Nikolai Volkoff's Real Name: Josip Peruzović

Quick answer: Nikolai Volkoff's real name was Josip Hrvoje Peruzović (also styled Josip Nikolai Peruzović in some credits). He was born on October 14, 1947, in Split, Croatia (then Yugoslavia), and died on July 29, 2018. Nikolai Volkoff was a Cold War–era ring billing.

Split to Soviet villain

The New York Times obituary, WWE, and ESPN identify Josip Peruzović of Split as the wrestler billed Nikolai Volkoff (NYT; WWE). He emigrated and began working for the WWWF as early as the late 1960s, including tag work as one of the Mongols under masks. Promoters later cast him as a singing, mocking Soviet strongman who belted a distorted national anthem before matches—kayfabe geopolitics that drew enormous heat in Reagan-era arenas even though he was Croatian, not Russian.

He teamed with the Iron Sheik to win the WWF Tag Team Championship at the first WrestleMania (1985) after singing and flag theatrics that defined mid-1980s heel tags. Other alliances included the Bolsheviks with Boris Zhukov. Earlier and later runs spanned multiple McMahon eras and independents; he also worked as Bepo of the Mongols and under other Slavic-tinged billings.

Hall of Fame and death

WWE inducted Volkoff into its Hall of Fame in 2005. Away from character work he lived in Maryland, was open about his Croatian identity, and made nostalgia appearances long after the Soviet Union dissolved—proof that the name Nikolai Volkoff was theater. He died on July 29, 2018, at age 70 in Glen Arm, Maryland, after hospitalization. Obituaries uniformly led with the birth name Josip Peruzović beneath the Soviet gimmick fans remembered.

WrestleMania I / early Mania DVD sets 1980s WWF documentary books Iron Sheik related memoirs/media