Missed oppurtunities: Soviet world champion

[Tastycles]

Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, the Cold War allowed for a number of wrestlers to get over with evil Soviet personas. That being said, only one of them became world champion, and that was for 3 weeks. My question is, do you think that one of them, probably Nikita koloff in NWA should have been given a longer and more decent reign.

By the 1980s, hatred against the Soviet Union was still high, but it had also become ok to have heel world champions. If you look at the way that the crowd reacted to Slaughter when he was an Iraqi sympathiser, you can probably treble or quadruple that. I think that if they pushed somebody like Sting to take the title off the Russian, whoever it was, then it would have instantly made them the biggest heel in the company. So what do you think, Soviet champion: well avoided or missed oppurtunity?

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

As good as Nikita Koloff was and how much he was pushed in the NWA, it was best to keep the belt on Flair during this time. Basically, the Cold War was a real thing and to have a Soviet character win the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title, which was as prestigious as the WWF title back then, would have done some damage to the fans support of the belt. The Soviets were looked down upon and the thing is, Sgt. Slaughter was only a sympathizer of the Iraqi's, not an actual one. Nikita Koloff was billed as a legit Russian. If you have a Russian cleanly beat an American back then, it wouldn't be as good for business.

The appeal of having the American chasing the Russian would make for good TV, but would be a huge risk for the promoters to portray Russia being stronger than America in ANY shape, form or fashion. Good observation, Tasty. But it wasn't that much of a missed opportunity.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Even after Koloff became a face after winning the U.S. championship, I could just never see the guy as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He was pretty good, but I don't think he was ever "world champion" good. To be honest, I always thought it was better heat to have a Russian hold a U.S. singles or tag title as a heel. The fact that the title is something of a representative of the United States in the eyes of fans, and having a Russian wrestler hold such a title, just seemed to ignite the ire of a lotta fans.

Back in the 1980s, outright prejudice was pretty prominent in wrestling. This was very much during the "We're the United States of America. We're #1 and anybody that says otherwise'll get the shit kicked out of them" days. Wrestlers that were portrayed as being from countries that the United States had been at war against like Japan and Germany were booed a lot during the 80s for their anti-American actions in the ring. In those days, things could be done and said that you couldn't get away with today. Gorilla Monsoon used to say stuff like "Oh!!! He just got Pearl Harbored!!" and could get away with it in circa 1987. Today, it'd cause something of a firestorm.

After Nikita Koloff turned face, fans saw it as the Communist Russian embracing the ideals of American Democracy and all that. Would they have minded him winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship? Probably not. After all, by 1987 Koloff was firm friends with the likes of the Road Warriors and Dusty Rhodes. While allied with them, I think the fans wouldn't have had a problem with it.

 

[XgringolocoX]

There was no reason to make them champ. The tickets were sold on the threat these guys posed to the Good Ol' American boys everyone loved at the time. Also a big part of the cold war was the "my way of life is FAR superior than yours". To have a Russian World Champ meant that the American way of life was flawed. A lot of Russians, living here of course, still have this "russian everything is FAR superior den your american sht" attitude. I think it's because they moved here to be able to live a decent life, but I digress. Back on topic the cold war was a personal issue to begin with the public as well. A successful Russian invasion would have caused riots....for real. I truely believe the crowds would have torn to pieces which ever poor bastard was out there at that moment. Deaths are bad for business.
So it's Rah Rah, the red, the white, the fucking blue and here's 50 stars being jammed up your ass. HOO RAH USA!!!!!!!!

 

[Dre Guevara]

I think it would've worked, however, it should've been done the same way the WWF @ the time put the belt on the Iron Shiek & made him a transitional champion, just think Magnum & Nikita were already tearing the house down with their matches, but with Nikita as champion, that would've elevated their fued, but we all know how that turned out.

 

[klunderbunker]

Well Nikita almost made the jump to the WWF in 85-86. Vince "promised" him a big run with Hogan and the main event of Mania 2. Vince had penciled that in but people told Nikita that Vince likely would have just fed him to Hogan and then stuck him in the midcard at the level of Beefcake or someone like that. Nikita agreed with what he was told and stayed in the NWA, which is why the Bundy feud came off as so rushed. It was more or less option B.

As for a Soviet Champion, definitely in the WWF did they miss teh boat on that one. The Soviets were a big deal in the NWA and while Ivan beat Sammartino for the WWWF title, there never was the Soviet champion for Hogan to challenge as the Real American. The biggest threat he had in that area when he was champion was Volkoff and no one would have bought that. One of the main issues was that Hogan never actually lost to any foreigner. that's all fine and good, but if they wanted real heat, have the heel cheat to win and then have Hogan chase the title all over the country. Can you imagine Hogan winning the title for America in a real patriotic city like Philadelphia or New York? That would have been greatness.

 

[InterestingDrug]

Nikita could have been champion at some point. Remember his career was cut short due to neck injuries and his wife's sickness/death. I think if these terrible things didnt occur, he would have had a long career into the late 90s. At some point, he could have been world champion. Imagine the angle with him winning the world title shortly after the Berlin Wall fell? It could have been a big deal for WCW at the time, but sadly we'll never know.

Ivan Koloff was a world champion. We should never forget that. He's the only Soviet world champion there ever was. So the angle did occur, just probably not at the right time in world history.

Volkoff and Zukoff were never legit threats to anything. Good baddies for Hogan, Slaughter and Hacksaw to get easy pops from, but they were never going anywhere in any organization.