10 Greatest WWE Wrestlers That Never Had A Nickname

Wrestlers that choose to use a nickname or perform under a pseudonym during their careers is nothing new, and really quite common in the world of sports entertainment. Casual wrestling fans undoubtedly know the name Hulk Hogan, but many may not be aware that his given name is Terry Bollea. "Macho Man" Randy Savage... Randall Poffo. Even wrestlers that use their real names often add something to it to spice it up. Bret Hart added "The Hitman" to his ring name and of course who could forget "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. Some even take their own given names and create their wrestling name from it. Bryan Lloyd Danielson is better known by his legions of fans as Daniel Bryan.

The pool of wrestlers that go by their given name and only their given name as they walk to the ring is much smaller in comparison to those that don't. Fortunately, doing so is not a roadblock to a long and prosperous career in the "squared circle". Some of the all-time greats are called by the same name by the thousands of chanting fans as they compete as they are when they spend time with friends and family.

10 Bruno Sammartino

For over 4,000 days during his wrestling career, Bruno Sammartino held the WWE Championship. His first reign, the single longest in history, was 2,803 days and took place during 1963-1971. To put into perspective the staggering length of this title reign, the people of the U.S. witnessed many major and life-changing events.

These included John F. Kennedy's assassination, the birth of "Beatlemania" with The Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Watts Riots, the debut of Star Trek, the first Super Bowl, Martin Luther King, Jr's assassination, the first moon landing, Woodstock, the debut of Sesame Street and the first Earth Day. In an era of uncertainty, one thing remained certain... Bruno Sammartino entered and exited the ring with the WWE Championship.

9 Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar has arguably the most impressive sports and sports entertainment resumes in history. After winning an NJCAA heavyweight wrestling championship at Bismarck State, Lesnar was also able to add an NCAA heavyweight wrestling championship at the University of Minnesota.

Quickly making the transition to professional wrestling, Brock's accent to the top of the WWE did not take much time. After a quick stop developing in the Ohio Valley Wrestling organization, Lesnar made his WWE television debut and won his first WWE Championship in the same calendar year (2002) and has since added four more title reigns. He even gave a professional football career a shot (playing preseason games for the Minnesota Vikings) and reached the mountaintop of the MMA world when he won the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Not too bad for a guy from the small town of Webster, South Dakota.

8 Randy Orton

Born into one of the most famous and successful wrestling families in history, Randy Orton has sports entertainment running in his blood. Not even an almost 40-day stint in the brig that ended his time with the U.S. Marines could sidetrack the journey to where this wrestler belongs, the ring.

Since signing with the WWE in 2001, Orton's professional wrestling career has far exceeded those of all of his family members before him. Randy is only the eighteenth "WWE Grand Slam" winner in promotion history, and at age 39, he seems poised to add more titles, successes and main events to his already astounding legacy before calling it a career.

7 Kurt Angle

It's true... It's true... Kurt Angle is one of the greatest professional and amateur wrestlers in history and celebrated perhaps the greatest "rookie" year in WWE history. It's true... It's true... Kurt Angle has won a Pennslyvania State Wrestling Championship, an NCAA Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, a World Wrestling Heavyweight Championship Gold Medal and an Olympic Heavyweight Wrestling Gold Medal.

Kurt Angle is the first professional wrestler to win the World Wrestling, WWE, WCW, IWGP and TNA Championships. Spending time as both a face and heel during his illustrious career, many wrestlers have remarked just how quickly he picked up the business in and out of the ring. Kurt Angle is certainly an undisputed legend.

6 Shelton Benjamin

This sensational athlete was a junior college champion in both the 100-meter dash and wrestling and spent a short stint at North Carolina State on a football scholarship before heading to the University of Minnesota to continue his pursuit of amateur wrestling. His pure athleticism was made for professional wrestling, and it did not take long for Benjamin to find his way to the WWE.

He has held the WWE Intercontinental Championship on three occasions, defeating wrestling legends Chris Jericho, Ric Flair and Rob Van Dam to become the titleholder. Sprinkle in two reigns as part of the WWE Tag Team Champions and the WWE United States Championship, Shelton Benjamin has an impressive resume that stands up with many of the bests of all-time.

5 Bob Backlund

Bob Backlund is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame and has held the WWE Championship for well over 2,000 days during separate title reigns that took place during three different decades. Currently sitting in third place for total days holding the WWE Championship, his total is greater than well-known superstars like John Cena, Bret Hart, Randy Savage and even Brock Lesner.

Forgotten by many fans due to the timing of his career, a large portion of his success superseded Vince McMahon's transformation of the WWE into a worldwide known promotion. Despite this, Backlund was one of the best-known faces of the 70s and 80s and had many historic feuds with other great wrestlers of the era.

4 Bill Goldberg

Bill Goldberg took the world of professional wrestling by storm when he began his career with WCW in 1997. Mowing over opponent after opponent with only a few minutes of work, Goldberg was able to run his record to an astounding (and inflated) 173-0 and add the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (in less than a year no less).

Already an established superstar, Goldberg first signed with WWE in 2003 and has engaged in rivalries with Triple H, The Rock, Chris Jericho and Brock Lesner during his multiple runs within the company. He was also able to add a WWE World Heavyweight Championship and a WWE Universal Championship to his already impressive professional wrestling resume and was inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018.

3 Mark Henry

This legit strongman has an impressive resume inside and outside of professional wrestling, to say the least. Mark Henry is a current world and American record holder in weightlifting, has won strongman competitions, has been a representative on two U.S. Olympic Teams and is a WWE Hall of Famer.

Forgoing an opportunity to reach his full potential in the sport of weightlifting (he is said to have been able to bench press 600 lbs.) to focus on and continue his professional wrestling career, Mark Henry was able to bring home multiple titles throughout his time with the WWE as he won the European Championship, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and the ECW Championship.

2 Jeff Jarrett

Jeff Jarrett's career in professional wrestling has been a unique one. He has bounced from promotion to promotion during his career that has spanned four different decades. That type of movement is not typical of top talent like Jarrett, but it has led to an astonishing 80+ title reigns.

Within the WWE, Jeff has enjoyed six WWE Intercontinental Championship reigns, a WWE European Championship and even a reign as part of WWE Tag Team Champions.

1 Ken Patera

When the wrestling fans of today think of the "world's strongest man", Mark Henry most likely would come to mind. Henry was not the first strongman to become a wrestler and the fans of the 1970s would quickly recollect their era's own strongman, Ken Patera.

Placing 3rd in the 1977 World's Strongest Man Competition, Patera represented the United States as the country's premier weightlifter in the 1972 Summer Olympics and was expected to be in the mix for a medal. Although this did not come to fruition, Patera was a consistent challenger for the WWE Championship after the conclusion of this weightlifting career.

NEXT: Every WWE Match Dave Meltzer Gave 5 Stars, Ranked