WWE: 8 Wrestlers Whose Gimmicks Were Totally Ripped Off From Movies

5. Waylon Mercy, The Psycho Redneck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fyZbSOQYhw In 1995, Dan Spivey rejoined the WWF after an unsuccessful run years before and a tour of all the other American promotions, and this time Vince McMahon was determined to make this guy a star and get his moneys worth. Spivey was given the character of Waylon Mercy, which was heavily influenced by Robert De Niro's character Max Cady in the '91 remake of the film Cape Fear, in which a convicted rapist attempts to get revenge on his lawyer. Max Cady initially came off as a soft spoken southern gentleman, but his demeanour hides an aggressively violent temperament and religious fervour, with famous scenes showing him speaking in tongues and handling a molten flare in his bare hand while proclaiming that he was more than human. "Grandaddy used ter handle snakes in church... Daddy drank strychnine... ah guess yew could say ah had a leg up, genetically speaking". He was truly terrifying. Trouble was, Waylon Mercy didn't give that same vibe off. He could dress the same, wear similar tattoos and act violent in the ring, but he never gave off the same air of menace that De Niro did, and he retired later that same year due to injuries. Odds are that the Waylon Mercy character would have been consigned as a footnote in history had it not been for Windham Rotunda, who 17 years later turned all aspects of the character up to 11, added a healthy dash of Charles Manson and was reborn as Bray Wyatt.