10 Famous Wrestling Gimmicks That Ripped Off Real People

9. Nation Of Domination (Nation Of Islam)

The 'Nation Of Domination' wasn't the first idea the then-WWF had for Ron Simmons upon signing him in 1996. Clad in a truly awful blue outfit, Simmons was renamed 'Faarooq Asaad', which was a real departure from the hard-hitting Southern character the man had played in WCW. In later years, Simmons stated that he thought the WWF's new Gladiator-style gimmick was a rib. Relatively quickly, the man was changing gimmicks once more. Keeping the name Faarooq, Simmons dressed in a more militant style and formed the aforementioned Nation faction. Straight away, people started to draw comparisons between the Nation Of Domination and the real-life Nation Of Islam political party. There were even some who saw similarities with the black power 'Black Panthers'. There can be no denying that this is what Vince McMahon and his creative team were going for. With the way he dressed and carried himself, Faarooq seemed to be a pro wrestling version of Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation Of Islam. Even the WWF character's name was based on Farrakhan's surname.