#9 – Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Jim Duggan is one of those wrestlers who was always over, always popular, and always fired up a crowd, but he is never included in lists of “greatest wrestlers never to be World Champion.” He was very unique in that respect, but one thing you have to hand to Duggan – when he came to the ring with Old Glory and a 2×4, the crowd was certain to follow his chants of “Hooo!” and “U.S.A! U.S.A!” Duggan becoming United States Champion in WCW by defeating “Stunning” Steve Austin at Clash of the Champions was a terrific moment.
#8 – Nikolai Volkoff
Volkoff was as much a Russian as Kofi Kingston is Jamacian (Kofi is from Ghana, Volkoff from Croatia), but that doesn’t change the fact that Volkoff’s character was one of the original hated foreign nationalists.
In the 70’s Volkoff chased then WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino, selling out MSG on several occassions.
In the 80’s, however, he formed a despised team with The Iron Sheik, and began singing the Russian National Anthem prior to matches. With the Cold War tensions still high (just ask Dolph Lundgren, who played Rocky IV opponent Ivan Drago), Volkoff became one of the most hated men in wrestling. In a stunning move, they upset Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham, a.k.a. “The U.S. Express,” for the WWF Tag Titles.
