http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PartsUnknown

WrestleCrap shows us what happens when other shows get in on the Parts Unknown game.

Jerry Lawler: Where is Dudleyville, J.R.?

Jim Ross: I think it's out there past Parts Unknown.

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The standard Professional Wrestling ring introduction consists of four parts: hometown, height, weight, and name. However, there are some cases where one might not want to give a hometown; after all, if you have a quasi-mystical Made of Iron badass loner, it would probably rob them of some of their mystique if they were from Joisey. The solution? Announce them as being "from Parts Unknown".

Parts Unknown, simply put, is wrestling speak for "we don't know where the hell this person's from." However, it's taken on a life of its own in wrestling fandom, where it's become popular to depict Parts Unknown as a real place that's home to some very unreal personalities. Possibly as a result of this, most wrestling promoters have changed from using Parts Unknown to using more descriptive, though equally non-specific, hometowns. Many of these variations on "Parts Unknown" are bizarre and sometimes straight-up impossible, as in they don't physically exist. But if it's a Wrestling Monster whose gimmick involves being violently insane, it's not like anybody's going to argue with them if they say they're from the depths of Hell.

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This is also often used in video games, specifically Fighting Games. This is probably due to the fact that nationality can often lead to preconceived notions about how a character should look and behave. Parts Unknown avoids this situation, especially with regards to certain characters who are not designed with any specific cultural/nationality tropes in mind, meaning that it is regularly applied to overtly mysterious, more fantastical characters. It's also regularly applied to Final Bosses.

As an aside, when used too liberally amongst a series' characters, this becomes unrealistic. After all, most people, especially in modern settings, do have a nationality and are aware of where they were born. Though "Parts Unknown" doesn't necessarily mean the character themself is unaware of where they're from; it could just be that they're not telling anybody else.

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Examples

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Wrestling

Live-Action TV

Deconstructed in the Murdoch Mysteries episode "Crabtree Mania". One of the wrestlers in a local stable is Vurugu from Parts Unknown, who dresses like the 1900s crowd would expect someone from Darkest Africa to look. Once they learn that he's actually an African American from Indianapolis, Crabtree comments that "parts unknown" doesn't really make sense: since it's unlikely Vurugu left "parts unknown" on his own and turned up at Toronto railway station in his furs and bone necklace; someone would have had to explore these parts to find him, at which point they would become known.

Video Games

Western Animation

Parodied in the Futurama episode "Raging Bender" when Bender's opponent is introduced during a Ultimate Robot Fighting League match: Referee: "And in this corner, from and made of parts unknown, the Clearcutter!"

Other