History Main / ForeignWrestlingHeel

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[[caption-width-right:205:Indeed!]]

* Often subverted in the Pro Wrestling themed anime ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'', where many characters start out as Foreign Wrestling Heels, but later become allies of the title character. Strangely, they even had a few Japanese Foreign Wrestling Heels (since, while the series is made in Japan, the protagonist is a space alien), with Rikishiman, who wasn't evil so much as arrogant & later became a good guy & also The Ninja. Also subverted in that they have characters from numerous different nations whose gimmick has little if anything to do with their background, like Stecasse King, a living tape recorder who happens to be Belgian.

* Wrestling/VladimirKozlov's was pretty much the bad guy because he was a native of the Soviet Union (born in Ukraine billed as Russian) even though he came to WWE long after the Soviet Union had dissolved.
* As was Wrestling/NikolaiVolkoff, a Russian heel until he teamed with with the Iron Sheik, then he was also a heel for his atrocious singing (always of the Soviet National Anthem). When paired with the Iranian Iron Sheik, the two formed arguably the most hated duo in the WWF, if not all of professional wrestling, particularly for their anti-American promos. (Surprisingly, two avowed Americans -- [[Wrestling/FreddieBlassie "Classy" Freddie Blassie]] and Slick -- went right along with their promos.)

* Colonel Ninotchka was yet another in the line of evil soviets whose face turn was brought on by moving to France, which apparently wasn't as evil a place to be proud of in the eyes of the audience.
* Parodied in Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} by [=MosCow=], The Communist Bovine.
* Evil Russian Alex Koslov works well enough in places like AAA, but was unexpectedly popular in ROH. When he demanded everyone to stand for the Russian National Anthem at ''NJPW Power Struggle 2012'' the crowd complied and despite singing horribly they clapped!

** Arthie Premkumar (Indian) plays Beirut the Mad Bomber (Lebanese).

* Played straight with Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}'s rudo (bad guy) stable, Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (BDK), a group of malcontents and traitors, led by Swiss wrestlers Ares and Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli. They come out to Music/{{Rammstein}}'s "Engel," and are introduced by their own personal ring announcer, Jakob Hammermeier, in German.

** The Mountie (Jacques Rougeau), who later teamed with Carl "Pierre" Ouelette as The Quebecers, and even had a theme song that spoofed The Mountie's, played the Foreign Wrestling Heel for laughs.

* Ring Of Honor has Prince Nana, an evil Ashanti prince from Ghana, [[LondonEnglandSyndrome west Africa]] (he was born in the United States but moved to Ghana as a child).

** [[FridgeBrilliance Which is pretty well fitting too,]] considering the whole thing was a send-up of Pro Wrestling, with 'Fire Nation Man' being a send-up of the Foreign Wrestling Heel stock character, right down to him being not of the nationality he plays.

* In the wrestling chapter of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' one of your opponents was a Creator/HulkHogan knockoff named Max Morgan.

** In the old days where pro wrestling was a legit sport, the first Japanese wrestling heel before Wrestling/{{Rikidozan}} was a man born Koujiro Matsuda, known in sumo as Torakichi and known to the American wrestling world as Sorakichi Matsuda after a corruption of his first name and sumo name. Probably the UrExample of ForeignWrestlingHeel in America.

** Big Bartholomew in the first season isn't one, as he says he will wrestle for "[[AllAmericanFace America]], and all the southern countries". However, he's [[CastingGag played by]] Wrestling/{{Rusev}}, who in the WWE is a ForeignWrestlingHeel, and who [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent makes no effort]] to hide his Bulgarian accent. And his opponent is also American.

** Wrestling/MuhammadHassan, an Evil Arab--excuse me, Evil Arab-''American''--who appeared in 2004-2005 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks (ethnically Italian and Jordanian). Despite completely averting this trope, people accuse him and Daivari of playing a Foreign Wrestling Heel. His gimmick was so controversial that he was fired after the July 2005 terrorist bombings in London. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Rumor has it Hassan was booked to win the World Heavyweight Championship before this happened.]] Then they turn around praise TNA's treatment of Sheik Abdul Bashir (aka Hassan's manager Daivari) even though he played the pretty much the exact same character that he did in WWE, only speaking more English. Then again, it was never the fans that were responsible for Hassan's firing; between his [[InterruptingMeme memetic value]] and the fact that he was one of the WWE's best heels at the time, fans loved to hate him.

** British wrestlers, on the other hand, have had mixed success maintaining heel status. The British Bulldogs (singles or doubles) were always brought back as faces. Wrestling/WilliamRegal has been a heel for most of his career (though he did have a brief face turn when he gained "special" wrestler Eugene as a tag-team partner and MoralityPet), as well as Fit Finlay. Finlay was intended to be pure heel, but ended up having his share of face turns because the no-nonsense gimmick of an [[FightingIrish Irishman who "loves to fight"]] appealed to fans...and then the WWE teamed him up with a leprechaun. Really. [[Wrestling/ChrisAdams "Gentleman" Chris Adams]] started as a face and then took a long turn as a heel. The British Invastion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams) had a long heel run in Wrestling/{{TNA}}'s tag division; after the breakup, both wrestlers have gone from heel to face.

** Wrestling/{{TNA}} had their own Team Canada, though it included nobody who had been in either the Wrestling/{{FMW}} or the Wrestling/{{WCW}} groups with the same name.
* Wrestling/{{TNA}} stable World Elite was a gang of Foreign Wrestling Heels from all over the world who had come together as a global community to all hate America together.

* Christie Ricci was an evil [=USAmerican=] in Mexico, declaring war on "[[{{Malapropism}} all]] [[Wrestling/VinceRusso Lucha Libres]]", whom she viewed as being resentful of her success. However it was somewhat subverted as she was warmly accepted by fans of the Monterrey enterprise LLF.

During the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, many (perhaps most) Foreign Wrestling Heels were UsefulNotes/{{Soviet|RussiaUkraineAndSoOn}}s, and spoke proudly of Communism and GloriousMotherRussia. It was difficult to find a wrestling promotion that ''didn't'' have an Evil Russian or three kicking around. Perhaps the best known of these was Wrestling/NikitaKoloff, and he also became the biggest subversion of the trope; when his arch-nemesis, Magnum T. A., [[WrittenInInfirmity suffered a career-ending injury in a car accident]], Nikita decided Magnum was a WorthyOpponent, gained a new found respect for him, and all Americans by extension, and dedicated the remainder of his wrestling career to his fallen foe; he thus became the first Russian {{face}} and did so without renouncing Communism or the Soviet Union.

*** The Bushwhackers were Wrestling/TheSheepherders turned face. And they were from New Zealand.

* The ''Film/IpMan'' series has these as its villains.
** The first has Ip Man, the Chinese lead, fighting a match against a NobleDemon Japanese general during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
** The second film takes place in colonial Hong Kong and has Ip Man fighting an AxCrazy boxer sponsored by the British government.
** The third film brings in another boxer, this one American, played by Mike Tyson.

If a Foreign Wrestling Heel is particularly hated by the crowd, listen for them to chant of "USA! USA! USA!", even if his opponents that evening aren't Americans. If a Foreign Wrestling Heel's [[WorthyOpponent one and only heelish trait]] is his foreignness and non-American patriotism, [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales he may end up popular in the nation he supposedly hails from]], and even get temporarily treated as a face if his promotion does a show in his alleged home country.

If a Foreign Wrestling Heel is particularly hated by the crowd, listen for them to chant of "USA! USA! USA!", even if his opponents that evening aren't Americans. If a Foreign Wrestling Heel's one and only heelish trait is his foreignness and non-American patriotism, [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales he may end up popular in the nation he supposedly hails from]], and even get temporarily treated as a face if his promotion does a show in his alleged home country.

** Judging from his accent, the Foreigner hails from the far-off land of ''New Jersey'', as it happens.

** There was also Wrestling/{{GLOW}}'s Palestina, a sword(!?) wielding [[ShapedLikeItself Palestinian]](they speak Arabic) terrorist who would try to cut people when she got frustrated during matches.

* ''Series/GLOW2017'': Ruth Wilder's wrestling persona is "Zoya the Destroya", who "eats stars and stripes for breakfast".

** Claudio Castagnoli got signed by WWE and became Antonio Cesaro, an evil rugby-playing polyglot from Switzerland who really doesn't like Americans. Until he was made part of a Tea Party piss-take known as the "Real Americans." While the announcers ''still'' played up his Swiss heritage (This was a bit of a retread to the "Real American Heroes" Wrestling/KarlAnderson and Wrestling/JoeyRyan vs "Los Luchas" feud in the NWA).

If a Foreign Wrestling Heel is particularly hated by the crowd, listen for them to chant of "USA! USA! USA!", even if his opponents that evening aren't Americans. If a Foreign Wrestling Heel's one and only heelish trait is his foreignness and non-American patriotism, [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales he may end up popular in the nation he supposedly hails from]], and even get treated as a face if his promotion does a show in his alleged home country.

If a Foreign Wrestling Heel is particularly hated by the crowd, listen for them to chant of "USA! USA! USA!", even if his opponents that evening aren't Americans. A Foreign Wrestling Heel [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales may end up popular in the nation he hails from]] if his only negative trait is to praise said location.

* Independent New England-based promotion [[WAWWrestling WAW Wrestling]] loves to use evil foreign wrestlers. Some notable examples include Grimm (a violent gimp from Munich, Germany), Stellina Cardinale (billed from Sicily), and Morgan Kennedy Kilmarnock (from Windsor, Ontario, Canada).

* Huo Yuanjia (played by JetLi) fights several of these in ''Film/{{Fearless 2006}}''. In the intro scene, he fights three Westerners who are all {{Sore Loser}}s. In a flashback, he fights an American wrestler who starts out as just another Foreign Wrestling Heel but has a change of heart after Huo saves his life. True to this trope, the "[[FakeAmerican American]]" was actually an Australian.

During the Cold War, many (perhaps most) Foreign Wrestling Heels were Soviets, and spoke proudly of Communism and GloriousMotherRussia. It was difficult to find a wrestling promotion that ''didn't'' have an Evil Russian or three kicking around. Perhaps the best known of these was Wrestling/NikitaKoloff, and he also became the biggest subversion of the trope; when his arch-nemesis, Magnum T. A., [[WrittenInInfirmity suffered a career-ending injury in a car accident]], Nikita decided Magnum was a WorthyOpponent, gained a new found respect for him, and all Americans by extension, and dedicated the remainder of his wrestling career to his fallen foe; he thus became the first Russian {{face}} and did so without renouncing Communism or the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]].

During the Cold War, many (perhaps most) Foreign Wrestling Heels were Soviets, and spoke proudly of Communism and GloriousMotherRussia. It was difficult to find a wrestling promotion that ''didn't'' have an Evil Russian or three kicking around. Perhaps the best known of these was Wrestling/NikitaKoloff, and he also became the biggest subversion of the trope; when his arch-nemesis, Magnum T. A., [[WrittenInInfirmity suffered a career-ending injury in a car accident]], Nikita decided Magnum was a WorthyOpponent, gained a new found respect for him, and all Americans by extension, and dedicated the remainder of his wrestling career to his fallen foe; he thus became the first Russian {{face}} and did so without renouncing Communism or the UsefulNotes/{{Soviet |RussiaUkraineAndSoOn}}Union.