A wrestlers gimmick or character is their livelihood. Its what enables them to get over and connect with the fans. As proven time and time again, the right character is extremely important. Steve Austin floundered in WCWs midcard with the Stunning gimmick, but as Stone Cold, he rocketed to superstardom. Kevin Nash failed miserably in his various WCW gimmicks but achieved great success as Diesel in the World Wrestling Federation, and later as himself in the nWo. With the right gimmick a superstar can be born. However, its not easy to come up with a great character or find one that connects in the perfect way with the crowd. There have been a great deal of lackluster and utterly terrible characters over the years. So, when a good gimmick is found, its something to be cherished. Because of this, many wrestlers resort to simply ripping off whats worked in the past. Theres been a lot of so-called gimmick infringement in wrestlings history. However, were not here to talk about the guys who took some established ideas and qualities. Instead, were going to take a look back at ten wrestling gimmicks that were blatantly stolen. No changes, no tweaks -- these gimmicks were plagiarised. Join us as we count down 10 wrestlers who had their gimmicks blatantly stolen from them.
Douglas Scarpa is a freelance writer, independent filmmaker, art school graduate, and pro wrestling aficionado -- all of which mean he is in financial ruin. He has no backup plan to speak of, yet maintains his abnormally high spirits. If he had only listened to the scorn of his childhood teachers, he wouldn't be in this situation.
