The Beautiful Thing asks: Does Nikolai Volkoff Belong in the Hall of Fame?

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Does Nikolai Volkoff Belong in the Hall of Fame?

World Wrestling Entertainment have announced a partial list of the wrestlers who will be inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2005. The names listed are:

The Iron Sheik
Nikolai Volkoff
Cowboy Bob Orton
Paul Orndorff
The Mouth Of The South Jimmy Hart

It is possible to argue that, from one point of view, none of these men are truly deserving of induction into a serious Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame induction is typically meant to be an honour that is reserved for the truly elite. The Iron Sheik is the only World Champion among the wrestler’s listed and his was the very definition of a caretaker reign, meant merely to transition the belt from the blandly old fashioned good guy Bob Backlund onto the larger than life superhero Hulk Hogan. Hogan, who was one of the first American wrestlers of the modern era to achieve true mainstream stardom, and Backlund, who was the top face and a dominant champion in the Northeast in the late 70s and early 80s, are both Hall of Fame calibre grapplers. Induction into WWE’s Hall of Fame, however, does not seem to be reserved only for those who were among the very greatest of their respective eras. It seems to be intended more as a way to remember and honour aging or deceased former stars. I don’t think that anyone can seriously argue that it is wrong for WWE to do this.

Still, it seems that there should be some limits.

I have read several threads on several wrestling message boards questioning the inclusion of Nikolai Volkoff on the list of inductees.

Here on Inside Pulse’s WWE Forum, posters and writers claim that Volkoff was never given the chance to be a main-eventer, that he was a borderline jobber, and that he may have only been nominated because he was a character on the “Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling” Saturday morning cartoon.

On the 411 forums, Volkoff is again referred to as a jobber, and there is speculation that his nomination might be a reward for his loyalty or an acknowledgement of his legitimate toughness.

I beg to differ.

One Reason That Volkoff Belongs in the Hall

Nikolai Volkoff was once a major wrestling star.

I don’t blame modern-day fans for not knowing their wrestling history, and I can easily see that Volkoff was little more than a glorified jobber after 1985. I remember Koko B. Ware pinning Volkoff on the November 29, 1986 episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event. I understand that, for many wrestling fans, 1985 is about as old school as it gets. I hope, however, that I can say this without offending anybody (although I don’t really care that much if I do), but: there really was pro wrestling before WrestleMania. Not only that, but (in spite of what you might have seen on that stupid A&E special) real old school wrestling wasn’t some seedy underground sleaze fest that took place exclusively in small smoke-filled halls. I am not going to bore you with a detailed history of professional wrestling in America (at least not right now), but I really hope that everyone reading this can appreciate that there is in fact such a history, and Volkoff played a minor but important role in it.

Nikolai Volkoff wrestled his first professional match ever against the great Bruno Sammartino, in 1968. His first real fame came in Sammartino’s Pittsburgh territory, as a member of The Mongols tag team. Beppo and Geeto were brought into the WWWF by Captain Lou Albano, who led them to multiple Tag Title reigns. Wrestling as Beppo, Volkoff fought Sammartino to a thirty-minute draw in front of a rabid Madison Square Garden crowd on September 14, 1970.

On March 14, 1974, Volkoff again faced Sammartino in The Garden. This time, they wrestled for sixty minutes.

If Volkoff deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame, surely it is for working sold out main event matches in America’s greatest wrestling venue. I sincerely hope that WWE will do Nikolai the honour of at least mentioning his past glories when he is inducted.

A Second, Much More Flimsy, Reason That Volkoff Belongs in the Hall

When I look at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I can see that there are three kinds of player enshrined there. There are players whose achievements on the field over several seasons allowed them to accumulate eye-popping statistics. Dan Marino, for example. There are other players who belong not because they produced great stats but because they are the kind of player that every kid pretended to be when they were playing football with their friends. Lynn Swann is a good example of this kind of player. Finally, there are the players who are in there because the way that they played football, in one way or another, changed the game. Lawrence Taylor, who set the template for the dominant pass rushing outside linebacker, was that kind of player.

Pro wrestling, of course, has no meaningful statistics. Title reigns have not always been awarded to the most talented wrestlers. No matter what Eric Bischoff or Hulk Hogan might think, there is no fair or accurate way to judge how much money any particular wrestler drew over a given period.

I sincerely doubt that any kids ever fought over who got to be Nikolai Volkoff when they were pretending to wrestle.

Nikolai was, however, kind of a pioneer.

The use of racial stereotypes was part of the tradition of professional wrestling long before Volkoff ever played off his Russian ancestry to draw heat. During the Regan administration, however, Volkoff became one of the very first wrestlers to use current affairs and political jingoism to his advantage when he drew major heat by singing the Russian national anthem very badly before each of his matches.

His legacy today is clearly visible, for better or for worse, in the offensive but effective gimmicks of Muhammad Hussan and La Resistance.

Here’s more of Andy’s story of his own fandom.

and

Here’s where to go to get the best anti-spyware info in any wrestling column ever.

This was the most interesting and most amusing article that I found when I was doing my very minimal research for this column.

I’d give you more links but I’m exhausted.

Good night, and thanks for reading!