The bulk of the cast is made up of wrestlers from the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association, which was owned by the film's producer, Verne Gagne.
In addition to having real professional wrestlers playing the wrestlers in the film, "The Mobster" was played by professional wrestler Sammy Menacker. He was formerly known as "Slammin' Sam Menacker." By the time this film was made, Menacker had retired from the ring but was still in the business as a host/commentator.
The promoters that Frank meets with regarding the "Super Bowl" are the real promoters of the National Wrestling Alliance, including WWF founder Vincent McMahon Sr.
Hawaiian wrestler Harold Sakata was using the name "Odd Job," the name of the character he played in the motion picture 007 contra Goldfinger (1964) ten years earlier.
Fred Marxen was Verne Gagne's real-life brother-in-law.