Nikita Koloff In The WWF

[The Brain]

From the mid 80s until the death of WCW in 2001 most of the big names in wrestling spent at least a little time in both the NWA/WCW and the WWF. Of course there were exceptions and one of them was Nikita Koloff. The Russian Nightmare never competed for the WWF. Rumor has it though that he was approached by Vince McMahon in 1985 and offered a deal that could have led to a main event program with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 2. I assume the idea was to capitalize on the plot of Rocky IV where a ruthless Russian fighting machine was Rocky’s greatest threat. Koloff elected to stay with the NWA and never did make the jump up north. What if he had?

Could you picture Koloff vs. Hogan as a mania main event? Would it have made WM2 better than it was? Hogan had already defeated one Russian in Nikolai Volkoff. Would Koloff have been looked at as a recycled gimmick and feud? I think Koloff would have been more of a physical threat to Hogan but the fans would have probably looked at is as Hogan vs. another Russian. Been there done that. I don’t mean to sound so shortsighted as to suggest there can only be one Russian wrestler in the company. After all it’s a big country so it’s plausible that more than one man could have immigrated to try to succeed in the WWF. However in the gimmicky world that is pro wrestling something as simple as two foreigners coming from the same country would automatically link two individuals. Let’s say Koloff did get the match with Hogan at WM2. Assuming he would have lost what would have become of him after? Could Koloff have remained in the main event of upper mid card on his own or would he have been destined to become Volkoff’s partner in the Bolsheviks?

 

[thebarber]

EXACTLY, nIKITA kOLOFF, WHO ISNT RUSSIAN, HE IS AMERICAN, would have bombed. Nikolai Vulkoff was quite over in them days, and Koloff knew this. Nikita would have ended up a nobody like Boris Zhukoff. He could be a main eventer in NWA where guys who could actually wreslte were respected. Magnum TA on the opther hand, if not for the injury that ended his craeer could well have been another Hulk Hogan, certainly Ted Turners version in the late 80s

 

[EricJ]

Nikolai Volkoff wasn't Russian, either. He was from Baltimore! But I actually think that bringing Nikita Koloff to the WWF would have been a great idea. He was a much better wrestler than Nikolai and a better athlete overall. Of course, the only way it would have worked would be to bring him in at at the peak of the Cold War for a program with Hogan.

Volkoff wasn't exactly an imposing figure. They could have brought Koloff in as a monster who squashed opponents left and right. Nikolai could have been his bitch. Bring in other "Russian" wrestlers from other territories and have sort of a Russian Invasion of the WWF. I think it would have worked extremely well and could have a long buildup to a Hogan vs. Koloff Wrestlemania Match.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

I heard a story (and this does not mean the story is true or false, just a story) that Koloff was approached by Vince to come up to New York and he turned it down. If this were true, I think that Koloff would have failed. The reason being is that most of the guys who were at best upper mid-card stars in the NWA who went over to the WWF didn't do well because Vince really didn't have a detailed interest in them other than stealing them from Turner and the Crocketts. Nikita would have fallen under the same rule of thumb.

I think Dusty embedded loyalty in Koloff (even though eventually he'd leave too). But on a business level, I think it made sense for Nikita to stay in the NWA. He was always one of the top 3 faces (Dusty and the Road Warriors being another, and then when Sting came along he became one of the top 4 or 5), he usually always had a belt, be it the United States or the Television title, and he main evented several big shows (Starrcade 86, The Bash of 87 in the War Games, etc etc). He wouldn't have had that kind of push or exposure in the WWF. He'd been given the Ronnie Garvin/Sheepherders/Akeem the African Dream/Terry Taylor etc etc treatment. Look at when he went to the AWA, he bombed but when he came back to the NWA, even though it was short lived, he had 2 good feuds with Lex Luger and Sting and a few good matches with Vader for the World Title. WWF doesn't always = greener grass.

 

[EricJ]

Yeah, that's the other side of the coin. Vince didn't really give proper treatment to guys coming over from the NWA. They turned Dusty into a polka-dotted fool, called Arn and Tully the "Brainbusters," teamed the Road Warriors up with a puppet, made Rotunda an IRS agent. So, as much as Koloff could have been put into a great program, they probably would have stuck him a stupid gimmick (Nikita: Half Man, Half Cheetah).

 

[Davi323]

I would have loved it. Nikita Koloff is one of my all time favorite NWA wrestlers from the 80s. I think even given a Wrestlemania loss to Hogan, Koloff would have enjoyed a reasonable amount of success at the minimum, possibly a main eventer. This guy had talent, he had the size, he had the attitude.

I don't think it would have been as simple as the WWF having two Russians...they would eventually do that anyway by teaming Nikolai with Boris Zhukov to be the Bolsheviks. I think in the long run, Nikita Koloff would have ended up being a face, similar to his face turn in the NWA. I think just like the NWA did, Vince would have capitalized on the spirit of glasnost and all that. I think if any of the "Russian" wrestlers in the WWF could have been quickly turned face, it would have been Nikita. You couldn't do it with Nikolai. Nikita was so impressive you just wanted to like him, evil Russian or not.

Thank you for this topic, Brain. Nikita Koloff has been one of the most forgotten about wrestlers from the 80s, I am happy to know that I am not the only one who remembers.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

I think Nikita would have been huge at the beginning but would have got lost in the shuffle after that. A feud with Hogan would have been huge because Nikita was impressive enough and had the look to be able to hang with Hogan. But after Hogan what happens next? Savage maybe but after that it bottoms out.

I think certain wrestlers are built for certain feds. Nikita is one of them. It's not meant as a slight either.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

In 1985 I don't think Koloff works in the WWF... at least in a program with Hogan.

1985 Nikita Koloff was green as hell, and while he handled the monster gimmick very well, it was guys like Flair, Rhodes and Magnum TA, along with 'Uncle' Ivan and Krusher Kruschev that were able to hide his inexperience and make him look as strong as he did.

Hogan was never a guy that could make a green wrestler look good. It just wasn't a skill of his. All the monsters he fought when he was champ were vets who had spent years honing their gimmicks.

By 1987 Kolofff was more than ready to handle a program with Hogan, but by then the political landscape had changed and a program between an American hero and a Russian super monster just didn't have the same appeal... not to mention that Koloff had his face turn by then and didn't have the same menace he originally had.

If Koloff was more seasoned in 1985 though? That would have been an amazing program, because he had the perfect character. You also would have seen a guy like Volkoff quietly released too, since they wouldn't have wanted to have a secondary guy with a similar gimmick, and Volkoff, while over as the Russian heel, was far past his prime at that point (maybe they would have repackaged him and put him under a hood, but that's the best I can see).

Or if they could have gotten Ivan too, he could have done a lot to help cover for Nikita's inexperience in 85. It could have added to the program too with Ivan being a former WWWF champ, although in 1985, McMahon didn't like to acknowledge that wrestling even existed before then, so they would have likely treated Ivan like any other 50 year old rookie.

No, the timing was off unfortunately. If they started him with a Steamboat or Santana and built him properly, then maybe, but considering the gimmick he would have likely started with Cpl. Kirshner, which would have failed horribly.