10 Ideas WWE Blatantly Stole From THEMSELVES
WWE enjoys going through the archives and erm...borrowing from its own past!
Boot up pretty much any episode of Raw from the past and you'll see some familiar tropes. Heels will cheat, someone will cut a lengthy promo that gets interrupted, and babyfaces will always act like the ropes are some impenetrable forcefield that stops them from getting to their enemies (who just so happen to be a few feet away).
What about when WWE gets specific with lifting from the past though? They've done that countless times with various character templates, creative ideas and even physical championships. Learning that the company erm...borrowed from old rivals like WCW is one thing, but they've also nabbed a ton of content from themselves.
It's true, and it continues to happen on shows like Raw and SmackDown today. There's nothing especially wrong with this; what is pro wrestling if not an infinite loop of samey moments perhaps only viewed as unique because of the performers involved or 'cause younger fans didn't see the originals years ago?
Older fans will be in the know though. They'll have one of those 'DiCaprio pointing at the screen' meme moments when seeing stuff that looks very, very familiar.
Like all of this...
10. Bayley & Sasha Banks = LayCool
Sasha Banks and Bayley went on a tear throughout the closed-set pandemic days of 2020. The real-life pals were visibly having fun on TV, and both enjoyed the chance to cut lengthy promos without fans chiming in with archaic, unwanted chants of "WHAT?!" every two seconds.
Their dominant, gold-winning spree has been likened to the 'Two-Man Power Trip' work of Steve Austin and Triple H in 2001. That's fair, but fans had witnessed a tyrannical, twin-pronged female tag-team before: LayCool. Oh yes, Sasha and Bayley were a modern update on Michelle McCool and Layla.
They were just better in-ring workers.
Both generally carried themselves as bullying sorts who'd rub their own success in the faces of fans and rivals alike. Who does that sound like? It's exactly what McCool and Layla did a decade or so before Bayley and Banks were working their mid-ThunderDome era magic in front of LED screens and fans locked down back home.