20 WWE Superstars And Their 80s Counterparts

19. R-Truth/George Steele

Luke Harper and Bruiser Brody
WWE.com/WWE

At one point in time, it would’ve been easy to compare R-Truth to the late Junkyard Dog. When under the then-WWF umbrella, JYD was an African-American with a love of shaking his rump and a superstar who was hugely popular with the majority of viewers, particularly kids.

Ron Killings had been doing a similar shtick for many years – the rapping, dancing babyface who would get kids to sing along with him – before veering down the Little Jimmy path. Ever since then, Truth has been portrayed as unhinged and bordering on mentally handicapped.

Flash backwards to the 1980s World Wrestling Federation and you’ll find George “The Animal” Steele, a loveable superstar who was at best deemed simple, at worst labelled retarded. Whereas R-Truth is often seen wearing something resembling a straitjacket, George Steele would be seen eating turnbuckles.

Despite an uber-brief main event feud with John Cena, the majority of Killing’s WWE time has been spent as lower-midcard comedic relief. As for The Animal, he’s still picking the bits of turnbuckle out of his teeth to this day.

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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.