Nikita Koloff
While his glory days may have been in the NWA, I still feel as though this counts as we all know that became the WCW. Koloff wasn’t even Russian but he was so good at his gimmick that he produced fear and hate in the fans.
So dedicated to his craft, he was eventually able to step in for an injured Magnum TA and compete for a world title against Ric Flair as a babyface. Few if any, were as good with the Russian gimmick as Nikita Koloff.