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Top Five Great Wrestling Gimmicks Inspired By Movies

Posted: Aug 1st 2024 By: Brian Damage - RingTheDamnBell.Wordpress.com

Pro wrestling gets a lot of its inspiration from pop culture and the happenings in today’s world. Some of ideas come from movies whether it be a storyline or a particular gimmick. Today’s Top Five are the best wrestling gimmicks that were inspired by movies.

The Dudleys – Slap Shot

The Dudley gimmick was heavily influenced by the 1977 movie Slap Shot and in particular the Hanson Brothers. Big Dick Dudley used the Hanson brothers as the template for the look and behavior of the Dudley gimmick in ECW. Guys that looked timid and nerdy, but had a wild, violent side to them. Buh-Buh Ray and D-Von broke away from the more comedic aspects of the group and became one of the more successful tag teams in wrestling.

Bray Wyatt – Cape Fear

Yes, Bray Wyatt was an extension of the earlier 1990’s WWF gimmick of Waylon Mercy played by Dan Spivey. That character was inspired from the movie Cape Fear and the main villain in that film Max Cady. While the Waylon Mercy gimmick floundered due to career ending injuries to Spivey, Vince McMahon revived the character in Bray Wyatt.

Razor Ramon – Scarface

Scott Hall’s look was basically carried over from his WCW days as The Diamond Studd, but to make his WWF gimmick more unique, he borrowed ideas from the 1983 crime drama ‘Scarface’ and based his Razor Ramon gimmick on the lead role of Tony Montana played by Al Pacino.

The Road Warriors – Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Mad Max and its sequels have had a great influence for professional wrestling throughout the years, as many ideas were copied from that trilogy. Case in point, The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) heavily took ideas from the movie at the behest of the creator of the tag team…Ole Anderson. Joe ‘Animal’ Laurinaitis stated that Ole wanted the team to look to one of the main villains in the movie…a mohawk, face paint wearing character named ‘Wez.’

Sting – The Crow

This one is pretty simple, considering this particular version of Sting was unofficially known as ‘The Crow Sting.’ Scott Hall was the person who gave the idea to Sting. It was based on the 1994 movie called…The Crow starring Brandon Lee. In my personal opinion, this version of Sting was perhaps the very best and considering he didn’t do much but sit in the rafters and not say a single word for a year, tells you all you need to know about the gimmick.