10 Times Wrestlers Got Away With Ripping Off WWE

8. Zeus

Undertaker Sting
WWE.com

Zeus was the antagonist of the 1989 motion picture No Holds Barred - the WWF's first foray onto the silver screen. It was a critical and commercial disaster, but apparently not disastrous enough to immediately kill the idea of WWE Studios.

He was a bust in the ring, but it hardly mattered; Randy Savage carried his load in that year's SummerSlam headliner tie-in, and that was the end of that. Then, six years after everybody forgot the film even existed, Zeus was drafted into WCW to take part in the beat-for-beat recycling of the Hulkamania story. Another Hogan antagonist - The Big Boss Man - was corrected by the WWF legal team, who understandably balked at WCW's decision to rename him The Boss and follow that up, on commentary, with "Man, is he big!"

So, WCW tinkered with the frame of referenZe, and rechristened Tom Lister Jr. 'Z-Gangsta' - the suffix a clear case of "Well, he's black, isn't he?" And if that sounds like a glib, baseless and offensive accusation of racism, consider the case of the Ultimate Solution, with whom Z-Gangsta teamed in the phenomenally awful Doomsday Cage headliner at Uncensored 1996.

Robert Swenson was first named the Final Solution before somebody was alerted to that ghastly business.

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!