Pride: 10 of the best wrestlers of African origin
During the 1980s, most of the shows on television were overwhelmingly white. From Dynasty to Simon and Simon, it seemed that representation of African heritage was almost unheard of.
Not so in the wrestling business. During the WWE's classic era, for example, you could see stars like Junk Yard Dog and Tito Santana being treated as equals to white wrestlers such as Dino Bravo.
Let's take a look at 10 of the most influential, skilled, and in some cases dearly missed wrestlers of African origin.
#10 Bobo Brazil
One of the early, successful African American wrestlers, Bobo Brazil was a titan of a man who could still move with feline grace.
Originally, he was only allowed by promoters to wrestle other black athletes, but eventually, he would be pushed to the top of the card and work with the entire roster. Bobo's name was originally intended to be Bubu, but due to a printing error on a promotional poster the name Bobo stuck.
He was the first POC to win the coveted, prestigious NWA heavyweight championship, which he lifted from Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. Bobo was one of the earliest inductions into the WWE Hall of Fame and ran a restaurant after retirement.