10. DAN SPIVEY
Dan Spivey was never a fixture on the WWE roster during the company’s boom period in the ‘80s, but he always seemed to be on-call whenever Vince needed someone needed someone to step in and be a creepy heel. The highlight of his stint in WWE was either his WrestleMania II Battle Royal appearance or the time when the company repackaged him to dress like a skinnier Hulk Hogan. Spivey got a little more screen time when he joined WCW, but most of that involved him losing to The Road Warriors.
Incredibly, Spivey is reportedly the man who inspired Bray Wyatt to adopt his current gimmick as a play of Spivey’s old Waylon Mercy character. Spivey himself certainly wasn’t using it as the man didn’t wrestle from 1995 to 2015 when he made an appearance at Dory Funk Jr’s Japanese promotion !BANG!. Spivey also serves as the brand ambassador for the breakfast chain The Breakfast Station.
11. NIKOLAI VOLKOFF
Before he was an evil Russian, Nikolai Volkoff actually had a pretty successful mid-70s run in WWE as a Mongolian-born strong man who often challenged Bruno Sammartino for the championship. Despite the success of the gimmick, Volkoff eventually left the WWE in order to spend some time in the Mid-South Wrestling promotion. When he did return, he adopted that Russian gimmick that made him an ‘80s heel legend who typically got beaten by any wrestler waving an American flag. Volkoff has stayed pretty busy since retiring in the mid-90s, as he still makes occasional cameo appearances for WWE in comedic roles. He’ll still wrestle a match on the indie circuit every now and then, and he even tried to run for the Maryland State Delegate in 2006.
12. TUGBOAT
Fred Ottman went through a number of gimmicks during career (including an, unfortunately, memorable stint as The Shockmaster), but many WWE fans will forever remember him as Tugboat. Maybe that has something to do with his red and white striped singlet or the fact that a wrestling tugboat captain doesn’t make any sense, but the gimmick did help Ottman work his way into some pretty high-profile matches as a member of WWE. Following a brief return to WWE in 1994 that only lasted a few months, Ottman didn’t wrestle another major wrestling show until the WrestleMania X-Seven Gimmick Battle Royal match.
Much of his time in-between those appearances was spent bumming around the indies as the character Typhoon. These days, Ottman serves as the safety manager for a building cleaning service in Florida.
Credits: thesportster
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