20 WWE Superstars And Their 80s Counterparts

9. Dolph Ziggler/Curt Hennig

Luke Harper and Bruiser Brody
WWE.com/Unknown

Looking back at the 1980s landscape of professional wrestling, so much of what Curt Hennig did can be tied to Dolph Ziggler today. And I don’t just mean they both have blonde straggly hair.

During his time in the AWA, Hennig became a hugely popular babyface who fans were dying to cheer. Then he turned heel in order to defeat Nick Bockwinkle for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Of course, Hennig was also excellent between the ropes, and he’d go on to be fondly remembered for his Mr. Perfect run that began in the WWF in the late-‘80s. Showing off and belittling opposition, Perfect knew he was damn good and wanted everybody else to know it too.

With Dolph Ziggler, here’s a talent who has flip-flopped between babyface and heel throughout his career, is respected for being a hell of an in-ring worker, and who also likes to regularly remind people of just how good he really is. 

Oh, and he’s also got blonde hair too.

Luckily for Hennig, the only time he really did the denim look was when rap was deemed most definitely crap.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.