In Netherstorm, you can find a High Elf named Nova Terra near a tomb dedicated to her. This tomb and character act as a memorial to the canceled game "Starcraft: Ghost".

During Wrath of the Lich King, until July 7th 2009, it was possible to tame a worgen character named "Garwal" by using tame pet as he assumed his humanoid form. The captured worgen were later changed to winterskorn worgs.

The Chinese version of World of Warcraft is censored to hide instances of blood, gore, and death, and replaced instances of bone or gore with other objects such as sandbags and bread. Undead creatures have also been edited to remove any graphic or gory details.

Added in the expansion World of WarCraft: Legion, you can find in Bradenbrook within the area Val'sharah the NPCs Arin Hanson, Jon Jafari and Ross O'Donovan who're named after the hosts of the let's play series Game Grumps.

The baby murloc dance is a reference to the chuck Jones character, Michigan J. Frog, most well known for using a top hat and cane while singing and dancing in the style of a vaudeville performer.

In the Battle for Azeroth expansion there is a Kingdom Hearts reference. Specifically, if the player goes to the Thresher's Wharf area of Stormsong valley and climb a tall structure they can find three Beleaguered Watchmen looking out dramatically at the water. The way they are positioned, dressed, and how the scene is choreographed, make them look like the three original human characters from Kingdom Hearts: Sora, Kairi, and Riku.

During the release day of the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, guards in the cities of Orgrimmar and Stormwind had swords resembling lightsabers equipped in celebration. Stormwind guards had blue sabers whilst Orgrimmar guards had orange ones.

In Grizzly Hills, you can find a deer named Bambina following his mother, alongside a skunk named Flora and a rabbit named Thudder. Following them, you'll come across a scripted event where a hunter shoots and kills Bambina's mother and Bambina will go into a murderous rage, gaining the "Bambina's Vengeance" buff. This is a reference to the children's classic Bambi.

There is a plaque with the letters WKM hidden in a rock spire in Orgrimmar. The area is not usually accessible but can be reached by using glitches.

There is an unfinished instance that lays just north of Stratholme. It can be seen on the world map but is otherwise inaccessible without the use of glitches or exploits. It contains segments of Stratholme that are inaccessible through normal play including an untextured model of Naxxramus.

Through the use of glitches in 5.4.2, it was possible to fall out of the Naxxramas dungeon in Northrend, walk to a glitched instance of Stratholme, past the unused portal in Stratholme to find the unfinished model of Naxxramas.

The icons for the Red-Speckled Mushroom, Essence Infused Mushroom, Power Infused Mushroom, and Mushroom of Destiny items appear similar to the "Super Mushroom" power-up from the Mario series by Nintendo.

Ben Brode, member of Team 5 and Senior Game Designer for Hearthstone, appears in players' Draenor garrison for both factions.
He sells two Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft themed Toys.

The irradiated workers in Area 52 originally used the gnome model, but used the goblin voice. As of patch 2.3.0, they use the goblin body. It is speculated that they used the gnome model because goblins couldn't wear helmets at the time of implementation. Lead Sapper Blastfizzle still uses a gnome model, however.

In the lower area of Shattrath City, there are two NPCs which are references to He-Man and Skeletor from the "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" cartoon. These are Adam Eternum (Alliance), who can be seen with his mount which bears a striking resemblance to He-Man's Battle Cat, and Keldor the Lost (Horde), who claims Adam Eternum has stolen his "grey skull", a further reference to the series' Castle Greyskull.

The two also made appearances in the WoW Trading Card Game.

Despite the males having a unique facial model, female Taunka share the same model as female Tauren.

A creature called "Nessy" can be found in The Deeprun Tram. This is a reference to The Loch Ness Monster.

Like the goblin shredders which depict Sarah Kerrigan from Starcraft Brood War, the Sky Golem mount depicts Kerrigan as seen in Starcraft 2.

All the dances for each race and gender are dances from musical artists or films:
• Draenei Female - Shakira's belly dancing
• Draenei Male - "Tunak Tunak Tun" by Daler Mehndi
• Dwarf Female - Riverdance
• Dwarf Male - Ukrainian Cossack dancing
• Gnome Female - "Don't Cha" by The Pussycat Dolls
• Gnome Male - "The Bad Touch" by Bloodhound Gang
• Human Female - The Macarena
• Human Male - "You Should Be Dancing" by Bee Gees
• Night Elf Female - "J'en ai marre" by Alizée
• Night Elf Male - "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson
• Worgen Female - "Pokerface" by Lady Gaga
• Worgen Male - "My Love" by Justin Timberlake
• Blood Elf Female - "Toxic" by Brittney Spears
• Blood Elf Male - Napoleon Dynamite dance
• Goblin Female - "Single Ladies" by Beyonce Knowles
• Goblin Male - "Crank That" by Soulja Boy
• Orc Female - "Back That Azz Up" by Juvenile
• Orc Male - "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer
• Troll Female - "Whenever, Wherever" by Shakira
• Troll Male - Capoeira (Brazilian martial arts)
• Tauren Female - The Electric Slide
• Tauren Male - Noodle dance / Raise the Roof / Peanut Butter Jelly Time
• Undead Female - The "weeping willow" / Liquid dancing
• Undead Male - Heavy Metal Headbanging
• Pandaren Female - "Caramelldansen" by Caramell
• Pandaren Male - "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO
• Druid Bear Form - Bear Dance from Dr. Dolittle 2
• Druid Moonkin Form - Chippendale dancer parody by Chris Farley
• Druid Cat and Travel Form - "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" from The Lion King
• Druid Tree of Life Form - The Twist
• Shaman Ghost Wolf Form - Snoopy dance

The sounds orcas make in the game are actually calls of their real-life cousins, the humpback whale. The orca makes a higher pitched and distinctly different call.

In the Eastern Kingdoms before the Cataclysm expansion, there was a hidden away area known as 'Newman's Landing,' where it was possible to see Alliance character models quickly appear and disappear. This is because when a new Alliance character was created, this was the place they were first spawned in before quickly being teleported to their race's starting zone.