Today we present you 15 Wrestling Gimmicks You Never Knew Were Based On Real People
15: John Morrison – Jim Morrison
Even the most diehard of John Hennigan fans
must have trouble keeping up with his ring names,
as he has been called everything from Johnny Blaze to Johnny Spade
before debuting on WWE TV in 2005 as Johnny Nitro.
After capturing the ECW World Championship
at Vengeance Night of Champions 2007,
Nitro changed his name to John Morrison
and revealed a new look, though it was clearly based off
of popular rock star Jim Morrison.
With his natural good looks and fluffy hair
fans flocked to the new champion, who also copied
other mannerisms of the famed singer of The Doors,
as well as developing a massive ego.
As Morrison, the character would last for several years,
and in addition to the ECW Title,
Morrison would also hold the, Intercontinental,
WWE Tag and World Tag titles,
before his release in 2011.
14: Aaron Rex and Rockstar Spud – Liberace and Scott Thorson
When WWE sudden released Damien Sandow in May 2016,
fans were taken aback.
With his gimmick of parodying other wrestlers, legends
and even public figures out of the company,
Sandow had become one of WWE’s most popular,
though underutilized talents.
Though many fans hoped Sandow’s departure
would lead to big things for the former Money in the Bank winner,
his brief tenure in Impact Wrestling
just made everyone more confused.
Named Aaron Rex
and taking Rockstar Spud as his Scott Thorson-inspired manager,
the duo found some success,
though the character never really went anywhere.
After just a handful of months,
it was clear the company and the wrestlers had given up on the idea,
and Rex was released not long after.
13: Tammy Fytch – Hilary Clinton
Hilary Clinton may have made headlines with her 2016 US Presidential campaign,
but in 1992, she was best known as the wife of Bill.
Though Clinton was a smart, politically minded figure,
ready to make a difference in her own way,
her liberal attitudes did face several backlash
throughout some Americans, particularly in the south.
With this in mind, Tammy Sytch,
who would later become WWE’s Sunny would parody Clinton, becoming Tammy Fytch.
A staple of Smoky Mountain Wrestling,
the character was pure genius
as the character was able to gain massive heat from the crowd
just by saying Clinton’s name.
12: Raven and The Jackal – David Koresh
CM Punk may have been described as a Cult
of Personality in his theme song,
but long before the Straight Edge Star set foot in a ring,
there was stars like Raven and The Jackal.
Despite being in different companies,
the pair shared many similarities,
as Raven’s quiet, eerie demeanour would spark intrigue
from the loyal ECW faithful
whilst The Jackal would garner a similar
reaction in the WWF.
Part of why both men played cult-like leaders
is because the US was facing a real threat
from deranged religious fanatics at the time,
with David Koresh being one of the worst.
A truly deranged figure,
Koresh was the leader of the Branch Davidians
cult that perished during a standoff with ATF agents near Waco, Texas,
and though the cult did unspeakable things,
people couldn’t help but tune in.
Koresh was known for his charisma and manipulative personality,
and it wouldn’t be long before these traits were used in wrestling,
with Raven and the Jackal both
being called the David Koresh of wrestling, by their respective companies.
11: Stone Cold Steve Austin – Richard Kuklinski
With his cold personality, ruthless attitude
and lack of care for anyone else,
Stone Cold Steve Austin has perhaps
the most fitting nickname in WWE history.
But all those adjectives also apply frighteningly well
for famed contract killer Richard Kuklinski, who was dubbed The Iceman for his methodical technique.
It just so happened that whilst sat at home one day,
Austin was watching a documentary about the killer
and found the man fascinating.
Though the real Steve Austin doesn’t share much in common with Kuklinksi,
the Rattlesnake did borrow several personality
traits to create the Stone Cold character,
building arguably the greatest Superstar of all time.
10: Patrick Clark, Prince Iaukea and The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust – Prince
One of the most bizarre and outlandish human beings to ever perform,
Prince was a music icon that pop culture had never quite seen before.
His Royal Badness was one of a kind,
but that didn’t stop the world of professional wrestling
from making their own imitations.
After denouncing his original gimmick,
Goldust became the Artist Formerly Known as Goldust,
mimicking the singer’s exile from Warner Bros.
Just one year later, it was WCW’s turn to channel Prince, turning Prince Iaukea into another Artists
turning Prince Iaukea into another Artists Formerly Known as,
though this portrayal did at least include a purple suit
and manager from Paisley Park.
Most recently, Tough Enough’s Patrick Clark channelled Prince,
as the young Superstar has become Velveteen Dream,
one of the most popular acts in WWE today.
9: Pogo The Clown – John Wayne Gacy
If you don’t know who Pogo the Clown is,
you’re probably not alone,
as the wrestler never made it to WWE or WCW,
but did have a lengthy stint in the ECW Knockoff promotion Xtreme Pro Wrestling.
Chances are the main reason Pogo
never made it big is due to his character being based
heavily on prolific Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy,
with the Pogo name being a direct reference
to the character Gacy would use to lure some of his 33 victims to their death.
Whilst there have been some characters on this list
that have been inspired by evil men,
Gacy’s crimes brought the entire US into a panic,
and having a character sharing the same name
with such a deplorable human being
would be a PR nightmare for any major promotion.
8: Van Hammer – Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth
Frankly, it’s hard to tell whether WCW
was going for Eddie Van Halen or David Lee Roth
when they created the character Van Hammer
which was seemingly based on both men.
Of course, this being WCW, there’s a strong
possibility that the higher ups at the company didn’t know the difference between the two men,
but it’s obvious Van Hammer was based on the popular band.
If done well, the character could’ve been
a big deal for Van Halen fans,
as well as a true tribute to one of the most popular bands in Rock history.
The only problem, is that the character wasn’t done well,
as Hammer’s poor wrestling skills
meant he never got too far up the card, and the character quickly fell into obscurity.
7: Kid Kash – Kid Rock
Though the man is still pretty famous today,
it’s safe to say that Kid Rock was at his peak
in popularity in 1998, shorting after
the release of Devil Without A Cause.
That same year, a young David Cash
was struggling to gain any traction in ECW,
where he had been for nearly two years without much fanfare.
Realising he needed a change,
Cash channelled Kid Rock to become Kid Kash,
which quickly garnered him a legion of fans.
With his career picking up
Kash would later capture the ECW TV Championship,
and the iconic suit worn by Rock on his abum cover
looked pretty nice in a wrestling ring too.
6: Waylon Mercy and Bray Wyatt – Charles Manson
One of the most infamous figures in American history,
Charles Manson along with his Manson family
murdered at least seven people
and was thrust to infamy even more with his insane,
off-kilter behaviour in interviews.
Though Manson’s wicked deeds can’t be denied,
the man himself was known to be extremely charismatic,
able to convince many people to his will.
As you can imagine, traits of Manson have been used in WWE,
with Bray Wyatt and his Wyatt family terrorizing the company for years.
Of course, you can’t mention Wyatt
without pointing out it was actually Dan Spivey
best known in WWE as Waylon Mercy,
who was the first to use Manson’s tropes,
and even cited the killer as a direct influence on the character.
5: Clarence Mason – Johnnie Cochran
If it pleases the court, we would
like to present to you our next piece of evidence
Clarence Mason.
From a certain point of view, Mason’s character
was mostly based on the real man,
as he had actually gone to law school long before
he entered the wrestling business.
When Mason arrived in the World Wrestling Federation though,
the world was gripped with the murder trial of O.J Simpson,
and the Juice’s lawyer Johnnie Cochran was featured in the news a lot of his unique tactics.
Seeing money, the company developed Mason’s character,
and though he was still a lawyer,
he changed his vocal mannerisms and personality to imitate Cochran,
matching the legal eagle to a tee.
4: The Governor – Sarah Palin
In the run-up to the 2008 US Presidential Election,
it was John McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin
who dominated the headlines.
A controversial figure who often was a bigger discussion
point than many of the real issues of the time,
it was only a matter of time before Palin was parodied
with her wrestling imitation being portrayed by Daffney in TNA.
Deemed the Governor, the character was clearly a play on Palin,
as the former WCW star dropped al her crazy antics
in favour of a folksy accent and sharp fashion sense.
Joking how she could see Russia from her backyard
(something Palin had said repeatedly throughout the campaign),
the main flaw with the gimmick was that it was relying on jokes
everyone had already made.
If anything, the gimmick made TNA seem late to the comical party,
and it wasn’t long before the character was dropped.
3: Colonel Rob Parker - Colonel Tom Parker
Though the Honky Tonk Man was a
not-so-subtle reference to Elvis Presley,
even the King of Rock and Roll’s manager
wasn’t safe from the wrestling parody treatment.
Prior to joining WCW,
Robert Fuller was an accomplished wrestler and manager,
though he became a much different man when he joined the Atlanta-based promotion.
Enter: Colonel Rob Parker,
a southern dandy and blatant parody of Elvis’ manager,
who much like Colonel Tom was equally manipulative of his own talent.
Even though his intentions were always more on himself
than his clients, his team, christened the Studd Stable never seemed to care
simply being happy about the title shots he got them.
2: Oklahoma – Jim Ross
When Vince Russo feels the need to defend himself from critics,
he’ll often point to his originality and creativity
that brought the WWF to its peak during the Attitude Era.
And though Russo did do great things for McMahon,
his actions in WCW not long after would forever
tarnish his name, as well as several Superstars.
One character Russo made, was Oklahoma,
played by Ed Ferrara in a truly tasteless dig
at beloved WWF commentator Jim Ross.
Complete with Stetson,
Oklahoma would mock Ross’ real-life battle with Bells Palsy,
and things got even worse when he got in the ring.
Booked by Russo to win the once -prestigious WCW Championship,
the character was ludicrous at best and tasteless at its worse.
If there is a silver lining, it’s that the character probably hurt WCW
more than it did Ross, as JR remains
one of the most beloved people in wrestling,
whilst no-one knows or seemingly cares
what Ed Ferrara is up to these days.
1: Johnny B Badd – Little Richard
Wrestling gimmicks can come from the strangest of places,
but when Dusty Rhodes decided to base a
wrestler based on rock-and-roll singer Little Richard
the choice still seems strange all these years later.
To be fair though, Marc Mero, the man
who played Johnny B Badd did make it work and dove headfirst into the character.
Using feathery pink boas, loud squealing and a flamboyant entrance,
its clear that Mero had no problem playing the character based on the Tutti Frutti singer.
The character definitely helped Mero move up the card,
as Badd captured the WCW TV Championship on three occasions,
and was voted the Most Improved Wrestler of 1995 by the Wrestling Observer.
As time went on though, the character got more confusing,
as Badd transitioned away from the pomp and circumstance
and more into Mero’s real-life past as a boxer,
before he jumped ship to the WWF in 1996,
debuting as the WildMan at WrestleMania 12.
Well guys that's our list
Can you think any other wrestling gimmicks that are based on other people? Please drop us a comment below
If you like this video , please check our previous video
56 Current WWE Wrestlers That Haven't Competed on WWE TV / Rumored WWE Wrestlers Going To AEW
Also check our high rated videos by clicking the link at the upper right-hand corner or down in the description field
If you indeed did like this video, please hit that Thumbs Up button, hit the subscribe button and the bell icon so that you won't miss out on any new video
You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook and as always thanks for watching