10 Iconic Wrestling Gimmicks You Didn't Know Were STOLEN

4. Every WWE Star Of The 1990s

The Undertaker and... some guy
WWE

In the early 1990s, through the rise of Sky TV - the first truly accessible equivalent to American cable TV in the United Kingdom - the WWF got hot in Britain several years after the promotion exploded in the US. So many years, in fact, that the Fed was already dying on the other side of the pond.

This allowed Vince McMahon to promote SummerSlam in front of a legitimate attendance of 80,000 at Wembley Stadium.

This also allowed a bunch of beans on toast carnies to run fake WWF shows at leisure centres all over the land.

Yes, if you were a Fed-mad '90s kid, there's a high chance you begged your parents to watch "WWF Wrestling" at the same place you took swimming lessons and went to 5-a-side football parties. There, you'll have seen various nobodies from a dead British scene pretend to be 'Superstars' - for younger fans, imagine NXT UK with slightly worse production values.

Of course, the real stars of the WWF were never anywhere near this sort of place in 1995. They were too busy wrestling in the slightly more glamorous confines of American high schools.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!