10 Wrestling Ripoffs Better Than The Original

Does Sin Cara II count as a ripoff? Maybe/maybe not, but it's true that Hunico/Jorge Arias fared better than his counterpart Luis Alvirde had under the mask. Alvirde, otherwise known as Mistico, carried huge hype when he signed on the dotted line with WWE in 2011. Hopes he'd become the next version of Rey Mysterio were dashed quickly when the re-dubbed Sin Cara failed to fit into WWE's way of doing things.

He was gone by 2014, and Arias was theoretically saddled with a dying gimmick. Then, something wonderful happened. Sin Cara II found his place on the product by forming a fun tag-team with Kalisto. Together, as The Lucha Dragons, the pair showed terrific chemistry together on NXT. WWE management was impressed enough to call them up to the main roster after that.

The Cara character sustained until 2019. That's when Arias left the promotion after requesting his own release from contract. He could hold his head high, because he'd rescued a seemingly dead duck persona five years prior. Sin Cara never hit the heights expected of it in WWE, but the second "ripoff" version was a vast improvement on the clumsy and nervy original, and it'd still fit in on WWE's roster today.

It's hard to picture Alvirde lasting up until 2019 under the gimmick had he stayed put. Mistico argued that WWE chiefs wouldn't let him wrestle the same style he had back home in Mexico, but it's no stretch to say he flopped on the bigger worldwide stage. Sin Cara II, meanwhile, was never less than watchable in-ring.