Wrestling Forum banner

Wrestlers who were clearly rip-offs

34K views 128 replies 65 participants last post by  WWE2014 
#1 ·
Often times in wrestling history when a promoter wanted a wrestler they couldn't get they simply created a carbon copy of him. Other times wrestlers who were trying to get over would just simply "borrow" a successful character from a wrestler who was already over. i.e.

Demolition was WWF's attempt to create a new Road Warriors.

Dusty Rhodes took Thunderbolt Patterson's jive talkin', revival tent preacher act and made millions off of it.

Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura's entire acts were completely lifted from the then fading Superstar Billy Graham.

Renegade was WCW's failed attempt to recreate the Ultimate Warrior.

Brad Armstrong's Buzzkill character was WCW's clear attempt to imitate Brad's brother Road Dogg.

Ric Flair, Buddy Landell and a whole host of others were...well I'll leave that one for Batko.
 
#53 · (Edited)
WOW! How did I miss this thread when it first appeared at the end of November??? :shrug Maybe, I saw it, but was not in the mood for an argument. However, I think I just missed it.

The biggest rip-off, copy cat in wrestling history is:

RIC FLAIR​

Now, I'm not saying that he wasn't entertaining or that you shouldn't be a fan of his. But, if you are honest you will admit he stole his entire act from the first, original Nature Boy - BUDDY ROGERS!

The name "Nature Boy," Buddy's finishing move which he invented - the Figure Four Leg Lock, the strut, the fancy jackets, the wrestling style, etc.

The plain truth is that Flair was a flawed carbon copy of Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. I say flawed, because Flair had no where near the wrestling ability or athleticism that Rogers had.

Rogers was a pioneer and an innovator who created the system of sequencing which brought wrestling out of the stone age. He crafted matches that were sheer poetry, and invented moves such as the "flying head in the ropes" manuever that few have successfully pulled off. (I believe Mick Foley tried it once and lost his freaking ear for his efforts!)

On the other hand, Ric Flair stole Buddy's persona and, in retrospect, innovated very little if anything. Notwithstanding the ridiculous "wooo" sound and his platitudes, Flair was a monotonous performer who repeated the same match over and over with very little variation.

I will brace myself for the red rep that is coming! Again, you can like and respect Flair. But, if you're honest you have to admit he was a copy cat, NOT an innovator, and he did NOT have the greatest athleticism or in-ring skills.

None of this makes Flair a bad entertainer or bad guy. But, it is clear that the original Nature Boy was head and shoulders above Flair!

- Mike
 
#54 ·
While it may not have really been a rip off, Justin Credible reminded me of a lot of guys.

The look of stone cold, the turnbuckle flip of hbk, the pose with lance storm was like the triple h/hbk pose, the cane of sandman, the finisher of undertaker.

Maybe none of it was a ripoff, I just remember thinking that it seemed like he just pieced stuff together from various wrestlers.
 
#59 · (Edited)
Flair is pretty much unanimously regarded as one of the great freak athletes in the history of the business. I'm not sure where the honesty comes in when admitting a lack of athleticism.
What do you mean by "...one of the great freak athletes..."

Rogers was head and shoulders above Flair when it came to crafting a match, in-ring skills, and general athletic ability.

Of course, Flair had athleticism. If he didn't he wouldn't have been in the game. However, his athletic ability was by no means in the top tier of the game. I would say somewhere in the middle, while Rogers was a top tier athlete hands down.

When it came to crafting a match Rogers gave you a different show every night of the week even if he fought the same opponent on each of those nights. Flair had "flair," but his matches were all very similar since he was no genius at crafting a match.

Even the wrestlers that disliked Rogers loved to wrestle him. In substance, every opponent Buddy fought said he was the easiest guy to work with - he led you along the sequencing of the match, and made you look good. Even Lou Thesz, who had a grudge against Rogers since the 1940s, loved to work with him. Both men were superb athletes and put their personal differences aside in the ring while crafting some of the greatest, iconic matches of the Golden Age of Wrestling.

Ric Flair was a good draw and an excellent entertainer. However, he still was a copycat who could never measure up to the original Nature Boy! (As I've mentioned in the past, the original came out of retirement at age 60 to put over a 29 year old Flair in the "Battle of the Nature Boys." Buddy was not adverse to helping Ric's career along and considered Flair's imitation of him as "flattery.")

- Mike

- Mike
 
#64 ·
Even thought I completely agree about Ric being a complete rip off of Buddy Rogers, Nature Boy Ric Flair has a better ring to it.
Hmm...That may be an indication of a problem with your hearing. It might be worthwhile to have it checked out. :evil

- Mike
 
#62 · (Edited)
Great minds think alike! Your grandmother is obviously a woman of high intelligence and very knowledgeable about pro-wrestling.

The truth of the matter is that I have nothing against Ric Flair. Next to me Flair was the second biggest Buddy Rogers fan on the planet back in the day when we were kids (we're the same age give or take six months). We both wanted to be Buddy Rogers. Unfortunately, neither of us succeeded in reaching that goal! :|

What is annoying is the ignorance of the average fan regarding wrestling history and the immeasurable contributions that Rogers made to the game. Of course, alot of the lack of historical knowledge out there is the fault of the WWE for not educating its fan base. And, that's not because of the WWE's lack of knowledge.

Just before one of the latest Wrestlemania's they asked HHH whom he would like to wrestle at Wrestlemania out of all the wrestlers in history. HHH responded, in substance, that without question he would want to have a match with Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. He went on to cite the fact that unlike Gorgeous George and other heels of that genre, Rogers knew how to really wrestle and bring down the house with a well crafted match and finale.

Why the WWE doesn't give the original Nature Boy more credit and play is beyond me.

- Mike
 
#69 ·
The only reason why one sounds better than the other is because we have heard it more.
The only argument I have for Batko is that George was an exciting and innovating wrestler before injuries, complacency, and alcoholism took their toll.
If you were really 90 years old like the previous poster said then you would know this.
 
#78 ·
Tom Pritchard cut these promos that were so obviously Roddy Piper-inspired that they're really annoying to watch.

Evolution were a really lame Four Horsemen at their worst.

And, of course, Asya. I mean fuck's sake - they called her Asya. Was that one a parody, though? Might have been.
 
#79 ·
Already mentioned, but Ventura, Hogan and Steve Strong all were influenced and liberally borrowed from Billy Graham. The country was filled with territories. There wasnt national tv penetration so sometimes a wrestler would mimic what a guy was doing in another part of the country. Also if a gimmick worked other promotions would want to emulate it. The Rock and Roll Express, The Midnight Rockers, The Fantastics were all variations on the same thing. Hell the Fabulous Ones and PYT were too. Make a babyface team that would bond with the female teams. I pretty much hated them all at the time.
 
#90 · (Edited)
I'm not quite sure what you are getting at here.

Buddy was a HUGE money maker whereever he appeared and was in constant demand by the promoters. Other wrestlers loved to fight Rogers, because he made them look good in what were classically crafted matches and, equally important, he made them big $$$!

Prior to the formation of the NWA he worked for a number of promotions. Once he jumped over to the nascent NWA in 1948 Rogers fought in NWA territories from coast to coast and in Canada.

Buddy had certain wrestlers that he especially liked to work with. BILLY DARNELL and EDDIE GOSSET (GRAHAM) were trained and brought into the business by Rogers. Rogers considered Darnell his "glove" and Graham was once billed as Rogers' kayfabe brother in tag team matches.

ANTONINO ROCCA and JOHNNY VALENTINE (Greg Valentine's dad) were two guys whom Buddy fought often and had some really classic matches with. For reasons that are more appropriate for another thread, to my knowledge Rogers and Thesz fought only 8 times during their careers. This is unfortunate, because each of those bouts was a classic battle between two icons of wrestling.

Again, I'm not quite sure what you are getting at. But, Buddy was on top of the money making situation. He learned from the best (or worst, depending on your point of view) - JACK PFEFER!

- Mike

ANTONINO ROCCA EMPLOYS THE BACKBREAKER IN MSG MATCH WITH NATURE BOY BUDDY ROGERS




NATURE BOY BUDDY ROGERS TORTURES JOHNNY VALENTINE


NATURE BOY BUDDY ROGERS & LOU THESZ LOCK UP
[/IMG]
 
#88 ·
Not sure if I or anyone said it yet (been a little long since I regularly lurked here at least) but Hogan was a huge rip off of Billy Graham as much as Flair was of Rogers. When you get down to it, people tear apart "rip offs" but usually a well done rip off is actually more of a nod to the original that adds a little twist.

Actually, it wouldn't be wrestling if gimmicks/characters/signatures weren't "stolen" left and right :p
 
#91 ·
I'm just going off memory of autobiographies from Freddie Blassie, Lou Thez, Roddy Piper and a throwaway line in Bret Harts.

General concensus was he and some friends, whose names I can't remember at the moment would consolidize the mainevents around the territories and was not a very popular guy among the wrestling circle.
 
#94 · (Edited)
Your post invoked the truth, trolling or not. I can't wait until I'm in my late 50s-60s so that I can post about how great "Nature Boy" Ric Flair was on a wrestling forum. I can only hope that posters will take my "knowledge" as fact, so long as I bold certain statements and post lots of pictures of him.



RIC FLAIR IN ACTION WITH DUSTY RHODES

[/IMG]

RIC FLAIR TORTURES HARLEY RACE

- Not Mike
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top