows amateur wrestling.
• Masked Luchador
• Red Baron: "El Duende que Camina", "El Hercules de los Independientes".
• Spell My Name with a "The"
• Wrestling Family: His brother is Angel de la Muerte, his son is El Hijo del Fantasma, and his nephew is Fantasma Jr.

Dave/Fit Finlay

"Fit Finlay was one of my earliest heroes."

— William Regal, from his autobiography; Walking A Golden Mile.

"My name is Finlay, and I love to fight!"

— Dave Finlay

• '80s Hair: Had a mullet for sometime before cutting it in 1998.
• Alliterative Name: As Fit Finlay.
• Blood Knight
• Boisterous Bruiser: It's part of his charm.
• Carry a Big Stick: His shillelagh.
• Cool Old Guy: Most definitely.
• The Dreaded: Is considered one of the toughest pro wrestlers ever. Lance Storm was once asked who he would rather fight between Ken Shamrock or Dave Finlay. He answered Ken Shamrock and his reasoning was that in a fight with Shamrock he might come out with a broken limb, but in a fight against Finlay he would be lucky to come out alive. Goldberg once was offended by Finlay's anti-Semitic jokes, and rushed to Finlay to stare him down, this ended with Finlay headbutting and kicking him to the floor in a matter of seconds.
• Fighting Irish: The most well known one in pro wrestling today.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: Learned amateur wrestling from his father. He also trained in Karate and has a black belt in Judo.
• Leotard of Power: Shamrock green with black ones, usually with a symbol of a four-leafed clover on it.
• Red Baron: "The Belfast Bruiser", "The Belfast Brawler", "The King of Terror", "The Man Who Loves to Fight", "The Shillelagh Swingin' Bruiser", "Fit".
• Wrestling Family: He is the son of David Finlay Sr and the father of David Finlay Jr (the Third). His daughter is an amateur wrestler who won the Georgia State championship, is the ex husband of Princess Paula, his sister was a referee, and is the uncle of Tony Stewart.

Terry Funk

Karl Gotch

Larry Hamilton

"When you wrestled Larry, I guarantee that you had a night of it. He was just like a windmill. He wouldn’t slow down for anything."

— Rip Hawk

"Larry is a superb, well-conditioned wrestler without using gimmicks."

— The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune of Missouri in 1957.

• Bash Brothers: With Pampero Firpo, Hiro Matsuda and Boris Malenko.
• Carpet of Virility
• Cool Teacher: Trained Scoot Andrews.
• Hidden Depths: He entered the bail bonding after retiring from wrestling.
• I Have Many Names: Wrestled as The Avenger, Black Secret, Casey Mc Shain, Larry Hamilton (his real name), Missouri Mauler (his most well known name), Mr. Who, Thunderbolt.
• I Know Karate: He knows amateur wrestling, he was also a Golden Gloves boxer.
• Real Men Love Jesus: He was a member of the St. James Catholic Church in St. Louis, Missouri.
• Red Baron: "Rocky".
• Wrestling Family: He is also the older half-brother of wrestler Jody Hamilton who competed as the masked wrestler The Assassin as well as the uncle of former World Championship Wrestling official Nick Patrick.

Keith Haward

• Expy: Some fans seem to see a young Ken Shamrock as one to him.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: He knows amateur wrestling. A 4 time British champion and represented his country in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and was a bronze medalist in the 1978 Commonwealth Games. He later learned Catch Wrestling.
• Red Baron: "The Hurricane".

Caribs Hurricane

"He loved the business and he loved the power to get the people to scream. It was in his blood."

— Omar Atlas

"Cyclone Negro was another very talented individual and one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. He always kept his body in great shape and had one of the greatest, most expressive faces I've ever seen. I mean, he had the greatest face in the business. It made him a perfect heel. He wasn't hideously ugly; he just looked like one mean son of a bitch!"

— Terry Funk, from his autobiography; More Than Hardcore.

• Cool Teacher: Owned Cyclone Negro's Gym and Pro Wrestling school.
• Determinator: He had battled countless health issues for more than a decade. It started with an accident while at work as a welder where he broke his hip; Replacement surgery followed in March 2003. In 2006 he became very ill and while in ICU at the hospital was diagnosed with COPD, congestive heart failure and dementia. The COPD was from the fumes from the welding rods, which had destroyed his lungs. His wife also stated that he broke all of his fingers at different times, and he never had them set. He would just throw some tape around them and say, 'No, no, they're okay'.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With High Chief Peter Maivia.
• Hidden Depths: His wife says he was an excellent singer and chef.
• How Much More Can He Take?: Fought many "Death Matches" against Dory Funk Sr, including one that went FOUR hours.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Calypso Hurricane, Caripus Hurricane, Ciclón Negro (his most well known name), Cyclone Negro, Cyclops, Eduardo Rodríguez, Lalo Rodríguez, Mr. Uganda, El Patriota, Reyes Rodríguez, Chief Guacanopoulos, Punchy Pinero, and Ciclon Venezuelano. His real name is Ramon Eduardo Rodríguez.
• I Know Karate: Trained as an amateur boxer before wrestling and fought Floyd Patterson in the Pan-American Games.
• Power Trio: With Omar Atlas and Jose Rivera to try to promote pro wrestling in Venezuela at the end of the 1979s.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Was a christian.
• Red Baron: "Kuroi Taifū" ("Black Typhoon"), "Bakufū Kamen" ("Blast Mask").
• Scary Black Man
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Appeared on a show called “Lie Detector” hosted by F.Lee Bailey and was asked if wrestling was fake. He said no, so F.Lee Bailey read the results and said evidently you’ve been lying, so he fussed and stormed out.
• Spell My Name With An S: Was billed in the UWF as Caribs Hurricane.
• Unrelated Brothers: With Omar Atlas who once wrestled as "Omar Negro".

Marty Jones

"Marty was a good guy to meet. He's one of the best wrestlers you'll ever see — what we call a great worker. He has wrestled in some of the best matches I've ever seen."

— William Regal, from his autobiography, Walking A Golden Mile.

• The Apprentice: To Billy Robinson.
• Badass Teacher: He trained William Regal. He is also now a trainer at Grapple Wrestling, a Leeds-based wrestling promotion.
• Evil Brit: Subverted, he is British but usually a face wherever he goes.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: Trained Catch Wrestling at the Snake Pit Wigan and was a British amateur wrestling champion.
• Jobber: His role in UWF.
• Red Baron: "Juggler", "Lancashire Lion".
• The Worf Effect: Enforced, as he knew how to wrestle for real with his amateur and catch training, the promotion had to put their native stars over, so he couldn't be used for much else.

Phil Lafleur

• Cool Teacher: Trained pro wrestlers; Adrian Walls and Dark Angel and is the head trainer of Monster Pro Wrestling (MPW).
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Black Sabbath, Blue Blazer #2, Can-Am Express #2 (under masks), Dan Kroffat (as part of the Cam-Am Express), Phil Lafleur, Phil Lafon (his real name), Rocky Venturo.
• I Know Karate: Trained in Kickboxing before his wrestling career.
• Odd Friendship: With The Cuban Assassin who helped him get booked in Japan.
• Power Trio: Was discovered by Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid and trained together at the Hart Dungeon.
• Put on the Bus: He and Doug Furnas were involved in an automobile accident and had to take about 2 years off from wrestling because of the injuries sustained.
• Shout-Out: Took the names Dan Kroffat, after a Calgary-based wrestler 'Cowboy' Dan Kroffat; and Phil Lafleur, as a tribute to his love of the Montreal Canadiens.

Phyllis Lee

"Ladies and Gentleman. My name is Brian Heffron and I am here to tell you that I am... a Phyllis Lee Guy."

— Brian Heffron aka The Blue Meanie

• Cool Old Lady: A former pro wrestler and after retiring became a manager to pro wrestlers and MMA fighters like Joe and Dean Malenko, Dan Severn, Al Snow, Sabu, Tazz, Chris Benoit, Chris Candido, Sean Waltman, The Blue Meanie, Gary Meyers, Jason Godsey, Brian Gassaway, Paul Lazenby, Ron Waterman, Chris Lytle, Nathan Marquardt, Laverne Clark, Shane Carwin, Carlos Condit, etc.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Boris Malenko.
• Red Baron: "The First Lady of NHB/MMA".
• The Smart Girl: She ran the business side of the Malenko Wrestling School and later the Pancase USA Academy and was a manager for both their wrestlers and fighters. She was also a booker and sent wrestlers and fighters to UWF, Newborn, PWFG, Pancrase, UFC, ECW and others.
• Team Mom: Of the Malenko Wrestling School and the Pancase USA Academy.
• Ur-Example: One of the first fight managers of MMA.

Pierre Lefebvre

• Identical Stranger: He was called "Mad Dog' because of his resemblance to Mad Dog Vachon. They even had matches against each other.
• Red Baron: "Mad Dog".
• Wrestling Family: The Rougeau wrestling family considered him as an honorary family member and trained with them for wrestling.

Mark Lewin

Johnny Londos

• The Apprentice: To Karl Gotch. He also trained under French pro wrestler and 4th dan black belt judoka, Gabriel Calderon.
• Badass Teacher: He trained German wrestler; Roland “Undertaker” Bock, the guy that threw André the Giant with a double-arm suplex, might have shot on Mil Mascaras, and outwrestled Antonio Inoki at Inoki Europe Tour of 1978. He also trained Mile Zrno, Bobby Gaetano, and Masakatsu Funaki when he came to train in Europe.
• Carpet of Virility
• Cool Teacher: Served as a trainer for the Catch Wrestling Association (CWA).
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Charles "Charly" Verhulst.
• Guest Fighter: From Catch Wrestling Association.
• I Know Karate: He knows amateur wrestling, also trained in Judo and Catch Wrestling.
• Red Baron: "The Golden Man from Belgium".
• Shout-Out: His ring name and nickname is a tribute to professional catch wrestler, Jim "The Golden Greek" Londos.

The Lumberjack

• The Bus Came Back: Appeared in Battlarts as Rambo.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: A Canadian Junior discus throw champion.
• Hidden Depths: Works as a registered nurse at Mease Dunedin Hospital on the telemetry and stroke floor.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Luc Poirier (his real name), The Lumberjack, The Masked Marvel, Mercenary, La Merveille Masquée, Rambo (he used this in Battlarts), Rocky Montana, and Sniper (of The Truth Commission in the WWF).
• Mighty Lumberjack: For some reason he only used this name in this promotion.
• Red Baron: "Monsieur".
• Spell My Name with a "The"

Dean Malenko/Solkoff

Joe Malenko/Solkoff

"Now Joe Malenko, he spent some time with me. About seven years. He had guts. He had spent about a year with me on conditioning and he asked me what I thought. I said "You want me to tell you? Well, your conditioning is better than cow shit.""

— Karl Gotch

"I had not seen him in at least 25 years maybe more, Joe Malenko came to see me… put it this way man, it really made my day. It’s always great to see Dean, I see him often… and I just had not seen Joe in forever. And he is the one that will kill you, man. That guy, he was Karl Gotch’s favorite student, he was his prized student, and that guy before there was all the MMA schools and guys doing MMA, there was no one like that guy walking around. There were very few people on earth that could do what that guy did back then."

— Sean Waltman

• Affectionate Nickname: Subverted, his real name Jody sometimes gets mistaken as this.
• The Apprentice: To Karl Gotch, his father Larry Malenko, Hiro Matsuda, and Welsh wrestler Tony Charles. Some consider him the best American student of Gotch.
• Badass Israeli: His family is Jewish.
• Bash Brothers: With his brother Dean Malenko.
• Cool Teacher: Has helped train most of the PWFG American shoot wrestlers with his dad and brother.
• Genius Bruiser: Got a pharmacological degree from University of Florida in 1983 and is now a very successful pharmacist and consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, and even gives corporate seminars as the CEO of Commgenix, a medical consulting group. He is also a Managing Partner in the Cancer Treatment Assessment Group and part of The Geriatric Oncology Consortium, a non-profit organization focusing on treating cancer in the elderly.
• Guest Fighter: Has only appeared in the original UWF, UWF Newborn, UWFI, and PWFG for only a few matches each.
• Hidden Depths: He has also dabbled in real estate, worked as a volunteer sheriff and as an Executive Producer at Maven Films.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Often regarded as Gotch’s best American student, he decided to focus on his pharmaceutical career instead of wrestling as he thought the pro wrestling life was too brutal for his body to last.
• I Know Karate: He knows Catch Wrestling
• Red Baron: "Southern Shooter", "Suplex Machine", "Furorida no Shigotoshi" ("Florida Worker").
• Weak, but Skilled: Was shorter than and had no hope of overpowering most of his foes like the other gaijins, but he made up for that by being an exceptional submission specialist.
• Wrestling Family: With his father Larry Malenko, his brother Dean Malenko and his adopted brother Carl Ognibene.

Larry Malenko

"He was probably the most giving person I’ve ever met. Sometimes he was too good-hearted. My dad was like a father figure to a lot of kids in the school. He not only trained them, he was a father-figure type to them. He liked helping others, and he wasn’t into material things."

— Dean Malenko

• Badass Israeli: His family is Jewish.
• Badass Teacher: Became a trainer after he retired from wrestling, he founded the Malenko's Wrestling School, where he trained many pro wrestlers and shooters for UWF, Newborn, UWFI and PWFG.
• Bash Brothers: With Karl Gotch.
• Carpet of Virility: In his prime.
• Chain Pain: His weapon and was a master of the "Russian Chain" match.
• Combat Referee: Worked as one after he retired, he also taught refereeing to Masami Soranaka. He was also the referee at the U-Cosmos event for Nobuhiko Takada vs Duane Koslowski.
• Fake Nationality: His most well known gimmicks are as a foreigner, though he is actually from Florida.
• Foreign Wrestling Heel: For most of his wrestling career.
• Gratuitous Nazis: His gimmick as Otto Von Krupp.
• Husky Russkie: His most known gimmick was a agent from the Soviet Union.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Boris Malenko, Crusher Duggan, Larry Simon (his real name), Laurence Malenko, The Great Malenko, The Masked Muscovite, Mr. Jacksonville, Mr. Miami, and Otto Von Krupp.
• I Know Karate: He knows amateur wrestling. Competed as a teenager at the YMC As.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: According to most of his peers.
• Non-Action Guy: Was a promoter, manager, and trainer after he retired from wrestling.
• Overly Long Name: His Russian gimmick's full name was Boris Maximilianovich Malenko.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Phyllis Lee.
• Red Baron: "The Great Malenko", "The Mad Russian", "Professor", "Doctor", "Chēnmatchi no Oni" ("Demon of the Chain Match").
• Retired Badass: Was already retired when UWF started, he only trained the American and a few Japanese shooters.
• Stealth Pun: When billed as "The Great Malenko"; it was a pun as "Malenko" is Russian for "little".
• Wrestling Family: Is the father of Joe and Dean Malenko and the adopted father of Carl Ognibene. In Kayfabe, he is father of female wrestler Debbie "Malenko" Drake who he also trained.
• Wrestling Psychology: Was a master of it.

Dutch Mantel

• The Chessmaster: Was a booker for the World Wrestling Council (WWC), the International Wrestling Association, TNA and ECW.
• He Also Did: He is a Character Narrator by narrating and also appeared as himself in the first season of the professional wrestling documentary series, Dark Side of the Ring.
• I Have Many Names: His real name is Wayne Maurice Keown and has appeared as Chris Gallagher, Texas Dirt, Uncle Zebekiah, and more recently as Zeb Colter.
• Old Soldier: Fought in the Vietnam War.
• Red Baron: "Dirty", "El Sucio" ("The Dirty" in Spanish).
• Spell My Name With An S: His ring name is also spelled as Dutch Mantell.

Pierre Martel

• I Have Many Names: Has also wrestled under names like Destroyer, Don Gagné, Pierre Martin, Pierre Vigneault, Mad Dog Martin, and is most famously known as Frenchy Martin, a scratchy-voiced manager to Dino Bravo and known for his trademark sign that read "USA is not OK". His real name is Jean Gagné.
• Red Baron: "Satsujin Konbatto" ("Murder Combat").
• Wrestling Family: He has a son and a nephew who have wrestled as Jean Gagne Jr. and George Martel respectively.

Caswell Martin

• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: He knows amateur wrestling and Catch Wrestling.
• Red Baron: "Cast Iron", "The Handsome One from Antigua".
• Scary Black Man

Raúl Mata

• The Apprentice: To Diablo Velasco.
• Guest Fighter: From CMLL.
• I Know Karate: Trained a little amateur wrestling at Arena Coliseo.
• Red Baron: "Hawk Of Mexico".
• Stout Strength: A bit pudgy.
• Wrestling Family: Has two brothers that are also luchadors; Carlos and José Mata.

Scott McGee

• The Apprentice: To his father Geoff Ports, Karl Gotch and Boris Malenko.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Garfield "Gary" Ports.
• I Know Karate: Trained Catch Wrestling at the Malenko's Gym.
• Red Baron: "Irish".
• Wrestling Family: His father is Geoff Ports, a British pro wrestler, who was also an assistant instructor at the Snake Pit in Wigan. He was also once brother-in-laws with Ric Flair, having married sisters.

Frank Morrell

• Combat Referee: Became one after retiring from wrestling.
• I Have Many Names: The Angel, Angel Morrell, A-Team #2, The Bruiser, Colossus of Death, Dandy Jack Morrell, Destroyer #2, Frank Morrell, French Angel, Lucifer, Mighty Yankee #1, Mr. Cool, The Seraph, and The Spoiler.
• Stout Strength

MS-1

• Cool Teacher: Trained luchadors like Chavo Banda, Polaris, El Profanador, Rey Vikingo and Súper Mega.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Pablo Fuentes Reyna.
• Guest Fighter: From CMLL.
• Human Aliens: His original gimmick was this.
• Masked Luchador: Subverted, he was one at first, then he unmasked after losing a Luchas de Apuestas match. The loss of the mask did not hinder his popularity, partly because the mask was described as "very ugly" and partly because Fuentes was a good looking man.
• Power Trio: A founding member of the wrestling group called Los Infernales (the Infernals) with El Satánico and Espectro Jr. and achieved most of his success as part of the group, including being the first-ever Mexican National Trios Champions and the first-ever CMLL World Trios Champions.
• Red Baron: "El Grandote de Salvatierra", "El Más Rudo", "Uchūkaijin" ("Space Monster").
• Shout-Out: MS refers to a Mexican Antiterrorist corps where MS-1 is the highest rank.
• Tag Team: Debuted with another wrestler who was given the name "MS-2", both of them adopted identical masks and outfits, only differentiated by the "1" and "2" on their tights. While Fuentes showed great in-ring skill, MS-2 did not seem to progress as fast as Fuentes and was phased out in less than a year allowing "MS-1" to work as a singles wrestler.
• Wrestling Family: His son is also a luchador working as MS-1 Jr or MS-Jr.

Negro Navarro

• Alliterative Name
• The Apprentice: To Florentino Martínez, an amateur wrestler who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics and in the 1972 Summer Olympics.
• Cool Teacher: Trained many luchadors like AK 47, Alberto Dos Rios, Andrómeda, Angélico, Anubis, Aviador, Aztlán, Belial, Centauro, Daga, Daisuke Hanaoka, Decnis, Dragón Fly, Eragon, Eros, Espíritu Maligno, Eterno, Euro Dance, Guerrero Nazi, El Guerrero WMC, Hell Boy, Huizar, El Imposible, India Mazahua, Infector, Joe Black, Jorge Kebrada, Kalibus, Karma, Kechanguito, Leo, Lobo Metálico, Maverick, La Metálica, Mini Kenzo Suzuki, Mr. ATL, Niebla Negra #1, Niebla Negra #2, Rambo #2, Rambo Jr., René Guajardo Jr., Serpiente Azteca, Stryker, El Templario, La Tormenta, Toshiya Matsuzaki, Trox, Venum, Wotan, Xatana Zatara, X-Devil, Zeus Jr., Zeuxis and Zurdog. He was also briefly a trainer for Dragon Gate.
• Guest Fighter: From CMLL.
• I Know Karate: He knows amateur wrestling.
• Masked Luchador: Subverted, unlike his mates he worked as a unmasked luchador.
• Power Trio: Was part of Los Misioneros de la Muerte ("The Missionaries of Death") with El Signo and El Texano; a team that is credited with popularizing the Trios match in Mexico to the point that it became the most common match for Trios teams in Mexican Lucha Libre.
• Real Name as an Alias: His full name is Miguel Calderón Navarro. He used Negro for his ring name as a tribute to his luchador idol Black Shadow.
• Red Baron: "Kuroi Kariudo" ("Black Hunter")
• Wrestling Family: His sons are luchadors Trauma I and Trauma II. His brothers are also luchadors, working under the ring names Apolo Navarro and Drako. He is also related through marriage to luchadors Mictlán, Inquisidor, Pólvora, El Dandy, El Texano, El Texano Jr, and Super Nova.

Mano Negra

• The Apprentice: To Diablo Velasco, El Rebelde (his father), Rafael Salamanca and Rolando Vera.
• Cool Mask
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Jesús Reza Rosales.
• Guest Fighter: From CMLL.
• I Know Karate: Trained a little amateur wrestling at Arena Coliseo.
• Masked Luchador: A black mask with blue trim, a black and blue outfit and a black glove for his namesake.
• Red Baron: "El Hombre del Guante Negro" ("The man in the black glove"), "El Enguantado".
• Shout-Out: His ring name is taken from the Spanish anarchist organisation La Mano Negra.
• Wrestling Family: He was trained by his father El Rebelde, his sons are Mano Negra Jr and El Hijo de Mano Negra, one of his daughters used to wrestle as Sanely and other is married to luchador Black Warrior and is the mother of Warrior Jr.

Jerry Olski

• '80s Hair: A mullet.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Jerry Allen, Jerry Aratski, Jerry Arotski (his real name), Jerry Ho, and Jerry O.
• Red Baron: "The Invader".
• Spell My Name With An S: His ring name is sometimes written as Oske or Oski.

Stephen Petitpas

• Combat Referee: Refereed some matches for Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling, Emile Duprée's promotion who was also his neighbor and trainer.
• Cool Teacher: Owns Atlantic Wrestling School and trained Kurrgan.
• Hidden Depths: Plays hockey on a regular basis as a winger, drives a truck and he's the flagman for CASCAR's New Brunswick International Speedway.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Canadian Lumberjack, Sheik Ali, Stephen Petitpas, and Steven Pearsay.
• Red Baron: "Big".
• Refusal of the Call: Canadian wrestler Buddy Lane has called Petitpas's career "the biggest waste of talent ever" in wrestling, as Petitpas was given opportunities to wrestle for larger companies but chose to remain in the Maritimes. Companies that include the WWF and AWA.
• Stout Strength: Almost 300ibs.

Pete Roberts

"Shortly before I was due to get married, I wrestled Pete Roberts — someone I really looked up to. Most people won't know him, but any British wrestler worth his salt would put him in his top three. An absolute class act in the ring and a gentleman outside it too. He's a wrestler's wrestler, who used to work in Japan all the time. His stuff was so far above anybody else's. I was just a green eighteen-year-old wrestling one of my heroes."

— William Regal, from his autobiography; Walking A Golden Mile.

• The Apprentice: To Billy Riley.
• Cool Teacher: Trained Tom Tyrone.
• Evil Brit: Subverted, he is British, but was a face most of the time.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: He knows Judo as well as Catch Wrestling at the Snakepit in Wigan.
• Odd Friendship: With Stan Hansen.
• Red Baron: "Judo", "Mat Magician", "Super Destroyer", "Igirisu no Akuma Hyō" ("British Devil Leopard").

Terry Rudge

"On my first night there I was with Terry Rudge, one of my favourite people of all time. He was a great London guy who'd make me laugh constantly - and he was a top wrestler too."

— William Regal, from his autobiography; Walking A Golden Mile.

• A Friend in Need: Got William Regal his first contact with WWF.
• The Apprentice: To Billy Riley and Norman Morrell.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• Hidden Depths: Has a business in Gloucestershire giving therapeutic massage. He also used to run a pub (The Three Tuns) in Bedford.
• I Know Karate: He knows amateur wrestling as well as Catch Wrestling as the Snakepit in Wigan.
• Red Baron: "Devil Panther".
• Respected by the Respected: Considered by fellow his professionals to be pound-for-pound one of the best wrestlers of his generation even though he never held a title.

Tami Samoa/Jack Snuka

"He wasn't quick; he was sudden."

— Gordon Solie

• Big Eater: He spoke of a time when he and Harley Race went for sushi and let their appetites get the best of them, running up a bill over a thousand dollars.
• But Not Too Foreign: He says he has some Japanese blood in his veins, it was one of his reasons for going to learn martial arts in Japan.
• The Dreaded: Was described as short-tempered, a trained fighter, and as one of the truly dangerous people of his era by those he worked with. He worked as an enforcer for a powerful drug dealer when he wasn't wrestling though he claimed he only collected money that was owed to the dealer by various clients and never specified if he had to seriously hurt or even kill people who didn’t pay. He was eventually arrested for his crimes and sent to prison for a number of years.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Jimmy Snuka considered each other "blood brothers".
• Hidden Depths: Established a janitorial company to provide jobs to homeless people and also worked for motorcycle companies, offering publicity by making cross-country rides.
• I Have Many Names: Has wrestled as Black Ninja, Coco Samoa (his most well known name), Tami Samoa, High Chief Onasahi, Jack Snuka, and Sabu the Wildman.
• I Know Karate: He studied several martial arts in Japan, like Karate, Judo, jujitsu, Sumo Wrestling, and has a black belt in at least one of them.
• Odd Friendship: With Harley Race and Antonio Inoki.
• Overly Long Name: His real name is Ulualoaiga Onosai Tuaolo Emelio.
• Parental Abandonment: He estimated once that he fathered 11 children from 9 different women. Some of which he never met in his lifetime.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Became a preacher, helped homeless people, and visited other inmates to preach about Christianity, after being released from prison.
• Wild Samoan: From Pago Pago, American Samoa.
• Wrestling Family: Subverted, he is not a direct relative to the Anoaʻi family, though he was close to Jimmy Snuka.

Jim Savage

• The Apprentice: To Karl Gotch and Boris Malenko.
• I Know Karate: Trained Catch Wrestling at the Malenko's Gym.
• Jobber

Michael Schneider

• The Apprentice: To Nicola "Catch Czar" Selenkowitsch.
• Guest Fighter: From Catch Wrestling Association.
• Husky Russkie: Is actually from Odessa, Ukraine.
• I Know Karate: He knows Sambo as well as Judo, amateur and Catch Wrestling.
• Red Baron: "Phantom".

Bob Della Serra/UFO #1

• Bash Brothers: With his brother Gerry Della Serra.
• I Have Many Names: Has also wrestled as Bobby/Johnny Heffernan and Karl Steiner.
• I Know Karate: He trained amateur wrestling In high school.
• Wrestling Family: His brother Gerry is also a wrestler.

Gerry/Gino/Rocky Della Serra/UFO #2

• Bash Brothers: With his brother Bob Della Serra.
• Hidden Depths: Works as an account rep for the Credit Bureau of Vancouver.
• I Have Many Names: He also went by Destroyer #2, El Santos (not that one), and Tackle.
• I Know Karate: He trained amateur wrestling in high school and won the silver medal in Quebec at the Quebec Amateur Wrestling Championships.
• Wrestling Family: His brother Bob is also a wrestler.

Dalibar Singh

"Dalibar was a masterful performer, popular with crowds, whose demure ring persona was offset by his supreme aptitude for the technical side of wrestling. There was nothing in his performances to demarcate him from the standard British wrestler - he attained a degree of equality who heritage was only accentuated by the stereotypical aspects of his "Tiger" moniker. He successful portrayed the role of an Indian migrant to the UK, only whose particular occupation was wrestling."

— From the book; Performance and Professional Wrestling.

• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real first name Gilbert.
• Evil Brit: His is of Indian descent, but was raised in Yorkshire.
• Fake Nationality: He wrestled as a migrant billed from Punjab, India.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: A Yorkshire and British national amateur wrestling champion and also learned Catch Wrestling.
• Red Baron: "White Tiger".

El Signo

• The Apprentice: To Billy Robinson, Chamaco Azteca and El Carnicero.
• Cool Mask
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Antonio Sánchez Rendón.
• Guest Fighter: From CMLL.
• I Know Karate: He knows amateur wrestling, He also later trained a bit in Catch Wrestling at the UWF Snakepit.
• Masked Luchador: A mask with an upside down question mark on the front of it.
• Power Trio: He helped populate the concept of the Trios match (teams of three facing off in a tag team match) in Lucha Libre, as a part of Los Misioneros de la Muerte ("The Missionaries of Death") with El Texano and Negro Navarro.
• Red Baron: "El Misionero Mayor" ("The Chief Missionary").
• Spell My Name with a "The"
• Wrestling Family: At least one of Sánchez's children is also a luchador, working under the name Hijo del Signo ("Son of the Sign").

Sweet Daddy Siki

"Reginald "Sweet Daddy" Siki is a professional wrestling icon, successful country music singer, and household name. This is his story, told by wrestling icons, celebrities, fascinating historians, family, friends, and the legend himself."

— Jeremy Shell, a summary of the Sweet Daddy Siki documentary.

"A lot of people try to copy me, but there's only one Niagara Falls and only one Mona Lisa. And there's only one Mr. Irresistible."

— Sweet Daddy Siki

• The Cameo: Made an appearance on WWE Smackdown on September 13, 2011 for Edge Appreciation Night, along with several other WWE Legends and former superstars.
• Catchphrase: "I’m the Women’s Pet and the Man’s Regret".
• Cool Teacher: He teaches at Sully's Toronto Youth Athletic Club on Sundays. He was also affiliated with a Toronto wrestling school through the 1980s and to the mid-1990s, initially in partnership with Johnny Powers. He trained pro wrestlers like Edge, El Fuego, Johnny Swinger, Neil Carr, Ron Hutchison, Sledgehammer Spike, Tiger Ali Singh and Zakk Wylde.
• Delinquent Hair: Bleached his hair blonde.
• Dented Iron: He has some paralysis on the left side of his face.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Wrote his own theme song entitled "I Am So Proud of What I See".
• Gorgeous George: One of the first black men to play the role.
• Hard Head: A Signature Move of his is his headbutt or "coco butt".
• Hidden Depths: He is also a country singer, karaoke DJ and hosts karaoke Saturday afternoons at The Duke bar at Queen and Leslie street in Toronto.
• Old Soldier: Was a corporal in the U.S. Army and served in Korea after the peace treaty was signed.
• Red Baron: "Mr. Irresistible".
• Scary Black Man

Johnny South

"Johnny looked vaguely like Hawk from the Road Warriors but instead of being known as the Legion of Doom, he was the Legend of Doom (they have the Big Mac, we have the Big Mic). He sported the same makeup, mohawk, and spiked shoulder pads as Hawk, but there was one major discrepancy. Johnny was about a foot shorter and fifty pounds lighter. He also had a nasty divot across his bald head."

— Chris Jericho, from his autobiography; A Lion's Tale: Around The World In Spandex.

"Shortly before Easter 1992 Anne Relwyskow organised a tour of British army bases in Germany. We went for ten days doing different base every day - me, Dave Taylor, Klondyke Kate, Drew MacDonald, Johnny South, Barry Douglas and his girlfriend Debbie, who was wrestling Kate. We knew the army boys wouldn't want to watch the wrestling they would want to sit there and take the mick. So Johnny South and I would go out first and knock the living hell out of each other. And every time, by the second or third round we had them - they were buying it. So they should have, because we were killing each other, wrestling really hard. That's how we got them, every night, and it meant they would enjoy the rest of the show."

— William Regal, from his autobiography; Walking A Golden Mile.

• Carpet of Virility
• Evil Brit: A heel in British wrestling promotions.
• Facial Markings
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: He knows Catch Wrestling
• Improbable Hairstyle
• Jobber
• Legion of Doom: The British version.
• Red Baron: "The British LOD", "The Legend Of Doom", "Destroyer".
• Shoulders of Doom
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To The Road Warriors.

Ray Steele

"There was a guy called Ray Steele who was really good."

— William Regal, from his autobiography; Walking A Golden Mile.

• The Ace: Of Joint Promotions and was the British Heavyweight Championship for over a year.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: Trained amateur wrestling at the Leeds Athletic Institute and was a British light heavyweight champion. He also trained in Catch Wrestling.
• Wrestling Family: His uncle; Alan Colbeck was also a wrestler.

Bob Sweetan

"One of our favorites was a guy named Bruiser Bob Sweetan. He was the first wrestler to come in as a bad guy, act like a bad guy, and be turned good by the fans. He came out to 'Bang Your Head' by Quiet Riot and would finish his opponents off with the piledriver. That got over like a million bucks, and the fans couldn't help but cheer for him."

— Shawn Michaels, from his autobiography; Heartbreak & Triumph: The Shawn Michaels Story.

• Bullying a Dragon: Jim Ross once told how Danny Hodge once tortured Sweetan as payback for being out of line.
• Cool Teacher: He trained Hardcore Holly and Jeff Daniels.
• Determinator: "Dr. Death" Steve Williams described him as a "very, very tough man".
• Drugs Are Bad: Sweetan's ex-wife Rebecca commented: "He's a waste of skin as far as I'm concerned... He fried his brain [with drugs], deserted his children, abused them emotionally, physically, sexually, mentally. But that's what drugs do. He fried his brain. He's a fried egg."
• Heel: Was known for causing riots in arenas due to his heel antics, and was an influence on a young Shawn Michaels.
• Hidden Depths: Following his pro wrestling career, Sweetan worked as an air conditioning maintenance supervisor, particularly in large apartment buildings.
• Jerkass: In 1990, Sweetan was convicted of the sexual assault of his daughter, Candace. He also faced a separate charge of non-payment of child support. Sweetan stopped checking in with police in 2000, after which he was located and deported back to his native Canada. Jim Ross stated that he "didn't like" Sweetan and "didn't want to be around him", describing him as a "miserable human being". In his 2012 autobiography, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan also referred to Sweetan as a "bully" and a "real piece of garbage".
• Real Song Theme Tune: 'Bang Your Head' by Quiet Riot.
• Red Baron: "Bruiser", "Mr. Piledriver".

Gallo Tapado

• Animal Motifs: A rooster.
• The Apprentice: To David Cervantes.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Pink is his colour.
• Cool Mask
• Cool Teacher: Trained luchador Fuerza Guerrera.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Rosalío Hernández Márquez.
• Guest Fighter: From CMLL.
• I Know Karate: He knows Boxing and also trained a bit in amateur wrestling.
• Masked Luchador: A pink mask with a rooster's spur around the eyes and a line crossing the mouth like the belt from a charro's hat.
• Wrestling Family: His father is El Caballero Tigre, and his son (or not since he hasn't revealed his identity) is Gallo Tapado Jr.

El Texano

• The Apprentice: To Diablo Velasco and Antonio Cruz.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Made his wrestling debut at the age of 13.
• Cool Mask
• Cool Teacher: Trained luchadors Bengala, Yakuza and Zumbido. He also trained pro wrestler Jimmy Jacobs.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real name is Juan Conrado Aguilar Jáuregui.
• Guest Fighter: From CMLL.
• I Know Karate: Trained a little amateur wrestling at Arena Coliseo.
• Masked Luchador
• Power Trio: He helped populate the concept of the Trios match (teams of three facing off in a tag team match) in Lucha Libre, as a part of Los Misioneros de la Muerte ("The Missionaries of Death") with El Signo and Negro Navarro.
• Wrestling Family: His son Juan Aguilar Leos wrestles under the name El Texano, Jr in tribute to his father and another son wrestles as the masked Super Nova. He is the uncle of luchadors Mictlán, Inquisidor and Pólvora. He is the cousin of luchador El Dandy. He is also related by a cousin's marriage to Negro Navarro.

Tom Tyrone

• Alliterative Name
• The Apprentice: To Pete Roberts and Tug Holton.
• Evil Brit: Subverted he is Brit, but was a face for most of his career.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: He knows Catch Wrestling
• Red Baron: "Flash", "Golden Boy".
• Wrestling Family: Was Tug Holton's son-in-law.

Vinnie Valentino

• Alliterative Name
• Contortionist: He was very flexible in his prime. It was his contortion skills that let him endure everyone else's attempts to keep him on the mat.
• Game-Breaking Injury: An all-around athlete, he excelled in the shot put. He attended Florida State University on a track and field scholarship and dreamed of making it to the Olympics. A shoulder injury in his sophomore year derailed his Olympic hopes and forced him to start looking for alternatives. He found pro wrestling.
• Red Baron: "High Flying".

Scotty Williams

• The Apprentice: To Karl Gotch and Boris Malenko.
• I Know Karate: Trained Catch Wrestling at the Malenko's Gym.
• Jobber

Johnny Wilson

• The Apprentice: To Bruno Elrington.
• Carpet of Virility
• Evil Brit: Subverted, is British, but was mostly a fan favourite for his career.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: He knows Catch Wrestling.
• Red Baron: "Tarzan".
• Wrestling Family: His younger brother Pete Wilson was also a wrestler.

Bernard Wright

• The Apprentice: To Ted Betley, the guy who trained Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith.
• Guest Fighter: From Joint Promotions.
• I Know Karate: Trained Catch Wrestling: at Ted Betley's gym.
• Red Baron: "Bearcat".
• Wrestling Family: He is the uncle of Alex Wright and the brother of Steve Wright.

Mile Zrno

• The Apprentice: To Johnny Londos, Michael Ujevic and Rene Lasartesse.
• Guest Fighter: From Catch Wrestling Association.
• Hidden Depths: He operates a metal company together with his brother in Germany.
• I Know Karate: He knows Catch Wrestling. He also was a former Yugoslavian amateur wrestling champion.
• Pretty Boy: Got many cheers from female audiences for being one.

Debuted in Shooto

See Universal Wrestling Federation Shooto

Debuted in UWF Newborn

See Universal Wrestling Federation UWF Newborn

Debuted in Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi

See Universal Wrestling Federation PWFG

Debuted in Fighting Network RINGS

See Universal Wrestling Federation RINGS

Debuted in UWF International

See Universal Wrestling Federation UWF International

Debuted in Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling

See Universal Wrestling Federation LLPW

Debuted in Pancrase

See Universal Wrestling Federation Pancrase

Debuted in Kitao Dojo

See Universal Wrestling Federation Kitao Dojo

Debuted in New Stage Battle Wrestling

See Universal Wrestling Federation NSBW

Debuted in Great American Mat Endeavors

See Universal Wrestling Federation GAME

Debuted in Fighting Detectives Team Battlarts

See Battlarts

Debuted in Hook N Shoot

See Universal Wrestling Federation Hook N Shoot

Debuted in Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation

See Universal Wrestling Federation USWF

Debuted in Kingdom

See Universal Wrestling Federation Kingdom

Debuted in Universal Fighting-Arts Organization

See Universal Wrestling Federation UFO

Debuted in Seikendo

See Universal Wrestling Federation Seikendo