10 BEST Wrestling Rip-Offs
6. The Rockers (The Midnight Express/Rock & Roll Express)
As young upstarts that suited the look far more than those they'd borrowed so much of it from, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty didn't so much feel like rip-offs as the final composite form of two iconic double acts from the years prior.
The Midnights and Rock & Rolls had electric chemistry together during their 1980s rivalry, and it was that in-ring spark Jannetty and Michaels borrowed and refined, applying it so liberally in the AWA that they were quickly spotted, signed and pushed by WWE in 1988.
Looking younger than Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson and exhibiting more athletic prowess than every version of the Midnight Express, The Rockers made so much more sense for Vince McMahon's polished product. That they split without winning tag gold never hampered their longstanding legacy as one of the all-time great double acts either - they're remembered fondly as pioneers, even if much of the aesthetic was carefully cribbed along the way.