In a lot of ways, pro wrestling can feel like a live-action cartoon, with larger-than-life characters and some seriously absurd segments to go with the in-ring action. This is especially true in the more outrageous, kid-friendly feds like World Wrestling Entertainment. It should come as no surprise, then, that pro wrestling has in turn influenced animation, with the sport being a common theme to base a random episode around.
While some cartoons have opted for generic representations of wrestlers, there are a number of animated shows that have introduced characters explicitly based on real performers. Without further ado, let's take a look at 10 times cartoon characters were obviously inspired by known pro wrestlers.
10 The Boulder - The Rock
A Season 2 episode of the adventure series Avatar: The Last Airbender featured a tournament called Earth Rumble, wherein “earthbenders” with the ability to manipulate stone and earth duked it out using their powers. In other words, it was a great opportunity to introduce a pro wrestler style character and Avatar did not disappoint with The Boulder, who was obviously based on The Rock and even spoke in the third person. Reportedly, the producers tried to get The Rock to voice the character but ended up casting Mick Foley instead.
9 Zangief - Victor Zangiev
Capcom’s Street Fighter video game franchise inspired countless cartoons in both the US and Japan, often featuring the cast of the classic Street Fighter II. As a result, the bear-fighting Russian pro wrestler Zangief has been a staple of Street Fighter-based animation -- and shockingly wasn’t inspired by Ivan Koloff. The real-life basis for the character is actually Victor Zangiev, a Soviet amateur wrestler who was trained by Antonio Inoki and wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling from 1989 to 1990. During his time with New Japan, Zangiev took part in a number of tournaments and also wrestled a forgotten gem against Shinya Hashimoto in 1989.
8 The Armored Titan - Brock Lesnar
Created by Hajime Isayama, Attack on Titan is one of the more popular anime franchises to make it to America, as humanity’s battle with the grotesque Titan monsters offers a fun blend of action and horror. Isayama is a huge MMA fan and based many of the Titan designs off of actual fighters like Yushin Okami.
One of the major Titans, the Armored Titan is based on Brock Lesnar, which fans can likely immediately tell based on the character’s look and physique.
7 Udo - Stan Hansen
Fans of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Z surely know Mr. Satan (a.k.a Hercule), an overconfident pro wrestler type who frequently gets beaten by the myriad overpowered fighters on the show. But there’s actually another character explicitly inspired by a wrestler.
The DBZ film Bojack Unbound is centered around an intergalactic tournament, with Earthling wrestler Udo taking part in a preliminary match against Gohan. Udo is very obviously based on Stan Hansen, who was one of the great gaijin wrestlers in the 1980s-1990s Japanese wrestling scene. Of course, Gohan wins the fight.
6 Kong the Heel - Aja Kong
Created by legendary comic book artist Go Nagai -- who also created Jushin Liger, the basis for Jushin Thunder Liger -- the Cutie Honey franchise has been running since 1973 with various reboots and reimaginings over the years in comics, animation, and even live-action film. The 1997-1998 animated series Cutie Honey Flash actually has a pro-wrestling focused episode late in its run, featuring a wrestler inspired by Aja Kong named Kong The Heel. Kong’s opponent is named Princess Yuri, who’s inspired by 1990s deathmatch legend Megumi Kudo.
5 King - Tekken
While New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Tiger Mask gimmick is actually a licensed character based on an anime/manga franchise, its pro wrestling iteration has proven so iconic that it has, in turn, inspired other animated characters. One of the more notable examples is King from the Tekken video games, who appears in the animated film Tekken: The Motion Picture. While King’s mask is a jaguar instead of a tiger, he’s got his own Black Tiger-esque rival, named Armor King.
4 Antonio Igari - Antonio Inoki
The megaviolent anime Baki follows Baki Hanma, a teenaged martial artist who seeks to be the greatest fighter on the planet. To get there, he has to fight loads of talented opponents, many of whom are based on real-life fighters -- including pro wrestlers.
Wrestling fans who check out Baki will immediately realize the inspiration behind wrestler Antonio Igari: New Japan Pro-Wrestling founder Antonio Inoki. Igari even had a famous wrestler vs. boxer match with a Muhammad Ali stand-in named “Mohammad Alai.”
3 Beauty Rhodes - Dusty Rhodes
Kinnikuman is a beloved anime centered around pro wrestling that fans might know best as the 1980s toy line M.U.S.C.L.E., as the 2000s cartoon Ultimate Muscle, or for inspiring Samoa Joe’s Muscle Buster finisher. Naturally, some characters on the show were inspired by real-life wrestlers, and the American Tour story arc had loads of examples like God Von Erich and Dynamite Piper. But most explicit was Beauty Rhodes, an American wrestler whose name and character design was obviously based on Dusty Rhodes.
2 Bask - Hulk Hogan
Fist of the North Star is basically “Mad Max meets Bruce Lee,” as the wandering hero Kenshiro uses martial arts to explode the heads of legions of musclebound ruffians in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It should be expected that some wrestling shout-outs might ensue, with Hulk Hogan inspiring a minor villain named Bask, a local governor with an underling who’s obviously modeled after Hogan’s buddy Mr. T. As anyone vaguely familiar with the show can assume, Kenshiro takes out Bask with ultraviolent ease.
1 Minoru Kazeno - Minoru Suzuki
Running since the late 1990s, the pirate adventure One Piece is one of the most popular animated franchises in Japan and has at least one notable pro wrestling fan in New Japan’s Minoru Suzuki. In 2007, creator Eiichiro Oda introduced a wrestler inspired by Suzuki, Minoru Kazeno. With a surname inspired by Suzuki’s iconic entrance theme, “Kaze Ni Nare,” Kazeno appeared in the 336th episode of the series, with Minoru Suzuki himself supplying the character’s voice.