Could a foreign wrestler be a megastar?

[Tastycles]

Over the years there have been a few wrestlers from places as exotic as Canada, Samoa and err.. The UK that have reached the upper echelons of US wrestling. However, you look at the biggest names among them, people like Bret Hart, and they haven't reached the highest plane. If you look at the biggest two stars ever, you get the American hero and the everyman. If you look lower, The Rock's patronage was often mentioned, but not the fact he was Samoan. Indeed, one of the most common things to talk about him was the fact he was a collegiate footballer.

Looking further down the list of the biggest stars, people like Ultimate Warrior, John Cena and Randy Savage have all been inescapably American in their mannerisms. So my question is, essentially, could someone from abroard break the glass ceiling and become a wrestling icon in the way the Korean Rikidozan did in Japan, or is America inherently too patriotic to fall in love with a foreign star in the same way they did with Hogan and Austin?

 

[jmt225]

So my question is, essentially, could someone from abroard break the glass ceiling and become a wrestling icon in the way the Korean Rikidozan did in Japan, or is America inherently too patriotic to fall in love with a foreign star in the same way they did with Hogan and Austin?

Well, man... I know it's not the same thing, but MMA has shown us that Americans can get behind a foreign star. Take Georges St-Pierre, for example. He's French-Canadian and easily the most beloved figure in Mixed Martial Arts, by Americans and every other place that follows the sport.

So, yeah... it's definitely possible. When you look at the success GSP has had in America, and the fact that someone like Rey Mysterio has been able to become so popular with WWE fans, that tells me that anyone can get can become popular in the states, as long as they have the talent to back it up and of course that oh so important "it" factor.

Hell, come to think of it... Andre The Giant is one of the most popular wrestlers of all time, and he's not American. So that's another example I can throw in, since American wrestling fans were MUCH more patriotic during his time than they are now.

But right now, quite honestly... I have doubts whether or not we'll ever see ANYONE in pro wrestling become as big and successful as Hogan and Austin were during their respective primes. However, if it does happen... then I don't think nationality or race will have anything to do with it.

 

[The Raven's Epitaph]

Hmm, this is an interesting thread and I had to think about my answer; but I think I have one.

I don't think it's a case of America being too patrotic to accept somebody into a certain company because of their nationality. All you have to do is look at recent history, there's no need to go back into the 80s and mention people like Andre.

We've seen Chris Jericho, Christian and Bret Hart if you want to count the Canadian's and the fact that Bret Hart is abit more active then he used to be.

We've seen William Regal for many years and he's from England, furthermore we've seen the arrival of Drew McIntyre from Scotland and Sheamus from Ireland. Sheamus is already a success story, I mean really; he's a 2 time WWE Champion and he's moving up to his second year milestone in the WWE, not counting ECW or FCW.

I suppose you could mention how interacted the WWE fans are with the likes of Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio. Both are from different parts of the world and are still loved by many people.

So, I think I've said enough already to be able to say that America can fall in love with a foreign star.

 

[Davi323]

I would dispute Tastycle's assertion that they focused on Dwayne Johnson's football past more than his Samoan heritage, but it really is irrelevant, since Dwayne Johnson is American born anyway, so wouldn't count towards this thread, regardless of his heritage.

But anyways, yes, I think a foreign born wrestler can become a megastar. Canadian born Rowdy Roddy Piper is a legitimate wrestling icon, one of the greatest heels of all time...and the star of John Carpenter's greatest film, They Live, where he coined the single most badass, always copied phrase regarding kicking ass and chewing bubblegum. That alone makes him a megastar.

Barring that though, Andre the Giant is still probably the single most recognizable wrestling figure of all time globally, and if not, it would be a very close second to Hulk Hogan. He was French, and was absolutely adored by Americans.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if in ten years, Sheamus is an absolutely HUGE wrestling star. Sure he is a two time WWE champ already, but is he a megastar? Not yet, at least if I understand how Tasty is defining the word, as someone who transcends just being a wrestler, and becomes a true household name even among homes that don't watch...

 

[Rayne]

I'll bet you he can become a top-tier superstar, but not as a foreign wrestler.

I don't mean that a wrestler would have to go through the citizenship boondoggle to make it to that highest level. From its earliest days, wrestling has used race in its promotion. Bruce Sammartino was used (very successfully) to get Italian-Americans behind professional wrestling. Rey Mysterio is used, very blatantly, to get the Hispanic numbers up. (When the race numbers started dropping for Smackdown after his brief trade to RAW a year or two ago, he went back to Smackdown so fast he fell over dizzy.) Racial stereotypes are a part of the game; the evil version of Nikita Koloff (and later as a face when relations improved) to the Iron Sheik; even to a couple of years ago, with Muhammad Hassan. If it wasn't for the X-Pac heat it would get, we'd have someone with a terrorist gimmick today.

This might sound like support of foreign megastars, but these guys were never at the top of the game. (The Iron Sheik won the WWF title, but was used only briefly as a transitional champ.) The biggest stars have always been the ones that connect with the largest part of their audience, and today, that's still the ever-coveted demographic of white males between 18-35. John Cena, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart (Canadian isn't really foreign, they're kind of America Jr.), Kevin Nash during his Diesel run, Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan- the list goes on and on with white, male, North American wrestlers. The Rock, probably the most (ugh, I hate this upcoming word) "ethnic" of the megastar champions of the past several years, had his Samoan heritage added as almost an afterthought; in the WWF, he was almost always "from Miami".

When the demographics change, you'll see the top tier superstars change too. This might sound wacky now, but I think Alberto Del Rio/Dos Caras Jr. has the best shot at being the next 'foreign' breakout world champion. The Hispanic population is on the increase in America, and when Rey Mysterio hangs them up eventually, he's in a great position to be that next Hispanic wrestling idol.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I don't see any reason that a foreign wrestler couldnt become a "megastar" in WWE. Someone like Kofi Kingston or Rey Mysterio are big stars in the company, and with Kingston having so many years left in his career I see no reason why he couldnt break through to main-event level and cement a spot as a top star for a long time.

Of course, WWE could always hire a japanese talent, or bring in guys like Desmond Wolfe or Rob Terry and push them to the moon, so I dont see any reason why this couldnt happen. I dont think Vince is against pushing a foreign talent, if the crowd falls in love with a wrestler, and they can make money for Vince, then they will be made into a star, no matter where they come from

 

[Remy LaCroix]

I'm a bit confused by the thread title. Did you mean for it to be foreign-born instead of non-white in the thread title? This discussion is pretty much coming off as the latter to me.

And I wanna add a little something as well: aren't Canadians, um, not foreign to Americans? Except for French Canadians, Americans probably never think twice about a Canadian since there aren't many "differences" between the two. On an semi-related note, Del Rio has called Christian American twice I believe. Don't know if it's a part of the storyline, I'm just stating what he said.

Anyway, I don't think America is too patriotic to back a foreign-born star. Take a look at Kofi for example: he has the crowd behind him, but is he "foreign" instead of just plain ol' "foreign-born"? To me he seems no different from every other African-American w/o ebonics.
Though I don't know about Rey Rey, since he's the epitome of a fuckin' chicano speaking with that heavy accent of his and ethnic pride (tattoo on his belly) that makes me sick and embarrassed in front of the rest of America. Hahaha, I'm just self-hating now. But I know I'm going somewhere with this!

I don't know where I'm going with this anymore, but they're good footnotes to ponder about in this discussion.

So yeah, like jmt225 said, I don't think nationality or race will have anything to do with a foreign-born becoming a megastar. It's all about how the crowd can react to said person e.g. Kofi.

 

[Ferbian]

It's a hard question to answer really Tasty. Considering the fact that Americans have pretty much always been patriotic in terms of who gets over as a face in professional wrestling. I barely recall any foreign superstar that truly got over to the point where they were mega-stars, with perhaps the exception of Bret Hart, and to some extend Rey Mysterio / Eddie Guerrero (Who were hugely over, but barely mega-stars).

Nationalism and patriotism will always in some extend exist in no matter what sport you watch. It's gonna be hard to get over with a crowd with that natural instinct of wanting their own countrymen to be the better ones, to be the superior ones.

However, I don't see how it could never happen. Considering things change, and because there's definitely always gonna be a chance that someone with the right booking, and the right appeal to the crowd will be able to get over and get over well. Mega-star is a thing that is hard to question whether will be the end result, however I have no doubt with a little bit of extra grind and determination it could happen to pretty much anybody. Booking, appeal and determination to get over, and eventually the potential is there to become a mega star.

Especially considering that, maybe not the Hogan aspect of American hero, but the every man in Austin, is something that could easily be portrayed on an European, or a Canadian etc. It's not hard to portray, and would therefore definitely have the potential to get over as well, considering it worked before, it could hardly be because of a nationality, or accent that causes someone to crash and burn with a gimmick that worked perfectly before.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think it's possible, yeah. The problem is that Vince likes to push nearly every foreigner as a person whose whole gimmick is being an evil foreigner from *insert country here*. No one anymore seems to be a guy that just happens to be from another country. Benoit and Jericho and Edge for example are guys that wrestle and happen to be Canadian. It could work, but the real issue is in the person themselves. Hogan and Austin were larger than life characters and would have been awesome or at least popular no matter what. It could happen, but it would be very difficult.

 

[Hazardous]

I have noticed that people have brought up the names of Mysterio, and Eddie.. Now if you are speaking of people BORN outside of the USA, then neither one of them count. As Rey was born in Cali, and Eddie in Texas. Same goes for a lot of the "Samoan" people, like Umaga.. Also born in Cali. So if you did indeed mean people born outside of the USA, then I believe so yes. Arguably the face of the company after Hogan left, and before the rise of Austin, was Bret Hart. The guy (as a face) was loved all over the world, and was one of, if not the, most popular superstar of that time. Roddy Piper is another name that comes to mind for really popular foreign stars. Although billed as a Scot, he was born and raised in Canada as well (Too bad Rayne, Canada counts as a foreign country). Look at the most popular women's champ of all time, Trish Stratus. There's another one that was not American. The thing is, the majority of them are portrayed as Heels. Sheamus (Irish), Edge(Canadian), Drew (Scottish).. Or as comedy acts. Santino (Canadian), Khali (Indian), Koslov (Russian). Right now the closest thing we have to one, is also Heel, Kane (born in Spain.) Thats the closest thing we have to a Non-US born Mega-Star. Could we see another one in years to come? I think so. Vince wants to have a world-wide fanbase, and pushes stars from all across the globe.

 

[Whatsinaname696]

when the OP says top-tier, in regards to Bret Hart, I can't help but look to what Davi said because aside from not being as big as Hogan and Andre (who was foreign born) where is there to go really?