35 Current WWE Stars And Their '90s Counterparts
Well, they do say that nothing in wrestling is ever really new...
As is so often said, nothing is ever new in wrestling; what was once the past will soon become the present and the future.
When it comes to personas, gimmicks, movesets and promo styles, there are very things that are truly unique to a particular performer. Some wrestlers may merely use a move that they’ve seen elsewhere and thought was cool, whilst others may pull out a particular manoeuvre as an homage of sorts to a superstar of years gone by. And then there are those who pull inspiration for their modern-day characters from the heroes and villains of yesteryear.
In all honesty, it takes a very special performer to be somebody truly unique in the wrestling business, and it is certainly not a put-down on any grappler to say that they have clearly been influenced in their promo delivery by Wrestler A or have borrowed a move from the arsenal of Wrestler B.
For some superstars, they have the ability to pull inspiration from others and to take what they see and manipulate and mould it to make an end product that is infinitely superior to what has gone before. Then there are others who just come off as a blatant rip-off of something that was once over many moons ago.
With that said, let’s take a look at 35 performers under the WWE umbrella (yes, that includes NXT) and their 1990s counterparts.
33. Jeff Hardy/Finn Balor
A hugely popular, good looking, charismatic babyface who can fly around the ring, is being groomed for superstardom and who has a tendency to cover himself in paint?
This is a line that could be thrown at both NXT’s Finn Balor and the Charismatic Enigma himself, Jeff Hardy.
Hardy is still an active performer over in TNA (for however little time that promotion seemingly has left in business), but it was the late ‘90s that saw The Hardy Boyz start to become more than just fodder to the stars.
Even in the infancy of Matt and Jeff as a recognised, main roster tag team, everybody could see that Jeff was the one who was destined for greater things. His charisma and care-free daredevil ways put him over huge with near-enough every demographic: men of all ages would pop for his death-defying array of moves, whilst women would swoon over his looks and charm, and younger viewers were rushing to get the latest Hardy Boyz merch.
Jeff had the oft-referenced “It Factor”, and much like the body-painted WWE high flyer of yesteryear, Finn Balor has that exact same appeal.