Small Reference Pools / Pro Wrestling

• Apparently, only about a dozen pro wrestlers have ever existed.
  • El Santo (and even then people outside of Mexico might not know him by name or profession so much as know merchandise)
  • Hulk Hogan
  • André the Giant
  • Ric Flair
  • Randy Savage
  • Ultimate Warrior
  • The Undertaker
  • "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
  • Mick Foley
  • Dwayne Johnson (better known during his wrestling days as The Rock, and now even better known for his acting career)
  • Chris Benoit (who is famous to the greater public solely for murdering his family and subsequently committing suicide)
  • John Cena (also becoming known for his acting career^note He's also known for his work with kids, particularly with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, so he shows up all over the place in PSA's and fundraising efforts)
  • Chris Jericho (also known as a singer, and briefly a TV host)
  • Maybe a couple of wrestlers who had brief brushes with mainstream fame, like Fandango (and that was only because his instrumental theme tune became a Memetic Mutation that spread well outside of the wrestling fanbase), Darren Young (famous only for being one of the earliest pro wrestlers to come out as gay, and the first to do so while signed to WWE) and Diamond Dallas Page (known to non-wrestling fans only for his DDPYoga fitness program, which has produced a few viral transformation videos and gotten Page an appearance on Shark Tank).
  • Maybe a few wrestlers who spent some time in UFC before or after their time as a wrestler, such as Brock Lesnar, CM Punk and Ronda Rousey. That being said, while Lesnar and Punk are primarily known as wrestlers, Rousey is still most famous for being an MMA fighter (in all three cases, the field specified is where they started their careers).
  • (maybe) Randy Orton (whose RKO finishing move has become memetic even outside the wrestling fanbase)
  • (maybe) Sting
  • (maybe) Goldberg
  • (maybe) Dave Bautista (though he may be better known as Drax)
  • (maybe) Kevin Nash (like Batista and The Rock, he's appeared in many movies, perhaps most notably Magic Mike).
  • (maybe) Jon Moxley (who's also appeared in a few movies). Edge and The Miz have also had minor acting careers.
  • (maybe) Roman Reigns, though the first reaction might be "When did Jason Momoa start working for WWE?" This despite Reigns being WWE champion for the past three and a half years and being their top guy for nearly the last decade.
  • (maybe) Scott Steiner just for Steiner Math and "He's FAT!"
  • If people outside of the wrestling fanbase know who Bryan Danielson (aka Daniel Bryan) is, it's solely for being the guy who shouted "YES!" all the time.
• Hogan is always imagined wearing red and yellow, the black-and-white nWo period notwithstanding. Younger viewers will always think of Undertaker as a longcoated zombie, not a biker, a medieval torturer, or a cult leader. Punk's years in TNA are almost completely unknown to the public.
• The only female professional wrestler you can count on most people knowing about is probably Chyna. Or maybe in more recent times Becky Lynch or Sasha Banks. Maybe Charlotte Flair, though more because of her dad. Assuming they're aware that women's wrestling exists at all. In The '80s the name would have been The Fabulous Moolah, known at least because her persona was part of Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling on Saturday mornings. Quite a few people remember Miss Elizabeth, but she wasn't a wrestler, just a valet.
• The only wrestling moves you can expect a non-wrestling fan to have heard of are the full nelson, the sleeper hold, the headlock, the suplex and the body slam (of which there are many, many variations), which is commonly mistaken for the splash. Some may know of the moves, but can't talk about them without resorting to Buffy Speak. Two examples: "that move where the guy puts the other guy on his shoulders and spins around" (the Airplane Spin) and "that move where the guy wrings the other guy's neck so the other guy somersaults into a sitting position" (the Snapmare).
• The only wrestling pay-per-view event you can expect everyone to have heard of is WrestleMania - understandable, since it was the very first one to receive mainstream media attention (1985-present). The Royal Rumble might also be mentioned - might - since it is so epic in scope and always has WrestleMania implications. All but the most diehard WCW fans might have trouble remembering anything except Starrcade.
• WWE is most likely the only pro wrestling company that casual fans and non-fans have heard of. Crossing over with Public Medium Ignorance it's also the only wrestling company that exists in the eyes of the American mainstream news media. People born before 1996 might remember WCW, though it went out of business and was purchased by WWE (then WWF) in 2001. Justified, as WWE is the only mainstream American promotion that still exists (and does everything in their power to enforce this trope), though All Elite Wrestling is starting to catch up.
• The only well-known modern day luchador in the mainstream outside of Mexico is Rey Mysterio. Hardcore fans may be familiar with the likes of La Parka, Místico, and Psicosis, and several others are well known only in Mexico itself, like Joe Líder and Charly Manson, but thanks to his success in WWE, Mysterio's the only one everyone knows.
• The one and only Japanese pro wrestler known to the general American public is Antonio Inoki, and that's only because of his fight with Muhammad Ali in 1976.
• NWA National Champion (USA) and Bahamas Champion Chance Prophet is frequently compared to and sometimes accused of ripping off The Joker despite his noticeably different, much more subdued sense of humor, his understated promos and his face paint more closely resembling Baron Samedi, who has existed long before The Joker. This got worse when the 2019 movie decided to give The Joker a sympathetic Backstory, even though Chance Prophet had one of those first.
• AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley also gets compared to The Joker, especially so while he was in CZW, even though Moxley has a diagnosed mental illness while Joker possesses a "super sanity" (he knows Status Quo Is God so if he if he ever really does something of "consequence" it will quickly be undone. In other words he's a piece of shit unjustly avoiding execution with the insanity defense). This one also isn't helped by the 2019 movie deciding to diagnose The Joker with a mental illness.
• Mainstream knowledge of Donald Trump's stint in WWE was minimal before he launched his campaign for U.S. President. Subsequently this has led to wider awareness of Bobby Lashley and Umaga, both of whom were involved in the "Battle of the Billionaires" angle with Trump and Vince McMahon.
• During Allysin Kay's match with Seleziya Sparx at A1 Matrats, she did her trademark curtsy, and some people in the audience shouted, "Triple H," referring to the formal bow he would do during his original elitist Blue Blood snob gimmick as Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

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