ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES | Wrestlings Bootleg Gimmicks

ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES | Wrestlings Bootleg Gimmicks
In a previous video, we looked at copycat gimmicks in wrestling, those which had clearly been ripped off wholesale from another performer. Think The Renegade in WCW or Fake Razor and Diesel in the WWF for some examples of this.
Today though, we’re going to look at something slightly different because, while these characters are very similar to the one’s which inspired them, we wouldn’t call them outright rip offs. No, these gimmicks may have taken a lot of inspiration from others, however they ultimately made them their own by putting a unique twist on each character. But who are the biggest examples of this? Well, join us today as we take a deep dive into Accept No Substitutes: Wrestling’s Bootleg Gimmicks.
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[@WRESTLEWITHANDY]

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[@countrydawn418]

What about powers of pain in their WWF Run.

[@alejbr4]

i saw an interview once where nord made up the berserker character because brody was his idol

[@JNutria]

Music track at 19:04? I’ve heard it before so it must be a non licensed track.

[@alexandercarrillo9951]

what about those who’s bootleg or counterfeit gimmicks that were successful

[@jamespilgrim5539]

Can you do wwe in 2006 a year in review.

[@Tarantulisimo]

The Powers Of Pain physically resembled LOD/Road Warriors more than Demolition

[@deznutz3163]

THEY were the true rip offs. You got that right bro.

[@toma.4808]

100% true

[@marty5782]

Was thinking the same thing and all three teams faced each other at one time or another

[@juicyfruit6311]

​@@marty5782The best part is all three teams got along with each and everyone was afraid of Barbarian!

[@marty5782]

@@juicyfruit6311 lol I head Barbarian was a loose cannon

[@evilshadow8761]

I always saw Abyss as a fusion of Mankind and Kane and it turned out so great for him.

[@Danielson1818]

Exactly the way I saw it. It was a Mankind Kane lovechild.

[@Arthur5000]

True

[@adambennett2737]

Abyss may have dressed like mankind but his style and moves were different.

[@iandude1]

Was just coming on here to say this.

[@wayn0r]

@@adambennett2737 11:04 He’s doing a “Foley” pose here.

[@jeangentry6656]

I think the best "Narcissist" gimmick since Lex was Chris Masters. Too bad that the steroid bust and then losing so much muscle mass, then being openly mocked by DX pretty much ruined his career in WWE.

[@zemox2534]

Shark Boy parodying Stone Cold was just too entertaining. Oh shell yeah

[@aaronjjacques]

Shark boy was a straight up parody. He changed all of stone colds catch phrases to fishing puns. My all time favorite " that the fishing line because shark boy says so"

[@98nh3609]

Stone Cold Sharkboy was so incredibly over all things considered. Between him, Abyss and Black Machismo, some of my favorite acts in TNA. Loved STSB, super eric and Curryman

[@marioandrade4499]

Everytime I hear "And that's the bottom line!" I always finish it with "Cause Sharkboy said so!"

[@stompchunkman4248]

Don't forget about Chet Lemon and Black Snow!

[@toma.4808]

Shell ya!

[@TheLordcyrus]

I had forgot all about curry man! 🤣🤣🤣

[@elc1960]

Tiger Ali Singh was actually the son of legendary heel wrestler Tiger Jeet Singh, who was one of the most successful performers in Japanese pro wrestling history. Fun fact: that blond haired kid at 16:13 kneeling in front of Ted DiBiase and Virgil is a young Rob Van Dam.

[@kadharefinley224]

I actually liked Damien Sandow. I wish he could’ve been a midcard champion in WWE but his Mizdow gimmick got him super over. So I can appreciate that

[@Teeheehee093]

I'm still mad that a one armed fatigued John Cena beat him during his cash in

[@blacksabbath4252]

He needs ro return, did he retire?

[@Jaire.]

@@blacksabbath4252 He was in impact for a bit I think he did retire

[@winonataylor9978]

He is in the NWA now as Aron Stevens.

[@BM-979]

@@winonataylor9978and he’s still fucking awesome. No script required

[@gl0087]

The sad thing about John Nord not getting over is the fact that he would team up with Bruiser Brody on occasion in the AWA

[@jarvisyoung8350]

And, he was pretty much a protege of Frank. Somewhat of a tribute gimmick, imo..

[@pooddescrewch8718]

He feuded with him in Texas

[@taylordunekacke5784]

To be clear, Shawn never threw Marty through the window. Marty was trying to escape from Shawn!

[@ScottyBugler2005]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@nicktaylor2657]

That what Bobby Heenan said on commentary

[@jamelaelexaaran7479]

you drinking Bobby Heenan Kool Aid?

[@kevinmcclintock5492]

How cowardly of Jannety to jump through the window to get away from Michaels.

[@jonnylyden]

Marty’s act of cowardice was unforgivable!

[@robsenzig5720]

Technically speaking, Janetty and Michaels were wrestling as the Midnight Rockers in the AWA years before joining the WWF as the Rockers.

[@ScottyBugler2005]

Correct and their entrance theme was Living After Midnight by Judas Priest

[@johnnymason2460]

The Midnight Rockers did wrestle here in Memphis as well.

[@waynemcdonald4448]

yes & it was very weird. Midnight Express, Rock & Roll Express, Midnight Rockers. It was a gimmick nightmare.

[@ArchbishopofTheSBE]

Took the words right out of my mouth 😮

[@jaybarbieri8619]

@@waynemcdonald4448The word “Express” used to be all the rage lol

[@VirtualSingingTelegrams]

It's always bothered me that Demolition doesn't get that credit they deserve. They may have been WWE's answer to the Road Warriors, but they weren't just that. They had a solid career all on their own. A better example of a gimmick that was a straight copy of the Road Warriors were the Powers Of Pain.

[@jcelldogs]

I agree so much. Just because someone wears paint don't mean it's a copy.

[@markv1274]

@@jcelldogs Yes, agreed. If you look at Dewey Robertson, a wrestler from Canada, he had his face paint gimmick, The Missing Link, before The Roadies started wearing face paint. Link even had the weird haircut before The Roadies did similar stuff with their hair. The original version of The Roadies looked like Village People. YMCA, Animal and Hawk!

[@DopeyDetector]

The road warriors sucked

[@Darthsinned]

I liked powers of pain

[@jeremyhester3971]

At least Powers of Pain looked the part. Demolition were fat, hairy guys who looked like they should be high school football coaches. Not the least bit intimidating.

[@GenX6887]

Abyss was also a bootleg version of Kane, as well as Mankind. While he was a crazy hardcore psychopath like Mankind, Abyss was also this big scary monstrous freak that could literally tear a man in two with his bare hands, just like Kane was.

[@kevinsiegel]

The Smokin' Gunns were closer to The Blackjacks than the Southern Boys, especially considering that the Southern Boys were not cowboys at all. They were Confederates. I mean, it's all right there in your clips; the stars and bars, the confederate gray coats, the confederate calvary hats. Come on, man.

[@patrickbrinkmeier1858]

I was just gonna say this...The Southern Boys we're NOT Cowboys. They played Confederate Soldiers that were wrestling.

[@jrsmith1998]

The Smoking Guns were a rip off of the British Bulldogs

[@kevinsiegel]

@@jrsmith1998 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 in what way?????

[@jrsmith1998]

@@kevinsiegel I’m just trolling lol

[@mikewatson5254]

@@jrsmith1998 no way !!

[@rpriske]

Luger didn't flee because he thought Brody was going to shoot on him. He left because Brody refused to sell any moves.

[@rpriske]

And the Smoking Gunns are not Southern Boy knockoffs. They are cowboys. Armstrong and Smothers were civil war soldiers.

[@toma.4808]

Bingo! That's true

[@SeanPynrose]

I still remember and I believe it was a Saturday Night Main Event match when it was a 3 way tag match between LOD, Demolition and Powers of Pain. I was so excited as a child to see this match. It was epic for me

[@NeoTurboManiac78]

The Powers of Pain were split up before The Legion of Doom's arrival in the WWF.

[@souperstar7050]

Maybe you were thinking about the SNME match of the three members of Demolition VS The LOD and Ultimate Warrior.

[@glasschin871]

@@NeoTurboManiac78 they split up in feb 1990 , rumoured to be at the request of the road warriors who refused to sign for WWF if they didn’t. As there would have been three main tag teams with the same gimmick.

[@jcelldogs]

​@@glasschin871 correct. The road warriors/lod literally made a list of demands before they signed with wwf. I loved them in awa and nwa, but hated them in wwf. The reason is I loved demolition, and saw them as the end of the demos. I get ax had health problems, but they could have made crush work out and kept them faces if they were smart about it. My idea would have been after wrestlemania 6 where they beat andre and haku, they could of had heenan upset with that and try to "end demolition. Have heenan consult with Mr fuji who was managing the powers of pain, and have haku and the powers of pain beat down on ax and smash and then have demolition introduce their "equalizer" in crush. Then you have ax "injured" at the hands of the 3 and have him take a manager role. Then you introduce lod and have them both good guys and keep teasing matches all the way up to wrestlemania 7. You could of had demolition being jumped by the pop and haku and have lod save them much like the hogan/warrior saving eachother before mania 6 with both of them not wanting or asking for the help etc. But I'm glad that tag division died after lod came in. The two of them were really bad people and jerks in real life. They could of had huge feuds in wwf with all the big tag teams like twin towers, pop, bushwhackers; rockers, hart foundation etc. Except as soon as they came, the rockers died out, harts too, and you ended up with nasty boys, natural disasters, and the homo Brothers aka the Beverly Brothers. That was the tag team scene in 1991-92 🤣🤣

[@redrumloa]

John Nord actually used to be a tag team partner of Bruiser Brody back in the AWA in the mid 80s, already as a barbarian. After Brody was murdered Nord adopting a slight bit of Brody's "HUSS, HUSS" gimmick was not a big stretch.

[@juicyfruit6311]

About to say that. Nord was friends with Brody and even tagged with him. I think Nord even said Brody helped break him into the business

[@MrJimbaker920]

John Nord westled under the name Nord the Barbarian

[@CabbageYe]

He was also fired because of the Nailz & Vince incident so the gimmick wasn't really dropped, it's that he got fired

[@RabidWolf1966]

lol, the Southern Boys didn't wear COWBOY regalia, those are a version of Confederate uniforms from the Civil War

[@nizik1979]

Was just about to comment the same thing.

[@joechill9964]

Sheesh

[@nizik1979]

@@joechill9964 yep 80s southern wrestling was a bit icky

[@bugsyproductions3140]

This channels gets things wrong every video. It’s a wrestling watch mojo made by someone who doesn’t really watch

[@bugsyproductions3140]

Like the claim it wasn’t hard to get over in the late 90s is so absurdly false. I can’t even continue the video.

[@michaelrichter3025]

Nord was doing the Brody gimmick before the Berserker. As Nord the barbarian in the AWA he was sort of a protege of Brody. They even teamed together at the infamous Wrestlerock 86 event.

[@frenchabortion]

12:00 you should also mention Sharkboy got a HUGE paycheque from Robert Rodriguez. Sharkboy was smart enough to copyright the name and Rodriguez just so happened to be working on a movie called “The Adventures Sharkboy and Lava Girl in 3D” because Dean Roll had copyrighted the name in 1999 Miramax cut him a cheque for $200,000 in 2007.

[@jsmith3946]

Robert didn't write him the check you idiot the studio that made the movie did

[@ps-yk8su]

I hope he invested that in the Nasdaq

[@ganglabesh]

awesome

[@freakinkrang5152]

​@oldsoldier2001 There was a reason he did the Stone Cold gimmick. It's not like he just went ahead and just did it just because. There was a comedy story behind it. Stone Cold himself actually liked the gimmick. Either way, it was a parody which is protected by the first amendment. The Shark Boy name is trademark by Dean Roll. He has the rights to the name. So yeah, that's the reason that you trademark something.

[@knickydymondz33]

Yeah, but Luger's narcissist gimmick was taken from Ravishing Rick Rude

[@adambennett2737]

And the masterpiece Chris masters also stole the gimmick

[@knickydymondz33]

@@adambennett2737 exactly

[@glasschin871]

The model ric martel and Shawn Michaels 1992 were a little Rick rude as well

[@knickydymondz33]

@@glasschin871 agreed, most gimmicks are recycled

[@glasschin871]

@@knickydymondz33 even Val Venus was in that vain

[@stevegallo8483]

The tag team of the Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Rey managed by Jim Cornette in WWF's New Generation era) could easily be seen as a bootleg version of Cornette's previous team the Midnight Express. By the way, the rivalry between the Hart Foundation and the Rockers foreshadowed a later rivalry in the singles' division: Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.

[@davidfox2360]

Shawn Michaels didn't throw Marty Janetty through the window. Marty jumped through it .

[@fevergaming1]

Yep I remember that cowardly act by party Marty. Jumped through the window trying to get away from hbk

[@tims4502]

Will you stop?

[@johnnymason2460]

Shawn Michaels did throw Marty Janetty through the window. I have the video and I went through it thoroughly.

[@fevergaming1]

@@johnnymason2460 heenan said Marty jumped through the window in an act of cowardice later in during his commentary

[@johnnymason2460]

@@fevergaming1 Really? You're going to believe a typical lier? Bobby Heenan had a habit of lying and exaggerating. I trust my eyes more than the words of a lier.

[@chocolateface4885]

Dog when road warrior hawk flexed and snapped his choker was fucking insane .dudes traps were off the chart

[@grizzlo7300]

Most definitely.

[@stevegokus]

I like bootleg gimmick is fake Razor Ramon Diesel

[@theupliftchannel]

I’d love to see a vid about less remembered managers like Harvey Whippleman, Sonny Ono or Rev. Slick.

[@acetrainerambi7182]

Second this. I’d love to see Abraham Washington in that video

[@Teddy42O]

Gillberg for 2023 WWE hall of fame 🤣

[@knickydymondz33]

Not before The Brooklyn Brawler or Barry Horowitz.

[@liammoody9516]

Eugene hall of fame 2023

[@DavidLee-iu7nd]

Why is it that no one has brought up The Powers of Pain of being a rip off of Road Warriors especially with the haircuts?

[@claybfx]

They were way more a rip-off than Demolition

[@ianammon6040]

"Threw" Marty through the window. I seem to recall Marty being so afraid of Shawn that he jumped through the window trying to escape.

[@giovannimorelli4592]

Demolition might have been Road Warriors copies, but they were great

[@kevinpayton2664]

Exactly. Demolition is one of the all-time great tag teams.

[@giovannimorelli4592]

@@kevinpayton2664 it's easly one of my favourites

[@michaelward5370]

I have to say that I absolutely loved Demolition when I was a kid!

[@emiliorebenga443]

My favorite tag team 💯

[@donjohn2695]

So did I I thought they were badass and much preferred them to LOD

[@tomunsworth2401]

So definitely been mentioned loads of times all over youtube and I assume in many of your own videos, but Ric Flair with the Nature Boy gimmick would've been a good one

[@stephenmerchant9532]

I was wondering if anyone would mention Flair. He stole the gimmick from Buddy Rogers

[@corssecurity]

Not so much stole it. Ric best nature boy Buddy Rodgers to take the mantle Ric was open about it. To be the man you got to best the man. Living legend Larry Zabisco? More like Bruno Samartino.

[@robertclark2253]

I think Sandow was more like the 1994-1996 version of Bob Backlund , the words , the wrestling style and even the robes complete with a towel around his neck were more similar to the Mr Backlund character than The Genius . Someone similar to The Genius would be Dean Douglas .

[@FanboyMarkJabroni]

This video had a nice flow, connecting the different characters in ways I wouldn't have expected

[@danlc95]

If Eadie and Darsow faced Animal and Hawk it would have been a different story. By that point Crush was in to take over for AX.

[@jcelldogs]

Yea I hated what happened to demolition when lod. Came in. Vince immediately got rid of them

[@danlc95]

@jcelldogs - It was really depressing seeing Smash repackaged as Repo Man. It just added salt to the injury that Demolition was no more. And it wasn't "Demolition" when Crush was added. Hurt like hell seeing Eadie sidelined.

[@jcelldogs]

@@danlc95 looking back at that situation... lod was already signed before wrestlemania 6 but made their debut a few months later in June 1990 I believe. I heard they didn't want the powers of pain to be a team anymore. That's why you had that weird angle where fuji "sold barbarian to Bobby heenan, and warlord to slick. Then you had demolition beat andre and haku for the belts at mania 6. I believe afterwards, they did a tour in Japan and that's where ax became ill. They brought in crush and turned demolition heel. In my opinion that was dumb. They literally could have had crush work as a member and still have been popular. All they had to do was tweak the situation. Personally, if I were in charge I'd do this: I'd have heenan, who demolition had been a thorn in his side get with Mr fuji and ask for advice. Have demolition have squash matches on TV with jobbers and then have the powers of pain, with haku jump demolition 3 on 2 for a few weeks in a row and then introduce crush as the 3rd member to get even. Then have them "injure" ax and then have him out as a manager role and then have crush and smash do the work. Then you bring in lod and have them work towards that feud with them both good guys. Sorry for the long message lol.

[@jsmith3946]

what's funny is Ax lasted longer then crush when it came to wrestling

[@kidz4p509]

Fun Fact: Barry Darsow wasn’t the first to portray the Smash gimmick. Randy Colley, better known as Moondog Rex, was the first to portray Smash, before being ultimately replaced by Darsow starting with a match filmed on January 26, 1987 at the Sundome, and aired on the February 14, 1987 edition of Superstars. Bill “Ax” Eadie has stated that Colley was replaced because he was too recognizable to the fans as the man who previously performed as Moondog Rex. The WWF pitched a few potential replacements to Eadie, but he thought fans would recognize the suggested replacements. However, Eadie felt that many WWF fans would not recognize Darsow, who had been working for Jim Crockett Promotions as Krusher Khruschev alongside Nikita Koloff. Darsow had left Crockett following a dispute in order to take over the role of Smash.

[@knowyarole2339]

Use Wikipedia much?

[@kidz4p509]

@@knowyarole2339No one mentioned here. So, I had to bring it all the way just to get you people to know about it.

[@knowyarole2339]

@KID Z4P I'm definitely not included in your "you people" reply but I can forgive the repetition of a wiki page once in a while

[@akadvcyoubeezy6748]

@@knowyarole2339 miserable 💩 🤡

[@knowyarole2339]

@akaDVC you beezy better than being a miserable 🐶💩

[@tyson1fan487]

What's crazy is Powers of Pain was doing the same thing along side Road Warriors in NWA! It looks weird looking back and that's why WWE separated themselves from everyone else because you didn't see the same thing. Sting and Warrior at first was the same thing but they both separated themselves. Powers of Pain could've been huge when they got to WWE but Demolition was a huge success so they got pushed to the back but I still 🤔 they had more to offer. I loved the Rockers but when I saw Rock and Roll express I thought they were a cheap version of them. Years later I realized.

[@jcelldogs]

I kinda thought wwf was really stupid how they handled the situation with the road warriors coming in. From what I understand, the road warriors demanded that the powers of pain split up.

[@benespinosa6725]

I loved Stone Cold shark boy that was an awesome Gimmick the abyss character was awesome his matches with Sabu were great especially their Barbed wire massacre match at turning point 2005 those were awesome and I go back and watch it on impact plus.

[@thatguyshrek44]

I met sharkboy he was the greedest person i have ever met he ruined my brothers first wrestling show

[@kevinlee9929]

Sharkboy said the days of him getting his azz kicked week after week were over. Gimmick was comedy GOLD lol

[@benespinosa6725]

@Kevin Lee that was amazing especially that backstage segment with the beautiful people and curry man 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@benespinosa6725]

@@thatguyshrek44 that's very interesting

[@jspades5100]

@@thatguyshrek44 what did he do?

[@IXthCircle]

When I see Berserker, “Immigrant Song” comes to mind….Brody’s song.

[@RyanRumbles434]

Thank you for mentioning "Royal Rumble 1999' The Rock vs Mankind. It has been overlooked for over 20 years due to the "No Chance in Hell" tagline. Mick took so many chair shots. Hard to watch.

[@foxfireinferno197]

The Southern Boys weren't in cowboy outfits. They were in Confederate soldier uniform knockoffs.

[@wutwuthaphazard]

Sandow's gimmick was pure gold. Sad WWE didn't see through it. And ofcourse because Cena wins.

[@johncollins1884]

Hey Dave: Very in-depth presentation; I believe you've paid Miss Gordon the highest of compliments and achieved something wonderful at the same time - Which is that you've done such a superb job detailing her life and times; work in the entertainment industry, that I'm sure some of the viewers (including myself) will go on a journey to watch a large amount of her career efforts. Thanks Dave

[@neilsmith9066]

I’ll Accept Demolition Any Day of The Week! Demolition Pop at WM 6 was Unbelievable!

[@e2go]

Sharkboy wasn't a bootleg or copy of Stone Cold. He was Sharkboy that woke up from a coma talking like Stone Cold, which was hilarious and sometimes people wake up from comas with different accents, etc. His just happened to be Stone Cold😂.

[@dbostick]

If Demolition was a bootleg version of The Road Warriors, then The Ascension must be the Dollar Tree version of both.

[@robertclark2253]

The Smoking Gunns did the whole cowboy act before joining WWF/WWE . They were known as The Long Riders on the independent circuit .

[@em.4774]

My boy Sharkboy in this? A MUST WATCH 🦈!!!!!

[@VigoTheCarpathian83]

Forgot to mention the highly inspired subtle bootleg gimmick of Rick Dude. Another physique showing off derobing (or in this case detoweling) with sensual music flirting with girls. Val Venis

[@BIGJ03SGPHS]

shark boy and abyss where some of the best things to come out of TNA

[@jackmackakaheavyguyhaiku545]

If Stone Cold himself isn't a bootleg, albeit an even more successful one, of Sandman in ECW, I don't know what qualifies. Maybe you should do a list of Inspired by a Previous Wrestler list. While Steve didn't completely copy Sandman, he took enough inspiration from the Singapore cane wielding madman to draw comparisons. Btw, where's Asia from WCW? Clearly a copycat of CHYNA, who Eric Bischoff created after he was unable to sign The Ninth Wonder of the World.

[@nasilelelisselo2348]

The Powers of Pain were more The Road Warriors that Demolition

[@Cj2o]

It's so ridiculous how many people think that Demolition were a rip off of the Road Warriors. Both the Road Warriors and Demolition were rip offs... of Mad Max characters. The 2nd Mad Max movie is literally called Road Warrior. Demolition's characters are rip offs of Lord Humungus... from the same film. Did Vince decide to use his own Mad Max characters because the Road Warriors were so over? Sure... But he didn't rip them off, he ripped off the Lord Humungus character from Mad Max 2.

[@adambennett2737]

Sid vicious also got his first character from the mad max movie the humungus

[@Cj2o]

@@adambennett2737 Correct. Sid Vicious broke into the Memphis territory as the literal character "Lord Humungous" from Mad Max.

[@YTSearchKinGLeoVs]

Shark Boy 316 was EPIC

[@IlluminatedShadow]

Sharkboy as Stone Cold was so stupid it was hilarious. “I’m here to do a little fishing and kick some bass, and that’s the fishing line ‘cause Sharkboy said so! Give me a shell yeah!”

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

If you're going to do the Rockers you should do the pre WWF Midnight Rockers. They even wrestled Morton & Gibson in Memphis early 1988

[@christopheraaron8299]

Demolition were kinda sorta a little bit similar to the Road Warriors, but I wouldn't call them a bootleg gimmick. Demolition had a flavor all their own.

[@Zedja]

Lex Luger and Rick Rude was pretty much the same gimmick. One with mirrors and one without. In the case of Rick Rude, we got Bobby Roode. I disagree with the Gunns being bootlegs of anything other than the Blackjacks (Mulligan and Lanza).

[@chocolateface4885]

Rick fucking rude is the man .dude played a cocky arsehole so good .in my opinion dude had the best physique in the biz and still does

[@paulcowlishaw]

I always thought Abyss was Bootleg of Kane.

[@glasschin871]

Looked like mankind but acted more like kane.

[@AlwaysStayGeeky]

Always thought Abyss was more Kane than mind kind. And man, in that picture Sharkboy looks an awefull lot like Adam Cole. And seeing Cole can do a pretty good Austin.🤷🏼‍♂️

[@coryhummel8170]

Don't forget that the Rock and Roll Express tried breaking up before the Rockers on WCW Clash of the Champions Knoxville, USA. The heel turn from Ricky was shocking but not as shocking as the Rockers who did it on the Barber shop.

[@daz0705]

The tag team roster in the WWF was great during the late 80s there were loads of good teams, for the most part anyway although i remember all the promo videos leading up to the smoking guns debut, i was expecting them to be really good but i was un impressed in the end lol

[@glenncross4987]

The great thing about Sharkboy doing the Stone Cold parody was that Steve Austin was cool with it

[@shallendor]

NOBODY could be Bruiser Brody, he was one of a kind!

[@johnnymason2460]

I agree with you. His battles with Abdullah the Butcher were legendary.

[@dannycosta5540]

TRUTH💯

[@dannycosta5540]

Brody scared me as a kid but I was always a fan

[@mox19380]

also vince mcmahon wouldn't let anyone really be a brody type character, at least not in the late 80s early 90s. vkm would only allow a pg version of brody which is not at all interesting. that said, i don't know that nord even given leeway to do what he wanted could ever touch brody

[@waynemcdonald4448]

I thought Abyss was not just a rip off of Mankind but that he was also influenced by Kane. My favorite borrowed gimmick was Black Machismo Jay Lethal from Elizabeth New Jersey & then the imitation Steve Austin "And that's the fishing line because Shark Boy said so"

[@MrJimbaker920]

Black Machismo wasn't a rip-off,it was just a gimmick Vince Russo gave him after seeing (hearing)him do an impression of Randy Savage

[@waynemcdonald4448]

I said borrowed. @@MrJimbaker920

[@onyxturpin6382]

Abyss always been a personal fav wrestler one of the reason I loved tna (along with Christian, motor city machine guns, odb etc)

[@stevegallo8483]

Demolition wasn't the only attempt to recreate the Road Warriors/Legion of Doom. The other attempt was the Powers of Pain (the Warlord and the Barbarian).

[@shatteredking2774]

Funny thing is Barbarian was using the mohawk and face paint gimmick before Road Warriors, they kind of stole it from him. He started as Konga the Barbarian in 80-81 while RW didn’t come around until 82-83. They originally were just dressed as bikers and didn’t borrow the look from Barbarian until a year later.

[@Cj2o]

It's so ridiculous how many people think that Demolition were a rip off of the Road Warriors. Both the Road Warriors and Demolition were rip offs... of Mad Max characters. The 2nd Mad Max movie is literally called Road Warrior. Demolition's characters are rip offs of Lord Humungus... from the same film. Did Vince decide to use his own Mad Max characters because the Road Warriors were so over? Sure... But he didn't rip them off, he ripped off the Lord Humungus character from Mad Max 2.

[@markv1274]

@@Cj2o Excellent point, I mentioned the same thing above. Here's something else, something that not even many Australians know: the 'Mad Max' movies themselves were bootlegs of another Australian movie, a biker flick named 'Stone'. Check the trailer for yourself: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6XdaHZ_orKLmrM Amusingly enough, there's even a character called The Undertaker! It's worth mentioning that The Missing Link had a crazy haircut and face paint, and the character made his debut just weeks after Animal and Hawk started as The Road Warriors. Yet when The Roadies started, they didn't have face paint and crazy haircuts. The Missing Link did it first, and his original face paint was clearly similar to the type favoured by Hawk (downward streaks under the eyes). What's more, The Missing Link was early on called *Max* The Missing Link.

[@bannedfreespeech]

Which this clown showed in video thinking it was the road warrios

[@denniswenrich6221]

I legit thought that Bruser Brody and the Berserker were the same person. I was young and naive. However, I miss when wrestling had a character gimmick. It was like watching a comic book or Saturday morning cartoons. Also, that Sharkboy character change was pretty cool and fun!

[@souperstar7050]

Both Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura were imitations of Superstar Billy Graham. Ric Flair and Buddy Landel were almost a carbon copy of The Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. Corporal Kirchner was an imitation of Sargent Slaughter.

[@bannedfreespeech]

Steiner as well Hogan stole the superstar look twice

[@donjohn2695]

So many wrestlers ripped off superstar Billy Graham

[@purpleepicicon]

The only thing I don't agree with on this is that I don't think The Berserker was attempting to imitate Bruiser Brody. His character before joining the WWF was called Nord the Barbarian, mainly wrestling out of Portland, Oregon. He had quite a few main events during his time there as he was portrayed as a nearly unstoppable force. His Berserker character was pretty much Norm the Barbarian, but way more cartoony. If there was anyone trying to copycat someone else from this, it would be The Equalizer, who was also in Portland for a while before going to WCW.

[@Wool94]

*Nord the Barbarian

[@purpleepicicon]

@@Wool94 you're right. My bad. Just changed it. Thank you.

[@paulcowlishaw]

Great video Andy.

[@nicktaylor2657]

Sharkboy imitation of Stone Cold was hilarious Oh Shell yeah

[@duckmangooo7376]

John Nord was the "Gimmick " as Nord The Barbarian while he wrestled in Portland, Oregon of Don Owen productions.

[@TheMightyBubbs]

Your music choices are legit. Love your videos.

[@WRESTLEWITHANDY]

Appreciate the support man 👊🏻🤘🏻💪🏻☝🏻

[@jb888888888]

Randy "Moondog Rex" Cully was the original Smash, and created the gimmick. But too many people recognized him so he was replaced as Smash by Barry "Man of a Thousand Gimmicks" Darsow. Ax should have left the tongue thing to Smash. His tongue didn't stick out enough for it to be a taunt. I never thought Nord the Barbarian was any kind of reference to Bruiser Brody.

[@MrSheckstr]

It wasnt….. they just LOOKED alike and actually TEAMED with Bruiser as Nord the Barbarian…. Bruiser died in 88 and Nord briefly did a lumberjack gimmick but when he revived HIS barbarian Gimmick, and then changed it to a viking Berserker in WWF (they already had a Barbarian as part if Powers of Pain) Nord started adopting some of Bruiser’s mannerism both as a tribute to Broody, but also as a change from being a “barbarian” and a “berserker”

[@mightydegu]

The video is very poorly researched. Just missing the obvious fact that Darsow was a bootleg (but better, IMO) Smash shows how shallow this guy's research is.

[@damedan9389]

I think Rick Rude did the "narcissist" gimmick the best; next is Kurt Henning. Third, for me, is ol Jessie Van. 😅

[@AllTheWeirdestProject]

The best use of Mr. Socko was when Eric Matthews pissed off Mankind on Boy Meets World.

[@TheLiamFlem]

Pretty sure more fans remember the smoking Gunns than remember Bart won the brawl for all

[@p.d.l7023]

When I first saw Ted DiBiase in wwf as Million Dollar Man I was confused, because I was already familiar with him as the loaded glove ass kicker from Mid-South..

[@RealityCheckTV]

I wouldn't call these bootlegs. I'd call them rip offs or copycats. I don't know if it's been mentioned, but the Berzerker (originally called the Viking) was actually trained by Bruiser Brody. He worked in the AWA as Nord the Barbarian and even teamed with Brody copying him to a T and was quite intimidating but no where as intense as Brody.

[@kenwaldron8548]

I pictured blackjacks when I first saw the smoking guns also. I’m sure it’s been posted already

[@Tarantulisimo]

there were literally hundreds of variations of cowboy & southern gimmicks -- i wouldn't necessarily say that the smoking gunns were directly a bootleg of the southern boys

[@rvawildcardwolf2843]

Important for everyone to remember that these are the bootleg gimmicks that made it to big promotional TV. Pay attention to the local Indies, and you'll see TONS of wrestlers clearing and blatantly trying to recreate the formula of their idols.

[@mider-spanman5577]

16:50 That's so strange; I never knew that D'Lo Brown was a part of that group. So random. He even seems to have taken his finisher name from it, or the team got its name from his finisher (?).

[@jaybee5315]

7:03 no, no, no, Jannetty tried to run away from Shawn by jumping out the barber shop window

[@brettgerber795]

When I think of the Berzurker, I always think of him staying in the ring when Undertaker came to the ring for his match on (maybe?) Superstars. And he almost stabbed Taker with his sword.

[@wayn0r]

Shark Boy, Gillberg, Sandow, etc. don’t belong on the same list as shameless knock-offs, as they were presented as self-aware parodies.

[@YoungSweezy]

Kane, Mankind, Undertaker... Such awesome dark gimmicks in attitude era. Today there are mostly if not only no gimmicks, Just wrestlers with "celebrity status".

[@kidz4p509]

Title: Accept No Substitutes Everyone: Accepts half of them anyway

[@DemonArshan]

We already got Smoking Guns 2.0 in NXT with Briggs and Jensen.

[@eddiejoewalt7746]

the smoking gunns was a 3 times WWF Tag Team Championship

[@Acolyte8]

JBL was also a bootleg gimmick of The Million Dollar Man. Umaga - a fusion of Wild Samoans and Kamala "Pirate" Paul Burchill - Jean Pierre Lafitte

[@andrewsargent9543]

I think you missed an important point on the Southern Boys/Smoking Gunns segment. While Armstrong and Smothers did start out as the Southern Boys, it was a confederate rebel gimmick complete with rebel flags and all. They were eventually repackaged as The Young Pistols, a true cowboy gimmick and definitely similar to the Smoking Gunns.

[@suoquainen]

You could easily do the same video with actual independent wrestlers. I mean gimmicks like Warhorse, Krule or Jacob Fatu as example are screaming Ultimate Warrior, Kane or Umaga. And there are a lot more.

[@azrealofhades2603]

Jacob Fatu is most likely more of a dedication to him since Umaga and Rikishi are his uncles.

[@suoquainen]

@@azrealofhades2603 Yes.

[@glasschin871]

Don’t know how Jacob Fatu doesn’t have a WWE contract.

[@azrealofhades2603]

@glasschin871 I think they did but he didn't last long but I could be wrong

[@glasschin871]

@@azrealofhades2603 him Davey Richards, Alex Hammerstone and Richard Holiday have had great matches on MLW in recent years. Surprised none of them have been picked up.

[@fugetaboutit2050]

POOR MARTY J HAS BAD FEET, BAD HIPS, BAD KNEES & LIVES IN A SMALL TRAILER. HBK NEVER HELPED HIM OUT

[@geocoop60]

Uh hello. The WWF didn't "create" the Rockers. The "Midnight Rockers" were created in the AWA. When they moved to the WWF they just "stayed in character" , dropping the Midnight part of their moniker.!

[@gossamer1234]

didn't think of southern boys as cowboys so much as Rebel Soldiers

[@Aj-wt1sv]

Their is a little known wrestler named nature boy Ric Flair which was a bootleg version of nature boy Buddy Roger.

[@Milli2X]

C’mon how are you going to not include Kayon as DDP? That was hilarious back in the day

[@tzvikrasner6073]

Kevin Thorn actually had two bootleg gimmicks. The Mordechai character he originally debuted as was an Undertaker ripoff. Also, there's been several gimmicks in the vein of The Genius, including Christopher Nowinski, Matt Striker, and David Otunga.