10 Most Shameless Wrestling Ripoffs Ever
4. The Renegade
Ripped Off: Ultimate Warrior
The Renegade was played by the Killer Kowalski-trained Richard Wilson, who had a couple of years experience under his belt by the time he was brought into WCW through one of the most shambolic reveals in that promotion's history. Still second to The Shockmaster, though.
It was 1995. Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan were feuding with Ric Flair and Vader at the time. With 'The Hulkster' booked to face Vader at Uncensored, he started talking about an "ultimate surprise" that he would soon unleash upon the world, showing the silhouette of a big, muscled-up monster with wild, untamed hair. A clear allusion to the Ultimate Warrior, who was a free agent at the time.
Put over as he who was "gonna bring Hulkamania into the 21st century," Hogan's "ultimate surprise" wasn't the Warrior, but the goddamn Renegade, and... just look at him. A sad cosplay version of Jim Hellwig's iconic madman, it's nuts that Hogan and WCW though that this would be something their crowd would invest in - but less surprising that Renegade burned out in his first few months.
The real Warrior didn't join WCW until 1998.
See also: One Warrior Nation. That low-budget tribute act never made it out of the indies but shamelessly ripped The Ultimate Warrior for years, competing primarily on the northeastern United States and Canadian circuits.