10 BEST Wrestling Rip-Offs
9. Powers Of Pain (The Road Warriors)
There can be no greater compliment to the influence of The Road Warriors that two acts could so obviously mimic them at the height of their powers and build relatively successful careers with the formula.
Barbarian and Warlord shared more than just haircuts and painted faces in the mid-1980s - they were massive men that looked believable battering folk.
While Demolition became something of an inter-promotional dream match for Hawk and Animal, the Powers Of Pain were there as doppelgänger foil. Fortunately, they were able to learn very quickly about the benefit of borrowing from the very best. The two looked great, put over their superiors and eventually found their way to WWE in 1988.
A babyface run was the natural way to go thanks to the dominance of pre-existing Tag Team Champions Demolition, but a double turn at the '88 Survivor Series resulted in the feud taking place with the teams on opposite sides and working against one another at both WrestleMania and the Survivor Series again in 1989. Their 1990 split highlighted how easy it was to transition them into wildly different gimmicks, but they certainly made the best of what others might have considered a bad situation.