10 Wrestlers Who 'Borrowed' What Got Them Over

It's only a crime if you get caught, right? 'Knowing homages' (aka bare-ars*d acts of thievery) are common throughout many industries. In comedy, joke-theft is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, punishable by excommunication. In the world of music, sampling a track without the artist's permission is a big no-no and could land you in serious trouble (and court).

In the professional wrestling industry, you have gimmick infringement. You'd be right to think that that it's a terrible idea to steal from someone whose job is lifting people over their heads and throwing them on the ground, and, in the internet age, pointing out when someone's 'borrowing' someone else's gimmick is much easier than it was.

Saying that, looking through history you can see that gimmick infringement wasn't just common; people have built entire careers from lifting someone else's move, look, or catchphrase. It's not even fellow wrestlers that suffer the slight, sometimes main event stars have incorporated the signature style of celebrities to aid them in getting over with the fans.

Of course, stealing isn't a guarantee of success. Brodus Clay's Funkasaurus gimmick was an amalgamation of Flash Funk and his Funkettes, along with the pilfering of Ernest 'The Cat' Miller's "Somebody Call My Momma" theme song. It would not be fair to the words 'great' and 'success' to call the Funkasaurus a great success.

But here are ten wrestlers who ran with someone else's idea and cashed it in for championships and prizes. (NB - it's not the intention of this article to demonise all the wrestlers mentioned, some were just performing the gimmick they were given. Some are thieving bastards, though)