There are those wrestlers for whom their hometowns—whether it’s where they’re really from or where they’re kayfabe billed as hailing from—are incidental. A company might acknowledge a hometown when the company travels through that area, but otherwise, the hometown amounts to little more than trivia that only a performer’s most devout fans would pay much attention to.

In other cases, however, a performer’s hometown or nationality can be a key, character defining trait. When a character’s hometown is a major part of his or her identity, it can make it all the more surprising when fans learn where the performer was actually born.

Sometimes it is a matter of promoters billing a character as from a key territory or hot spot to help make them popular with the local fans. Other times, it’s the opposite effect as a heel is billed from a place that, in and of itself, is likely to garner heat, like when Tony Anthony declared himself a yankee while working for Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion. From mystical characters who actually have very human and unexceptional places of origin, to evil heel foreigners who were actually born and raised in the USA, all is not as the bookers would have you believe when it comes to where wrestlers are really from. A wrestler’s real place of origin can undermine some of his character work; in other cases, it makes the person and his journey all the more interesting.

This article takes a look at 15 major stars of wrestling, each of whom you might be surprised to learn the real hometown of, or place of birth.

15 15. The Undertaker - Houston, TX

The Undertaker built a career on the premise of playing supernatural. Call him a zombie, call him the prince of darkness, whatever the case may be, he was dark and he was mystical. The gimmick launched in the early 1990s, a cartoonish period when The Phenom could be billed from Death Valley, and no one questioned it or rolled their eyes.

While The Undertaker character did get humanized over the years—particularly the Biker ‘Taker years during and in the immediate aftermath of the Attitude Era, but he finished out his career edging back toward a more mystical character. It may surprise fans then that The Dead Man is actually a native of Houston, Texas where he emerged as a basketball star, leading to him playing college ball before shifting courses and moving into the professional wrestling business.

14 14. Hulk Hogan – Augusta, GA

Ask any wrestling fan of the 1980s where Hulk Hogan was from and, without batting an eye, they’ll tell you Venice Beach, California. The guy’s look was all about being super human and muscle bound, and it made complete sense when he purported himself to be a product of the famed Muscle Beach area. In reality, though, The Hulkster originated on the opposite coast and down south.

Hogan was born in Augusta, Georgia and indicates that when he was one his family moved down to Florida where he really grew up. This explains Hogan’s propensity for showmanship as he grew up watching Dusty Rhodes do his thing in the local territory, before growing enamored with Superstar Billy Graham who inspired much of Hogan’s look and approach to connecting with the crowd.

13 13. Sami Zayn – Laval, Quebec, Canada

Sami Zayn has a legit international flair around him. As a remnant of the El Generico gimmick with which he came up through the indie ranks, fans still chant “Ole” for him. He’s of Syrian descent. As a face in WWE, the promotion has largely downplayed where he’s from, allowing him to settle in as a more generic every man who could be from anywhere.

WWE has downplayed the fact that Zayn originally came from Canada, as though that would be reason for the fanbase not to support him as much. Officially, though, Zayn is billed as coming from Montreal. In reality, Zayn was born in Laval, a smaller city to be found just north of Montreal that very few WWE fans could probably ever locate on a map.

12 12. Yokozuna – San Francisco, CA

Yokozuna may be one of the oddest figures in WWE lore when it comes to determining his place of origin. Commentators played up that he was Polynesian, and it was very clear that he was meant to represent Japan via Japanese manager Mr. Fuji waiving the Japanese flag in his corner. The character wasn’t as incoherent as it may seem at first blush, given that he ostensibly played a sumo wrestler who’d been indoctrinated into Japanese culture and came to identify with it.

For the degree to which he played a heel foreigner, it may be of interest to fans that he was actually born in San Francisco, California. He’s part of the famous Anoa’i Samoan wrestling family that also includes stars to precede him like Afa and Sika, men to follow like Rikishi and Umaga, not to mention modern day stars like Roman Reigns and The Usos. Heck, Yokozuna, for all of the xenophobic heat he generated was cousins with American superstar The Rock.

11 11. Kalisto – Chicago, IL

It has been widely rumored that WWE signed, and has subsequently pushed Kalisto so that he can function as a replacement for Rey Mysterio. He’s undersized, super athletic, and a more than capable worker with a scintillating, unique finisher in Salida del Sol. While he hasn’t caught fire to the degree of Mysterio, he has gotten big opportunities with US Championship reigns and holding his own with Braun Strowman. Even now, ostensibly in the lower card, he’s bested Apollo Crews and Titus O’Neil.

While WWE obviously wants us to pay attention to the masked luchadors Mexican heritage, and he is legitimately of Mexican descent, the guy was actually born in Chicago and cut his teeth, not working lucha libre south of the border, but rather on the Midwest independent scene.

10 10. Ric Flair – Memphis, TN

Ric Flair is largely synonymous with Charlotte, North Carolina. It was billed as his hometown for decades and it’s so connected to him that when his daughter went into the business, she was renamed to match the Queen City.

In reality, though? Flair was born in no other locale than Memphis, Tennessee. Flair didn’t stay there long, though, before he was adopted and the family headed to the Midwest, where he was essentially raised in Minnesota. Flair cut his teeth in wrestling under the tutelage of men like Verne Gagne, and purportedly almost quit because of how hard it was. Fortunately for wrestling history, The Nature Boy saw it through.

Flair rose to prominence in the Mid-Atlantic territory and was thus rebranded as a star who called Charlotte home to lend him more local flavor and build his credibility with the local fanbase. Now, it’s hard to think of Flair as hailing from anywhere but Charlotte.

9 9. Kane – Torrejon de Ardoz, Spain

WWE fans know Kane as The Undertaker’s little brother. While few actually believe them to be related in real life, fans tend not to put much more thought into the Big Red Machine’s origins. Moreover, for fans who do look into the man’s past, they know him for his other wrestling gimmicks like Isaac Yankem DDS and the fake Diesel.

While WWE tends to play up characters’ birthplaces, particularly when their international, Kane is that rare case of someone who legitimately was born abroad but no one would really think of as an international star. To be fair, Kane was born on a military base and brought back stateside before long, where he was mostly raised in Missouri. He went on to see through his education in the US, including reportedly studying English literature in college, before transitioning to the world of professional wrestling.

8 8. Lana – Gainesville, FL

Lana has risen to fame in WWE billed as The Ravishing Russian. She has played a character not unlike Ludmilla from Rocky IV—as cold and calculating as she is beautiful, and almost robotic at times. The character was an ideal accessory to the Rusev character—Lana’s real life and on screen partner who debuted as a modern day evil heel foreigner, from Bulgaria but ostensibly representing Russia. In reality, though, Lana was not born in Europe, but rather in Gainesville, Florida.

To be fair, Lana was of Latvian descent and spent a period of years in Latvia with her family, but she was also very much Americanized by the time she made it to WWE, including previous work as a model, singer and actress in the States.

7 7. Kofi Kingston – Kumasi, Ghana

Kofi Kingston debuted via WWE’s ECW brand and his gimmick leaned heavily on him being Jamaican, including theme music geared toward that nationality and speaking in a faux Jamaican accent. While the music stuck for nearly seven years, all the way up to Kingston’s membership in New Day, the Jamaican persona otherwise fell away. In a funny, though arguably over the top segment with DX, Triple H cut off Kingston mid-promo to ask him where his Jamaican accent had gone.

Kingston’s nationality hasn’t really been part of his character since, though it is an interesting factoid about him that he was born in Ghana. Kingston seems to fit into American culture nicely, but stays true to his roots with West African symbols tattooed on his back.

6 6. Nikita Koloff – Minneapolis, MN

Nikita Koloff was introduced the wrestling world as Ivan Koloff’s nephew, and was immediately booked as a dominant force in Jim Crockett Promotions. Moreover the jacked young star played his part, scarcely speaking English in public for years as he got the character over during the 1980s.

The reality of the situation? Koloff was born and raised in Minnesota and even played college football before he got involved in the world of professional wrestling. It’s wild to think that one of the most intimidating, over heel foreigner acts of all time had never been to Russia, much less hailed from there. Nonetheless, he was an iconic star of his era, and many argue he could have been an even bigger megastar had he made the leap to WWE in his prime as a foil for All-American hero Hulk Hogan.

5 5. The Ultimate Warrior – Crawfordsville, IN

There was a period when wrestling promoters fell into the infamous habit of touting wrestlers who came from “Parts Unknown.” The Ultimate Warrior was a key example of this dynamic, because he was such an unusual talent he delivered promos and sported a look that were almost other worldly. It wouldn’t fit his character, and would, if anything undermine his mystique to reveal he was actually from somewhere as ordinary as the American Midwest.

Warrior was a native of Crawfordsville, Indiana, though. He even attended year of college at Indiana State before he headed down to the southeast to pursue first bodybuilding, then professional wrestling. From there, he’d team with real life buddy Sting as The Blade Runners, before heading to Texas to become The Dingo Warrior, after which WWE signed him, polished the act, and made him The Ultimate Warrior.

4 4. Umaga – San Francisco, CA

For as good as he was in the ring and at playing his part, Umaga always felt like a bit of an anachronism in WWE. Yes, he was a big man main eventer without a chiseled physique in the era of John Cena, Randy Orton, and Batista. More to the point, in addition to his body type, there was the matter of character. Umaga was largely portrayed as a primitive savage in a way that was uncomfortable, particularly when WWE didn’t even try to assign him some sort of mystical backstory, but rather just acknowledge his true to life Samoan roots.

Umaga wasn’t from some primitive culture however, and despite belonging to a storied Samoan wrestling family, he was not actually from Samoa either. Umaga was born in no lesser city than San Francisco, and even his first WWE gimmick as half of Three Minute Warning didn’t suggest he was a savage, but, if anything, a street tough bully.

3 3. Ahmed Johnson – Lake Alfred, FL

Ahmed Johnson exploded onto the scene in WWE in the mid-1990s, and immediately got over based on his impressive musculature and his remarkable physical strength. While body slamming Yokozuna became one of his signature accomplishments, it was his finisher that fans saw him use almost every match—a double underhook powerbomb labeled The Pearl River Plunge. The move and its name created a link between Johnson and his supposed roots in humble Pearl River, Mississippi.

In real life, Johnson was actually born in Lake Alfred, Florida. In a 2013 shoot interview, he acknowledged that he’d never actually been to Pearl River before going so far as to joke about whether it were even a real place. The Pearl River Powerhouse has since taken up residence in Houston, Texas.

2 2. Chris Jericho – Manhasset, NY

It’s undeniably a part of Chris Jericho’s character that he’s Canadian, including his infamous taunt to heckling fan that, “I’m from Winnipeg, you idiot!” In reality, though, Jericho was born in New York while his father was a professional hockey player, making a living with the New York Rangers. When his dad hung up his skates, the family went back to their native Canada, which Jericho considers home.

True to his Canadian identity, Jericho would make his way through training with the Harts, though it wasn’t exactly the legendary experiencing of working with Stu Hart like so many wrestlers before him, but rather what remained of the Hart brothers in Calgary. He met fellow Canadian Lance Storm in the process, though, forming a long time friendship that included working as tag team partners and opponents on a recurring basis through the early stages of their careers.

1 1. Kamala - Senatobia, MS

Kamala built his name on wrestling as a Ugandan savage—a beast of a man who didn’t understand the world around him. The character didn’t know how to wrestler per se, and so relied on chops, kicks, and crushing splashes as his limited, but wildly effective offense. The character got over in its time, and was particularly successful in the territories where he could hope from promotion to promotion and maintain the character’s mystique as largely unbeaten.

In reality, Kamala was Jim “Sugar Bear” Harris from Senatobia, Mississippi, rebranded by Jerry Lawler and associates. While the character comes across as somewhat racist by contemporary standards, it worked for its time and has become iconic for its period in wrestling. Kamala’s time in wrestling wound up sadly. His daughter was shot to death, and Kamala has had both legs amputated due to health complication related to diabetes and high blood pressure. In an interview with Bleacher Report, he discussed living off of his disability checks now.