10 Wrestling Ripoffs Better Than The Original

This one could be considered controversial, but then Eric Bischoff has always claimed that controversy creates cash. Here, it creates intrigue, because Bisch beat Vince McMahon to the punch when crafting an evil owner gimmick onscreen. Eric turned heel and shockingly joined the nWo in late-1996. By then, he was outed as a power player in WCW's hierarchy, so the villainous faction suddenly held huge sway behind the scenes.

Post-Montreal Screwjob in late-1997, McMahon decided to turn real-life drama into promotional dollars by becoming the evil Mr. McMahon character. This gave new blockbuster star Steve Austin an excellent enemy to bounce off of, and it helped turn WWF business around for the better. It might've been accidental, but McMahon was ripping off something Bischoff had already done over on WCW's side.

He was pretty much the same evil boss who undermined heroes and went above and beyond to be a tyrant.

This is a parallel Eric has drawn before on his '83 Weeks' podcast, but even he'd relent that Vince improved on the formula over time. Bischoff was great with a mic in his hands, sure. McMahon was better. It's really as simple as that. Vince perfected the evil owner/authority figure role, so much so that numerous names that followed the same path couldn't deliver the way he had.

It's rather interesting to imagine that Bischoff got their first before the WWF's braintrust did. He knew that playing the smug, borderline untouchable boss would garner tremendous amounts of heat. Then, McMahon came along and bettered it on the other channel.