Nikolai Volkoff

[4.0] "It's hard for me to rate Nicolai, and I feel it might be a disservice because I only saw him in his old age in WWF. But he was entertaining for his part, and not a bad wrestler by any means. I am sure at one point he was potentially an upper mid card guy."

[4.0] "Volkoff's best years were long before I started watching wrestling and his best stuff predates the era when McMahonland started taking off. His style was pretty dated even by 1988. Best moment in his WWF tenure had to be winning the tag belts with The Iron Sheik at Mania 1, it was all downhill from there pretty much as he became a perennial heel jobber with his comrade Boris. Don't know why Vince felt the need to embarrass the guy so much over the years."

[6.0] "Always found it hilarious whenever he stopped whatever event he was on to sing the Russian national anthem. Drew some great heat with the Iron Sheik, less so with Zhukov. In ring ability was always lacking a bit, never really sold, but his offence was never bad."

[6.0] "One of the pioneers of the "Evil Russian" gimmick, which was heavily bastardized as the years progressed. He was part of one of the first Foreigner gimmick tag teams with The Iron Sheik. He did a fine job at playing a heel and got heat for it. He seemed decent in the ring."

[7.0] "Good classic tag specialist. Had a very long career which by the end he was not what he was at his peak. His team with the Iron Sheik was his best team where they were the biggest heels."

[8.0] "Great classic wrestler and a tag specialist, had a great run in the AWA and WWF, including a stand out match against Sammartino. Don't judge him based on what you saw in the 90s."

[3.0] "Nikolai Volkoff always seemed to move around awkwardly in the ring and his moves didn't look all that real. He seemed like a carnival performer, but I did dig his schtick with The Iron Sheik. His run with Zhukov as The Bolsheviks was not good, and his membership with Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Team was out right lousy. He was the original Evil Russian of the '80s, a stereotype which became normal at that time, but I feel he was the most memorable. But he was just so uncoordinated in the ring that I never could enjoy much of anything he did."

[8.0] "A real stand out prior to about 1988ish. Physically impressive and imposing, enough to leave his mark almost immediately. Confident behind the mic. A true asset to any territory that hosted him and a man who helped elevate the sport/business. Had a critical role in Barry Darsow becoming a better wrestler. His pairing with The Iron Sheik is practically the only Sheik material I can stomach LOL. His body press into a back breaker is always a stunning visual, it looked BRUTAL. Unfortunately by the late 80's time had passed him by and many others over shadowed him with relative ease. His 90's material is not very good and I do not recommend it. Check out his 70's and 80's work though and tell me he's not a damn great heel mountain for baby faces to over come! I also appreciate that he was always very giving and never put himself above the product. S O L I D !"

[7.0] "A man with a huge experience of performing in the ring, which has almost 50 years. At the beginning of his career, he twice became international tag team champion, being a mongol named Beppo, but the real popularity came to him when he was repackaged into the evil Russian Nikolai Volkoff. Although Nikolai has never been an outstanding wrestler (besides, he participated in possibly the worst wrestling match of all time), but he was irreplaceable in the Golden Era and I think his merits are underestimated. The peak of his career was winning team titles with the Iron Sheik at the very first Wrestlemania, and he was also one of the anti-American heels defeated by Hulk Hogan. I'm not a fan of politics and storylines with the confrontation like "our patriotic heroes against embittered foreigners" in wrestling, but Nikolai's charisma made him a rather charming and convincing in his heel role."

[5.0] "Hes not the worst ever but he is not good. I have seen some of his pre Wrestlemania work and it did not impress me that much."

[10.0] "Nikolai Volkoff has great in-ring psychology. Both great as a singles and tag team specialist. He was great with Geeto as the Mongols and teaming with the Iron Sheik. In the 70's he had great matches with Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund. His gimmick being billed from Mongolia was horrible. During the Hulkamania era he was at his peak. Feuding with Hulk Hogan and the flag match against Corporal Kirchner at Wresltemania 2. As the Bolsheviks with Boris Zhukov was appropriate for it's time but no success. His foreign "Cold War" gimmick was excellent being from the Soviet Union, singing the Russian national anthem and wearing USSR shirt. His fighting skills were excellent with his build he had. Being stocky and barrel chested was great. I liked how WWE changed him to a babyface when the Cold War ended. I hated the Million Dollar vest and attire he had in 1994 as part of the Million Dollar Corporation. He looked terrible and WWE made him fight in low card status. Unfair! He appears in the indies and the occasional WWE appearance. Too bad he never won a WWE championship or Intercontinental title. That would have been great. He was better than Hulk Hogan fighting wise."

[7.0] "He was fun when he sang to get heel heat and he had a big look that Vinnie Mac must have liked, but he was decent, at best, in the ring. He was better suited as a tag specialist than a singles star, but could fit in a midcard role anyways."

[7.0] "An iconic heel for his day but other than his impressive size and teaming with Iron Sheik, his abilities always seems fairly limited to me. A good gimmick but average performer."

[7.0] "If you look at his 1984-present career Nikolai isn't that special, but taking into consideration his longevity both as a wrestler in general and as a top heel draw, he's definitely not some crappy old timey wrestler. He was a big bear of a person and was convincing tossing smaller opponents around like nothing. Had to have one of the thickest chests of any wrestler. Plus he was funny and charming when playing up his lighter side later in his career. Nikolai Volkoff wasn't a fantastic wrestler, but he's definitely a legend who deserve his props."

[5.0] "Not an impressive wrestler, and his microphone skills were terrible. But he fulfilled his role of the Russian heel adequately, so I'll give him 5 points for that."

[4.0] "I will be honest here I am indifferent towards Nikolai Volkoff. That is not saying that I dislike him or anything, just that I have never really paid him much attention. I have watched plenty of his matches but I have barely paid any attention to them, he was never really on my radar before now. It is such a shame that he will always be remembered for his later career in the 80’s, for his early work seems to have been of a way higher standard. That is the crux of the matter though as we can only remember what we are shown. Volkoff seemed to be a wrestler of significant talent who was a formidable opponent to two separate World Champions and was involved in not one but two of the WWE’s greatest tag teams."