15 MORE Wrestling Gimmicks That Got Weird Rip-Offs
13. Ric Flair (Buddy Landel)
Shane Douglas' hatred of Ric Flair was used to comical effect when 'The Franchise' was at the top of his game in ECW in 1994. 'The Nature Boy' had booked Douglas in a less-than-favourable fashion during their time together in WCW, and by the time Shane had his finger on the trigger and the pulse, Flair was the one getting both barrels to generate pops.
It was a strange paradox for the time - a company that used Terry Funk to an expert extent and paid selective respect to wrestlers from the past elected not to include the mid-40s multi-time Champion Ric Flair in their praise. His personal alienation of Douglas drove the new ECW Champion in his quest against those that controlled pro wrestling, but workers gonna work, and less than a year after he threw down the NWA belt to formally launch Extreme Championship Wrestling, he threw his signature on a WWF contract.
The run was a mess, riddled with lost political battles and matches that didn't support the growing argument that he was one of the best all-rounders in the world. By December 1995, he was ready to return to ECW, but not before introducing Buddy Landel as his replacement for an In Your House 5 match with Ahmed Johnson. Landel, with flowing blonde hair and beautiful sequin robe, entered to the famous WWE knockoff of Also Sprach Zarathustra, and was nicknamed 'The Nature Boy'. Landel's time with the market leader was to be even briefer than Douglas', but at least he wasn't forced to endure it with such gritted teeth.