10 "American Hero" Wrestling Gimmicks Fans Forgot About

If there are two things that American wrestling fans love, it’s America and wrestling. Patriotism takes on quite a theatrical nature in the USA, far more than any other country in the world, as they enjoy cheering for their own and booing foreign performers who dare challenge their country. We've seen this countless times over the years, especially in WWE.

It is a very simple, but effective premise for a pro wrestling character, but an American Hero gimmick works in getting people over more often than not. However, there have been so many of these America-centric pro wrestling characters that many have simply been forgotten about.

10 WCW Patriots

As their name may suggest, The Patriots were indeed fans of their own country (America), whilst also being members of the armed forces/fire department. Todd Champion and Firebreaker Chip (great names!) even held the WCW United States Tag Team Championship at one point during the early 90s.

The multifaceted individuals with a huge love for the USA, unfortunately, did not last very long, as they were in and out of the company within a year. However, they did reappear under various guises over the years mostly as part of different tag teams, none as good as their original patriotic gimmick.

9 Kevin Owens

Not exactly a ‘Hero’ that was meant to be beloved by fans, Kevin Owens became the ‘Face of America’ whilst holding the US Championship on a few separate occasions throughout 2017. It was clearly a mockery of previous patriotic superstars, as Owens is famously a Canadian superstar from Quebec.

It was actually quite an entertaining character development as he feuded with AJ Styles and Chris Jericho for the title. It is somewhat forgetful though considering it came after his first and only world title reign in WWE, and before he reunited with Sami Zayn later on that year.

8 Ultimate Warrior

For the longest time, the enigmatic Ultimate Warrior was billed as being from ‘Parts Unknown’ which makes his sudden bout of American patriotism in early 1991 quite strange. Feuding with Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter did make any wrestler who faced him a patriot by default, which Warrior certainly showed by dressing himself in red, white and blue.

Warrior was also WWE Champion during this period, which made his sudden nationalistic pride even more strange, especially since it led to him dropping the belt to Slaughter at the 1991 Royal Rumble event. He would continue his All-American aesthetic until he left the company later that year.

7 Los Gringos Locos

What did Eddie Guerrero do before he made it as a megastar in North America? He was an American patriot of course. His team, Los Gringos Locos, alongside Art Barr were actually quite an acclaimed team in AAA but are lesser known due to it being something they did away from the mainstream in Mexico.

They essentially became over-the-top America-loving performers, dressing in the colors of the US flag and being generally annoying about it. Eddie and Art would both go on to find more success north of the border, but the original tandem grew to be a faction including Konnan and Black Cat.

6 The Patriot

Bret Hart v The Patriot Raw July 28, 1997 Cropped

One of the strangest pushes of the 90s happened when a newly turned anti-American Bret Hart feuded with a masked wrestler called The Patriot. After a run in All Japan Pro Wrestling, the real-life Del Wilkes was given a big push in 1997 as the patriotic foil to WWE Champion Hart, challenging him for the title at In Your House: Ground Zero.

As his name suggests, he was a defender of the USA, the very country Bret continued to run down on a regular basis throughout the year. Not only did The Patriot’s WWE tenure last all but a few months, but his in-ring career came to an end later that year, so at least he was able to go out on a high.

5 The American Express

Mike Rotunda, best known for his IRS character, had two different tag team acts during the 80s with an American influence. His first one was the US Express alongside Barry Windham, but the team didn’t last long as Windham left the company only a year after it formed.

Following Windham's exit, Rotunda found a new partner in Dan Spivey to form a slightly diluted version of the previous team called the American Express. Despite being named after a credit card the second all-American team was not as memorable as the first, and they frittered away without much notice.

4 Corporal Kirchner

The former real-life US paratrooper became a WWE superstar during the mid-80s, as the company became more engrossed in bringing to life characters with occupations. This doubled up as a patriotic act as Kirschner became a defender of American values in the mid-card for the company.

He is best known for his feud with soviet patriot Nikolai Volkoff, beating him at WrestleMania 2. His WWE career ended up petering out which has been attributed to him being too stiff in the ring leading to other wrestlers not wanting to work with him.

3 Misfits In Action

During the dying days of WCW, a load of wrestlers that had been fired in kayfabe appeared back in the company together with new militaristic titles and silly names. Led first by Booker T as G.I. Bro, he passed on the reigns to General Huge G. Rection as the team became a familiar part of the mid-card.

They ended up being patriotic defenders of the USA in a feud against Team Canada, but it is likely that not many people remember this, even if they watched WCW at the time. They would unsurprisingly disband before WWE took control of the company in early 2001.

2 Lacey Evans

One of the more recent examples of American patriotism in wrestling came when Lacey Evans began appearing in vignettes, highlighting her background as a US soldier. This would coincide with Evans appearing on television beating up a number of women on the roster, despite having the character of an American hero.

It was quite a bizarre narrative dissonance that clearly showed that the company didn’t really have anything for Evans to do. She would later leave the company as it was clear that WWE had moved past the one-time pushed prospect within the women’s division.

1 Sgt. Slaughter

It’s easy to forget that at one point, Sgt. Slaughter was actually an American patriot of the highest degree, considering that he was best known for his role as an Iraqi sympathizer. His heel turn as WWE Champion where he feuded with Hulk Hogan was undoubtedly his most effective, but he had also been a face within the wrestling industry as a supposed US Army drill sergeant turned wrestler for years beforehand.

Slaughter actually had a number of good matches against the likes of The Iron Sheik, Pat Patterson and Bob Backlund during his time as a face. His character was always the best part of his performance as he really did embody the role of an army officer quite well.