Ranking the 5 best animal mascots in WWE history

WWE can be a jungle sometimes. As a matter fact? At certain times during its history, the Worldwide Leader in Sports Entertainment has even been a dog-eat-dog world.

Several WWE legends have been accompanied to the squared circle by an animal acquaintance. We've seen birds, snakes... lions, tigers and bears, oh my!

Of course, it was never truly a Wild Kingdom in World Wrestling Entertainment until the 'cartoon era' of the 80's. From then on, it was like someone left the cage door open. Someone let the dogs out, and that someone was Vince McMahon.

Since then, we've seen animals of all kinds enter the promotion as mascots, pets or props. Here's a list of the top five animal mascots of all time in WWE.

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#5 - Ricky Steamboat's Komodo Dragon

Ricky Steamboat didn't become known as 'The Dragon' until he entered WWE in 1985. Before that, he had simply been a talented, technical babyface.

He fully embraced the Bruce Lee-type character, incorporating more martial arts into his offense, and even (early on) donning ninja gear. It was during his feud with Jake 'The Snake' Roberts that Steamboat needed something to get reptile revenge.

So... Enter the Dragon.

Steamboat's Komodo didn't really stick for long in WWE, but its confrontation with Damian on Saturday Night's Main Event went down as one of the more memorable moments of the show.

Ricky Steamboat is now retired from active competition, but the former Intercontinental Champion still makes appearances at wrestling conventions, indie events and autograph shows. Reportedly, Komodo lives comfortably in Phoenix - but still works occasionally as a stunt double in Godzilla movies.

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#4 - Al Snow's dog, Pepper

This is one of the more hilarious entries for a couple of reasons.

Number one, Al Snow went on a weeks-long run, where he was desperately trying to find his dog, Pepper. He would make public service announcements and hold up signs for people to call if they managed to find the lost pup.

(side note: The number that Snow put up onscreen was Val Venis' cell phone number. Needless to say, the rib worked, and Venis was receiving dozens of calls that night.)

Over time, it was revealed that The Big Bossman had stolen the dog, only to feed it to Snow later in a particularly gross segment of RAW. This led to the infamous Kennel from Hell match, which turned out to be a complete disaster.

And to think... all that over a silly little dog?

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#3 - Matilda was a trusty canine companion for the British Bulldogs

Despite a relatively short run in WWE in the mid-80's, the British Bulldogs are fondly remembered as true innovators of tag team offense. Their excellence in the ring, and the fact that they packed a wallop behind every move, made these former World Tag Team Champions a favorite with the audience.

At some point during that run, they no longer had the services of Captain Lou Albano as their manager, so they got a different kind of slobbering sidekick: An actual bulldog named Matilda.

Matilda was involved in an angle where the Islanders 'dog-napped' her, and Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid had to get her back. Other than that, most of her WWE existence centered on her being at ringside, quietly drooling and flatulating.

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#2 - Koko B. Ware and Frankie flew on a wing and a prayer all the way to the WWE Hall of Fame

Koko Ware almost morphed into a completely different person when he entered WWE after a decorated career in the southern territories. He went from being a superb athlete and all-around tough guy to becoming 'The Birdman'.

Ware was always accompanied by his parrot Frankie, who really didn't do much but perch in the cormer while Ware wrestled his matches.

Although Koko never held a title in the promotion, he was elected to immortlity in 2009, based largely on his colorful character. Frankie was part of the panoramic presentation that made 'The Birdman' Koko B. Ware a name that no fan will ever forget.

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#1 - Jake Roberts' python, Damian

This is an obvious choice for number one, as no animal was ever more closely associated with a particular wrestler's persona.

Damian represented everything that Jake Roberts was: cold, calculating, dark and devious. And much like Roberts and his devastating DDT? The snake could grab hold of you at a moment's notice.

Roberts' mastery of the sport's psychology is likely what led him to carry this intimidating creature into the ring with him. It gave him a quiet control over the crowd, who wanted to see just how far he would go with the diabolical Damian.

The python cemented Jake's character as a dastardly heel, capable of anything. And later, the duo became babyfaces, and Daman used his powers for good and decided to fight evil. The pair slithered all the way to the Hall of Fame in 2014.