10 Wrestling Ripoffs Better Than The Original

10. Damien Sandow (The Genius)

Anyone who has ever caught some shoot interview footage starring Lanny Poffo could tell you that Randy Savage's sibling was a unique dude. Sometimes, it seemed like Lanny was still working interviewers just because he could, and it was clear he carried a cerebral quality that actually made him seem zany. Poffo was obviously a pretty intelligent fellow, so the Genius character he played on TV wasn't a stretch.

It was, however, less-than compared to Damien Sandow's own 'Intellectual Saviour Of The (Unwashed) Masses'. Sandow took the Genius blueprint as his own in 2011, honed it in WWE developmental, then brought it to the main roster in 2012. He was verbose in vignettes and delighted in ridiculing those who followed standard pop culture rather than educating themselves like he had.

Sure, Sandow was a stereotypically snooty pro wrestling heel, but he rode The Genius 2.0 thing all the way to the top of the WWE cards. Or...nearly to the top of WWE cards. Damien won Money In The Bank in 2013, and that seemed like his ticket to permanent main event status. Not quite. WWE bizarrely got cold feet on pushing Sandow, jobbed him out, then he tumbled back down the pecking order.

Despite that setback, he definitely improved on the formula Poffo had engineered with his poetical Genius guise in the WWF's late-80s and early-90s. Fans treated Sandow like a major star until his own company harpooned the push. Aesthetically, Damien and Lanny even sort of looked the same, which gave his 'Intellectual Saviour' gimmick a pleasing retro air.

What could've been, eh?