A List of Wrestlers Who You Probably Didn't Know Appeared For WWE

A List of Wrestlers Who You Probably Didn't Know Appeared For WWE
July 26, 2020 
By Ryan Porzl

The WWE has been around in some form or another for over 60 years dating all the way back to the 50s as Capital Wrestling Corporation or NWA Capital Wrestling. So it's not surprising that thousands of wrestlers have come through at one point be it full time or special appearances. While many are well known, some have slipped under the radar and people probably have no idea how certain legends and stars made appearances for WWE at some point. Here now is a list of famous wrestlers who may not have known appeared for WWE. I just want to point out, these wrestlers made appearances on actual WWE shows so co-promoted shows or developmental don't count.

                                          

Giant Baba- Baba is one of wrestling's biggest legends best known for his accomplishments in his native Japan first for his mentor Rikidozan's JWA promotion and then for his own All Japan Pro Wrestling. While Baba has made trips to various North American promotions, most probably don't know that the WWE was one of them. From October 1961 to December 1962, he competed for the WWE when it was still NWA Capital Wrestling, during which time he took on many fellow legends such as Bobo Brazil, Johnny Valentine, Eduard Carpentier, and Antonino Rocca while also challenging Buddy Rogers for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship several times. After leaving in late 1962, Baba would make a few handful of appearances over the next decade usually in Madison Square Garden. In 1964, he had two appearances, first defeating WWE Hall of Famer Arnold Skaaland on January 30th and then challenged Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship but obviously came up short. After eight years away, Baba returned for a WWWF event on September 29, 1972 defeating a wrestler named Frank Holtz. His last appearance would be at Madison Square Garden on June 24, 1974 defeating WWE Hall of Famer Gorilla Monsoon.

                                     

Verne Gagne- When Verne Gagne was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006, some questioned it because many didn't recall if he even ever worked for WWE. Well, it turns out he did as he made the occasional special appearance during the 1970s all of which were in Madison Square Garden. His debut was on November 27, 1972 defeating Buddy Wolfe. A few months later, he returned on February 26, 1973 where he even defended the AWA World Heavyweight Championship as he defeated fellow legendary wrestler turned promoter Eddie Graham. He returned later that year on November 12th defeating Mr. Fuji. After taking a year off, he then returned on August 9, 1975 teaming with Andre The Giant to defeat The Valiant Brothers. After two years away, Gagne returned on August 29, 1977 to defeat Nikolai Volkoff. His final WWE match was on April 30, 1979 defeating prelim wrestler Mr. X.

                                                  

Bruiser Brody- I wasn't sure to put Brody here because I figured maybe enough people know he was in WWE but I wasn't sure so I decided to do it. Brody is, of course, better known for his exploits in many promotions including World Class Championship Wrestling, WWC in Puerto Rico, and All Japan Pro Wrestling to name some. However, before his legend was made, Brody had a pretty good run in the then WWWF from July 1976 to February 1977. Brody would debut for WWE on July 21, 1976 in a battle royal which was won by his future tag team partner Stan Hansen. During his run, Brody would team with Hansen, perhaps, for the first time ever and engaged in matches with the likes of former WWE Tag Team Champions "Chief" Jay Strongbow and Billy White Wolf as well as Hall of Famers Ivan Putski, Bobo Brazil, and Gorilla Monsoon. Ironically, he has had some matches with Jose Gonzalez, the very same man who murdered him a decade later. During this time, Brody also challenged Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Championship on a couple of occasions. His last match was on February 5, 1977 again coming up short against Sammartino.

                                            

Akira Maeda- Maeda is a legend best known for his back and forth runs between New Japan Pro Wrestling and various shoot style promotions such as UWF and Newborn UWF while also being somewhat a pioneer in Japanese Mixed Martial Arts forming the shoot style wrestling promotion turned MMA promotion Fighting Network RINGS. During his first New Japan run, Maeda traveled to the WWF for a brief run from March to May 1984 taking on a variety of names including The Iron Sheik, The Wild Samoans, Rene Goulet, B. Brian Blair, and George "The Animal" Steele mostly coming up on the losing end. The peak of his run occurred on March 25, 1984 at Madison Square Garden defeating French-Canadian wrestler Pierre Lefebvre for the vacant WWF International Championship.

Kevin Sullivan- To a generation of fans, Kevin Sullivan is best known for his runs in southern wrestling such as Southeastern Championship Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and Championship Wrestling from Florida largely portraying a cult leader all the while winning many titles. To another generation, he's best known for his wrestling runs in WCW and ECW before becoming a booker for WCW during the Monday Night Wars. Before any of that, Sullivan worked for the then WWWF in the mid 1970s early in his career specifically from November 1975 to December 1976. Due to this being early in his career, Sullivan didn't do much as he was used as a low midcarder. He did have some matches with big names like Baron Mikel Scicluna, "Superstar" Billy Graham, and Ken Patera. His biggest match was on July 10, 1976 teaming with fellow legend Haystacks Calhoun against The Executioners (Killer Kowalski and "Big" John Studd) for the WWWF Tag Team Championship.

David Von Erich- Most people are aware of Kerry Von Erich's early 90s WWF run as "The Texas Tornado" but most have no idea he wasn't the only Von Erich brother to compete for WWE. One of the biggest "What Ifs" in wrestling history, David Von Erich is best known for his time in his family's World Class Championship Wrestling promotion as well as trips to St. Louis Wrestling Club, Championship Wrestling from Florida, and All Japan Pro Wrestling. During David's rise in his short career, he made a trip to the WWF at Madison Square Garden on November 19, 1979 where he defeated Irish wrestler Davey O'Hannon.

Kevin Von Erich- The last surviving Von Erich brother, Kevin was another best known for his run in World Class and who made a few appearances in WWF. Kevin's first appearance was at Madison Square Garden on January 21, 1980 when he defeated WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Rodz. He later returned to the promotion when brother Kerry was a regular as he defeated Brian Lee in a tryout match during a Wrestling Challenge taping on December 2, 1991 but was ultimately not hired.

Gino Hernandez- Like David Von Erich, Hernandez is another poster child for "What If?" in wrestling. Hernandez gained fame mostly in Texas for Houston Wrestling and World Class becoming one of the hottest acts of the early to mid 1980s and one of the best heels in the business. Like some on this list, Hernandez made a few trips to the WWE before he hit it big with Hernandez making three appearances in 1977. His debut was on the February 12, 1977 Championship Wrestling (taped February 8th) where he defeated Sylvano Sousa. He followed up on the February 19th All-Star Wrestling (taped February 9th) going to a draw with Johnny Rodz. His last appearance was on March 7th at Madison Square Garden defeating Rodz in a rematch.

Riki Choshu- Choshu is another legend and one of the biggest names in the history of Japanese wrestling mostly known for his run in New Japan Pro Wrestling first as one of the promotions top stars during the 1980s and early 1990s to becoming the promotions booker and helping usher the promotions golden age of the 90s. Again, like some of the names on this list, Choshu appeared in the WWE early in his career. Choshu made his WWF debut teaming with fellow legend Seiji Sakaguchi to successfully defend the NWA North American Tag Team Championships against Allen Coage (the future Bad News Allen/Bad News Brown) and Joe Joe Andrews. Choshu then returned during a week in November 1982 first on November 22nd teaming with Masa Saito in a losing effort to Rocky Johnson and Tony Garea in a 2/3 Falls match. Choshu then appeared on November 24th teaming with Saito in a losing effort to Pete Sanchez and Salvatore Bellomo. His last appearance was November 25th with Choshu again teaming with Saito and once again losing a 2/3 Falls match this time to Bellomo and Pedro Morales.

                                                     

Frankie Kazarian- Kazarian is best known for his runs in TNA (now Impact Wrestling), ROH, and more recently, AEW first as a pioneer in TNA's X Division before forming a highly successful tag team with Christopher Daniels (who will see on this list) which later saw them joined by Scorpio Sky. Kazarian first made some appearances for WWE between 2000 to 2003 mostly on D-level shows like Jakked or dark matches on Sunday Night Heat as a prelim wrestler taking on the likes of Kaientai and The Holly Cousins. Ironically, one of the matches, a dark match on the May 22, 2001 Heat, would see him team with Nova against future partner Daniels and a wrestler named Mikey Henderson. In between his TNA run, Kazarian went on to briefly have a cup of coffee with the WWE joining the WWE in 2005 where he worked during the summer. Only competing on B-level show Velocity, Kazarian went 4-0 during his brief run scoring wins over Nunzio, Scotty Too Hotty, Funaki, and Paul London. However, by August 2005, Kazarian would request and receive his release claiming he did it because the WWE didn't have plans to revamp it's Cruiserweight Division. By the end of the year, Kazarian was back in TNA and never looked back.

                                  

Buzz Sawyer- Sawyer was another name on this list who achieved his biggest success in the southern United States during the 1980s specifically for the Texas based World Class, Mid-South/Univeral Wrestling Federation, among others but he's perhaps best known for his time in Georgia Championship Wrestling and for his legendary rivalry with top star Tommy Rich which culminated in 1983 in a match called "The Last Battle of Atlanta" which would be the inspiration for WWE's Hell in a Cell match a decade later. Like many wrestlers, Sawyer made the WWF pilgrimage in 1984 when Vince was beginning his nationwide expansion. For his WWF run, Sawyer changed his name from "Mad Dog" to "Bulldog" (at the request of WWF due to Mad Dog Vachon), wore a dog chain, barked, and was managed by "Captain" Lou Albano. Sawyer only competed for WWF from May to June 1984 where he only made two television appearances. His debut was a win over The Tonga Kid at the Philadelphia Spectrum on the PRISM Network (a local Philadelphia station). Sawyer's only other TV appearance was on the May 26th Championship Wrestling (taped May 8th) where he defeated SD Jones. Outside of these appearances, Sawyer mostly worked live events where he faced the likes of B. Brian Blair and Steve Lombardi (the future Brooklyn Brawler). His last match was a loss to Ivan Putski at a live event on June 16th.

Rikidozan- Known as "The Father of Puroresu", Rikidozan was the man who put wrestling on the map in Japan and is the biggest name in the history of Japanese wrestling all the while establishing himself as a national hero in the 1950s and early 1960s. Though best known for his success in the land of the rising sun, Rikidozan has made appearances in the United States and one of those appearances was for the WWE. Ultimately, Rikidozan was a one and done as he made one appearance back when it was still NWA Capital Wrestling on September 19, 1961 where he teamed with Yoshino Sato against Bill Zbyszko and Carlo Milano with Rikidozan and Sato emerging victorious.

                                    

The Crush Gals- The Crush Gals, consisting of Lioness Asuka and Chigusa Nagayo are not only one of wrestling's all time great tag teams but perhaps the biggest female tag team in wrestling history. The team was best known for their work in All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling during the 1980s drawing huge ratings. The team originally appeared three times for the WWF in March 1986. Their debut match was on March 6th at The Boston Garden where they defeated Donna Christianello and one half of the women's tag team champions Judy Martin. They then wrestled on March 11th in a dark match on Championship Wrestling where they defeated the other half of the women's tag team champions in Leilani Kai and Black Venus. They then wrestled at Madison Square Garden on March 16th where they defeated Kai and Penny Mitchell. Along with these three appearances, Lioness Asuka would make two more appearances in November 1995. His first was at the 1995 Survivor Series teaming with Bertha Faye, Aja Kong, and Tomoko Watanabe against Alundra Blayze, Chaparita Asari, Kyoko Inoue, and Sakie Hasegawa in a winning effort with Kong as the sole survivor. Her last appearance was two days later on November 21st during a dark match on a Superstars taping challenging Blayze for the WWF Women's Championship but came up short.

                                   

Eddie Gilbert- Again, like Brody, I wasn't sure if I should put Gilbert on here since I figured enough people know he worked for WWE but I decided to put him in just in case. Gilbert is best known for his work in Memphis Wrestling first for the CWA and then the USWA capturing many championships and engaging in memorable rivalries and segments. Outside of Memphis, Gilbert also worked as a wrestler and booker in promotions such as Mid-South Wrestling/Universal Wrestling Federation, Continental Wrestling in Alabama, NWA/WCW, and ECW in their early years. Early in his career, Gilbert worked for the WWF from October 1982 to March 1984. Because this was early in his career, he didn't have a big run as he occasionally made it to the midcard but largely wasn't in huge angles or title matches. In fact, his one and only title shot was on November 25, 1982 when he challenged Tiger Mask for the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship at the Philadelphia Spectrum but didn't win. On and off during his run, Gilbert would actually form a tag team with fellow up and comer and future legend Curt Hennig but with both young and new, they never made a splash in the tag team division. Gilbert also formed teams with multi-time tag team champion Tony Garea and then WWF Champion Bob Backlund. Despite this, Gilbert had his moments of success as he scored wins over legends like Swede Hanson, Baron Mikel Scicluna, Mr. Fuji, and even got a disqualification win over "Big" John Studd. Gilbert's big moment in the WWF occurred in 1983 when after being in a car accident, a storyline was made upon his return on the August 27, 1983 edition of Championship Wrestling when, following a loss to the Masked Superstar (Bill "Demolition Ax" Eadie), Gilbert took a swinging neckbreaker on the concrete floor and this was later followed up with Bob Backlund working out during a full hour on television to encourage Gilbert to come back. Gilbert eventually finished out his WWF run with matches against legends like "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, and "Dr. D" David Schultz with his last match being a loss to Orndorff at a live event on March 16, 1984.

The Fantastics- The Fantastics, consisting of Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton, were one of several well-known "pretty boy" type tag teams from the 80s. The team achieved it's biggest success in Memphis' CWA, World Class, Mid-South/UWF, and NWA/WCW winning championships in each promotion while also engaging in memorable rivalries with the second and third incarnation of The Midnight Express and The Sheepherders (The Bushwhackers). However, before and after the peak of their careers, both members made appearances for the WWF. Fulton made two appearances early in his career with his first being a loss to wrestler Fred Curry on the March 3, 1979 edition of WWWF All-Star Wrestling and his second would be on February 10, 1984 in a dark match at WWF Wrestling At The Chase teaming with wrestler Brian Madden against The Moondogs but came up short. The two then appeared on the June 16, 1997 edition of WWF RAW Is WAR but in a unique position as they weren't partners but opponents as they faced each other in a match as the WWF was experimenting with the possibility of a light heavyweight division. In the end, Rogers won. Rogers then made one more appearance on the June 21st edition of Shotgun Saturday Night losing to Brian Christopher.

Christopher Daniels- The Fallen Angel has been consistently one of the best talents in the ring and the microphone for nearly 20 years but it wasn't easy as Daniels to the long way to the top spending most of the 90s and 2000-2001 getting the occasional tryout match in the big three but it never really translated to a job. During this time period, Daniels made many appearances for the WWF but was never able to make it out of the B-shows. Daniels made his WWF debut in a dark match for Shotgun Saturday Night on January 19, 1998 losing to wrestler Mick Tierney. Daniels would make a handful of appearances from January 1998 to March 1999 mostly on Shotgun or in dark matches taking on a variety of wrestlers including Kaientai, Too Much, and Droz usually coming out on the losing end. His biggest match at that point was on the September 19, 1998 edition of Shotgun Saturday Night where he unsuccessfully challenged Taka Michinoku for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. After making a few appearances during WWF/IWA: Puerto Rico co-promoted shows in 1999 and one appearance on Sunday Night Heat, Daniels began making more sporadic appearances from October 2000 to July 2001 taking on the likes of Kaientai and K-Krush (R-Truth). Again, the biggest match he had was a Light Heavyweight Championship shot this time against Jerry Lynn on the May 26, 2001 edition of WWF Jakked but despite the change of opponent, the outcome was still the same. His last match was a loss to former Light Heavyweight Champion Essa Rios in a dark match on the July 3, 2001 Sunday Night Heat.