I was watching Pointless other day, and a question came up on "Wrestlers". It showed 5 pictures of 5 wrestlers, and for those who don't know the rules, they show 100 people 5 pictures and it says how many said that answer, lowest scorer wins, like golf.
The answers were as follows:
Big Daddy - 70
Hulk Hogan - 51
The Rock - 31
Kendo Nagasaki - 20
Andre the Giant - 7
Now I know Pointless is bullshit and there scores are totally BS, not to mention it's a British show so the scores will be a little different; plus it's just 100 people (if they even ask people) and a different 100 people could have totally different results. Still, those scores heavily, heavily surprised me.
The Rock
Steve Austin
Triple H
Kane
The Undertaker
The Big Show
Brock Lesnar
John Cena
Ric Flair
Randy Savage
The Ultimate Warrior
Roddy Piper(Especially post-mortem)
Kevin Nash
That racist guy who doesn't exist anymore
I would not include ric flair in that list. Most of the top guys from the past 10 years Batista,Cena,Orton etc are probably more mainstream then Flair. Probably Randy Savage and Roddy Piper are more mainstream then Flair aswell. Gorgeous George was huge back in the 50s. Andre the giant I knew of before wrestling. Hogan and Rock are the biggest names. Cena and Brock are pretty big names. Austin although not on Hogan and Rock levels and maybe not even Cena when we talk worldwide was also a huge name in the late 90s.
I would consider mainstream names as wrestlers who are well known even outside the wrestling circles in popular culture.
Speaking only from a United States perspective then Hogan is probably still the biggest mainstream name especially even to the ordinary American who does not watch wrestling. The Rock is probably a close second and is starting to get there especially with his astronomical Hollywood success.
Wrestlers like Andre, Piper and Macho Man were at one time or another when they were alive wrestlers who transcended the business into the mainstream.
Austin at the height of his popularity was getting there but never really had the longterm staying power IMHO as far as transcending into mainstream non wrestling popular culture.
As much as guys like Flair and Dusty and even the Ultimate Warrior were wrestling legends none really are household names to non wrestling fans.
Lesnar is a big star in combative sports type culture but let's be honest in that he is still not close to being a household name to mainstream culture.
Cena, Bryan and Punk are not even close to being mainstream household names to the average American on the street.
Today the only wrestling names that are famous among non wrestling fans are The Rock and Hulk Hogan.
That being said, there are a lot of guys that can be accepted as mainstream among young people that have watched WWE at least one time on the last 10 years, like Undertaker, Batista, HHH, Cena, Orton, Lesnar, Punk, Michaels, Hardy, etc.
And there are people old enough that probably can recognize the name of legends like Savage or Warrior.
As far as wrestlers who a non-wrestling fan would know:
Gorgeous George and Haystacks Calhoun(For the age group)
Hulk Hogan
The Rock
Jesse Ventura
I wish I could say more but honestly no one that isn't a fan knows anything about wrestling.
Most people that I talk to at work have no idea who Flair or even Austin is.
Ventura they know because of his political career and they know the Rock from his acting career.
Hogan is the only wrestler known throughout because he is a wrestler.
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