Photo: Nightscream / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Nikolai Volkoff was the kind of heel who could get an entire arena booing before the bell even rang, just by grabbing the microphone and bellowing the Soviet anthem in his thick accent. He played the Cold War villain perfectly during wrestling's 1980s boom, and his partnership with The Iron Sheik against the all-American babyfaces is classic Mid-80s WWF theater. What people forget is how genuinely warm he was outside the ring. A big, gentle man who leaned into a gimmick the crowd loved to hate. His 2005 Hall of Fame nod was richly deserved.
This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.
Overview
Nikolai Volkoff (October 14, 1947 – July 29, 2018) was a professional wrestler born Josip Hrvoje Peruzović in Split, Croatia (then Yugoslavia). Best known in the WWF/WWE as a Soviet heel who sang the Soviet national anthem before matches, he formed a memorable tag team with The Iron Sheik, winning the WWF Tag Team Championship in 1985. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Nikolai Volkoff
- Name (Japanese)
- ニコライ・ボルコフ
- Reading
- にこらい・ぼるこふ
- Born
- October 14, 1947 – July 29, 2018
- Origin
- Split, Croatia
- Height
- 193cm
- Occupation
- Professional wrestler
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Pig
2. Background
Awards & achievements
- 2005 WWE Hall of Fame
3. Links
4. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.
Frequently asked questions
When was Nikolai Volkoff born?
Nikolai Volkoff was born on October 14, 1947.
When did Nikolai Volkoff die?
Nikolai Volkoff died on July 29, 2018, aged 70.
Where was Nikolai Volkoff from?
Nikolai Volkoff was from Split, Croatia.
What did Nikolai Volkoff do?
Nikolai Volkoff worked as Professional wrestler.
How tall was Nikolai Volkoff?
Nikolai Volkoff was 193 cm tall.
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