metylerca
King Koopa
Loves Him Some Backstreet Boys.
Don't be alarmed.
Posts: 12,479
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Post by metylerca on Dec 1, 2013 19:26:12 GMT -5
I have always been fascinated by this type of thing over the years, especially after I started to regularly go to indie shows.
When I went the most, the most blatant rip-offs of WWE were Michael Cole: heel announcer, of all things. My local indie, M1W *suddenly* had an announcer who was heel and as flamboyant and obnoxious as Michael Cole was in 2010/2011. Of course this guy didn't wear the nice suits and have the nice headset that Cole had. He was a fat dude in cheap clothes that would previously not even be an announcer at the shows. Until he turned heel, and then suddenly he was off to the races.
Also, it seemed every other guy came out to whatever the WWE PPV theme song was that month. One guy in particular famously had the Kevin Rudolf WrestleMania song as his theme on Wrestlemania 26 weekend. He was supposed to be a face but got booed for being so bush league.
These experiences remind me of reading about how every indie had it's own Doink. Are there any other instances of things like these happening?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2013 19:50:10 GMT -5
There was a guy who called himself "Macho Warrior Ric Hogan" ![http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa286/madisoncarter3/machowarrior3.jpg](http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa286/madisoncarter3/machowarrior3.jpg) That will be hard to top.
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Post by Todd Pettengill on Dec 1, 2013 23:09:46 GMT -5
Do guys that used to work for a major company and are using their "big name" gimmick as their current gimmick without investing any money into some tights/outfit that actually looks like the ones they wore when they were on TV count? Because there's a ton of them & I always think it looks pathetic.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2013 0:18:21 GMT -5
There was a guy who called himself "Macho Warrior Ric Hogan" ![http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa286/madisoncarter3/machowarrior3.jpg](http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa286/madisoncarter3/machowarrior3.jpg) That will be hard to top. And he looks like Mick Foley. This dude covered all of the bases. In the late 90s every promotion in America had some bald guy pretending to be Stone Cold.
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metylerca
King Koopa
Loves Him Some Backstreet Boys.
Don't be alarmed.
Posts: 12,479
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Post by metylerca on Dec 2, 2013 0:21:04 GMT -5
I notice the "best for business" term being used a lot to *get a point across* a lot more since HHH started using it weekly. But the best part is when people use it when angry. "this booking sucks and that's 'best for business'."
Did Renegade get completely made up by WCW canon or did he scour the indies first?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2013 0:28:35 GMT -5
I notice the "best for business" term being used a lot to *get a point across* a lot more since HHH started using it weekly. But the best part is when people use it when angry. "this booking sucks and that's 'best for business'." Did Renegade get completely made up by WCW canon or did he scour the indies first? The Renegade was a completely intentional rip off of The Warrior. Hulk Hogan claims it was his idea. I think they should have stuck with him, as the real Helwig was a nut job.
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Post by An Old Villain on Dec 2, 2013 0:38:13 GMT -5
The week after the Mark Henry fake retirement I went to a show where a guy started with pretty much the exact promo and was heavily booed, turns out he was legit retiring...and completely wigged out while everyone was booing.
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Johnny B. Decent
Patti Mayonnaise
Had one once
Everybody's Favorite Arizonian.
Posts: 31,108
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Post by Johnny B. Decent on Dec 2, 2013 0:40:15 GMT -5
I never for the life of me got this idea before. It's obvious you're a third-rate copycat of the person you're impersonating, why make yourself look ridiculous? Can't you market yourself?
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Post by wildojinx on Dec 2, 2013 0:46:50 GMT -5
In the late 90s every promotion in America had some bald guy pretending to be Stone Cold. And in the mid-90s, you were bombarded by numerous Undertaker knockoffs (The Gravedigger, The Cremator, i'm sure there were others). One of the most ridiculous ones from that era though was a Sabu ripoff called Ubas.
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siredger
ALF
Can now proudly say he held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in his hands.
Posts: 1,116
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Post by siredger on Dec 2, 2013 1:25:14 GMT -5
I have always been fascinated by this type of thing over the years, especially after I started to regularly go to indie shows. When I went the most, the most blatant rip-offs of WWE were Michael Cole: heel announcer, of all things. My local indie, M1W *suddenly* had an announcer who was heel and as flamboyant and obnoxious as Michael Cole was in 2010/2011. Of course this guy didn't wear the nice suits and have the nice headset that Cole had. He was a fat dude in cheap clothes that would previously not even be an announcer at the shows. Until he turned heel, and then suddenly he was off to the races. Also, it seemed every other guy came out to whatever the WWE PPV theme song was that month. One guy in particular famously had the Kevin Rudolf WrestleMania song as his theme on Wrestlemania 26 weekend. He was supposed to be a face but got booed for being so bush league. These experiences remind me of reading about how every indie had it's own Doink. Are there any other instances of things like these happening? Since when Mark Madden is back doing announcing again?
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Post by mcmahonfan85 on Dec 2, 2013 3:21:28 GMT -5
my favorite is Dick Foley
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Post by celticjobber on Dec 2, 2013 3:28:49 GMT -5
There were multiple people who worked as "Gorgeous George" even for years after the real George Wagner had passed away. There was a bizarre story a few years ago about a guy who died and apparently had worked his entire family into believing he was Stan Lane. And his obituary even mentioned it. But of course he was just an imposter. Here's a story about him, and other wrestling imposters... www.cagesideseats.com/2011/3/17/2056895/the-mystery-of-the-fake-stan-lane-and-other-pretenders
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Post by Mighty Attack Tribble on Dec 2, 2013 3:53:29 GMT -5
There was a guy who called himself "Macho Warrior Ric Hogan" ![http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa286/madisoncarter3/machowarrior3.jpg](http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa286/madisoncarter3/machowarrior3.jpg) And looks more like "Necro Roadblock Balls Rotten". Off the top of my head I can think of Big Slam Vader, UK Undertaker, UK Big Red Machine, and about two billion Doinks.
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Scott Parker
Trap-Jaw
some wrestler you've never heard of
Posts: 264
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Post by Scott Parker on Dec 2, 2013 7:25:12 GMT -5
I never for the life of me got this idea before. It's obvious you're a third-rate copycat of the person you're impersonating, why make yourself look ridiculous? Can't you market yourself? I've always suspected some of the lookalike/imposter wrestlers(i.e. Tommy Snow, Dick Foley, the Stone Cold impersonators) got into the business because somebody along the way, be it a low level wrestling promoter or guy in a bar, told them, "Hey, you kind of look like ____ who I seen on the TV." That made the $$$ appear in their eyes, and they went with it.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Dec 2, 2013 7:33:44 GMT -5
Did Renegade get completely made up by WCW canon or did he scour the indies first? The guy who played the Renegade did work the indies for a few years before entering WCW, but it was WCW that made him Warrior-Lite.
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skulldouggory
Unicron
Needs More Shirtless Barry Windham
Posts: 2,535
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Post by skulldouggory on Dec 2, 2013 10:10:28 GMT -5
I notice the "best for business" term being used a lot to *get a point across* a lot more since HHH started using it weekly. But the best part is when people use it when angry. "this booking sucks and that's 'best for business'." Did Renegade get completely made up by WCW canon or did he scour the indies first? The Renegade was a completely intentional rip off of The Warrior. Hulk Hogan claims it was his idea. I think they should have stuck with him, as the real Helwig was a nut job. What an odd thing to say. You do know Renegade killed himself a few years after being cut from WCW right? I know Helwig is batty at best, but you know. Can't talk about cheap indie knock offs without One Warrior Nation, so cheap his title belt is made of cardboard.
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Post by Apricots And A Pear Tree on Dec 2, 2013 10:30:30 GMT -5
Johnny Gargano.
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skulldouggory
Unicron
Needs More Shirtless Barry Windham
Posts: 2,535
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Post by skulldouggory on Dec 2, 2013 11:13:02 GMT -5
The title of the thread is Copycats on the Indies, not Cat's Pyjamas on the indies
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Post by ________ has left the building on Dec 2, 2013 17:30:03 GMT -5
When the NWO was huge, almost every indy had a knockoff version. From the Pink World Order (a stable of wannabe gay wrestlers) to the Bald World Order (group of bald guys who shave other wrestlers' heads). When Muhammad Hussain was still a big deal, a number of indies got folks to play the evil Muslim. I laughed when a local indy here in Alabama had a couple of fat white guys with prison tattoos with deep Redneck drawl play the role.
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Sam Punk
Hank Scorpio
Own Nothing, Be Happy
Posts: 6,317
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Post by Sam Punk on Dec 2, 2013 18:44:24 GMT -5
Did Renegade get completely made up by WCW canon or did he scour the indies first? The guy who played the Renegade did work the indies for a few years before entering WCW, but it was WCW that made him Warrior-Lite. Didn't they do it so Hogan could get his win back without having to pay Warrior?
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