10 Wrestling Ripoffs Better Than The Original

Some wrestling ripoffs are downright weird, whereas others are downright terrible. The Renegade was a poor man's Ultimate Warrior who did nothing to distance WCW from 'WWF lite' claims in the mid-1990s, for example. Other rips, like Eric Young playing the role of TNA's Daniel Bryan and Asya mimicking Chyna (again in WCW), outright sucked too. Not every knock off is a wonky misfire though.

There are WWE ripoffs that actually bettered what came before. No, seriously. It's true. It's damn true.

All of the ones featured here improved on earlier prototypes. Several crossed over from one company to another, but many took place just a few years apart in the same promotion. Workers laid the groundwork for a successful character, then somebody else came along and pilfered what they liked most about it. The cheeky rascals! Those wrestlers then built upon the solid foundations to bag themselves some healthy TV time.

5 of the 10 included even turned their careers around to become WWE World Champions by rather blatantly erm...borrowing what had already happened. It was sneaky genius, being honest, and it's hardly like fans selling out arenas or buying merch by the truckload were bothered that their firm favourites or most hated heels could be considered retreads - they were far too busy enjoying themselves to notice and/or care.

They were still ripoffs. That can't be denied. Such "inspiration" isn't restricted to the roster itself either. Former members of WWE's upper management have nabbed from elsewhere to create better content on their own shows. Eagle eyes, sharp minds and those who tout controversy creating cash will know exactly what that's referring to.

Anyone who has ever caught some shoot interview footage starring Lanny Poffo could tell you that Randy Savage's sibling was a unique dude. Sometimes, it seemed like Lanny was still working interviewers just because he could, and it was clear he carried a cerebral quality that actually made him seem zany. Poffo was obviously a pretty intelligent fellow, so the Genius character he played on TV wasn't a stretch.

It was, however, less-than compared to Damien Sandow's own 'Intellectual Saviour Of The (Unwashed) Masses'. Sandow took the Genius blueprint as his own in 2011, honed it in WWE developmental, then brought it to the main roster in 2012. He was verbose in vignettes and delighted in ridiculing those who followed standard pop culture rather than educating themselves like he had.

Sure, Sandow was a stereotypically snooty pro wrestling heel, but he rode The Genius 2.0 thing all the way to the top of the WWE cards. Or...nearly to the top of WWE cards. Damien won Money In The Bank in 2013, and that seemed like his ticket to permanent main event status. Not quite. WWE bizarrely got cold feet on pushing Sandow, jobbed him out, then he tumbled back down the pecking order.

Despite that setback, he definitely improved on the formula Poffo had engineered with his poetical Genius guise in the WWF's late-80s and early-90s. Fans treated Sandow like a major star until his own company harpooned the push. Aesthetically, Damien and Lanny even sort of looked the same, which gave his 'Intellectual Saviour' gimmick a pleasing retro air.

What could've been, eh?