10 WCW Stars Who Did WWE Gimmicks First

3. Van Hammer

OK, so Elias is a mish-mash of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, whereas 'Heavy Metal Van Hammer' was a homage to hair metal acts of the 1970s-80s like Van Halen, Guns N' Roses and others. However, both share a ton of similarities between them beyond choosing acoustic guitars over the 'Flying V'.

Just look at them side-to-side. That could be SmackDown's next rocking, socking tag-team hit when Elias returns from injury...in an alternate universe. As anyone who witnessed Hammer's attempts to get over would attest, that's not a world anyone wants to live in. He directly failed to grasp the basics of pro wrestling.

Elias has him licked there then.

His own throwback style fits in with what Van Hammer was trying to achieve though. Nostalgia can be a powerful tool, and Elias' troubadour style approach does seem like the kind of gimmick WCW would've tried back in the day.