Ghost of Wrestling Past, Haunting the Present

[Shocky]

If you follow the wrestling business long enough, you begin to see that the business itself is very cyclical. What was once popular fades, but eventually it comes back around and is cool again. It just doesn't occur in wrestling, but in pop culture for the most part. Wrestling has been filled with great gimmicks, and great retreads of said gimmicks. Often time a wrestler of the past lays the ground work, and a modern wrestler comes along and blows the mold away.

In fact, two of the most successful wrestlers of the last 25 years were nothing more then retreads.

"Superstar" Billy Graham. The Original Mr. Charisma, the original man with the largest arms of the WWWF. While guys like Bruno Sammartino dominated the title with his shoot style of wrestling, Billy Graham believed that an over the top character would do well for the business, and he was right. Even with Vince Sr. emphasis on keeping it realistic, Grahams over the top character took him to the WWWF Championship.

"Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. Graham laid the ground work, Jesse "The Body" Ventura expanded it, and Hulk Hogan blew the damn roof off of the things. Hogan was a succesful face version of Billy Graham and his over the top character, but maybe he was more successful as Hollywood Hogan in channelling the heel Graham. From the goattee and the persona, Hogan took was Graham started, and mastered it.

"The Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers: The Man that Vince McMahon considers to be the greatest heel of all time. Rogers borrowed from Gorgeous George, but quickly became one of the televsion eras biggest stars. After being screwed out of the NWA Title by the board and Lou Thesz, Rogers became the first WWWF champion. From his flamboyance, robes, and in ring ability, he is one of the greatest heels in the history of the business.

"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair: Well obviously Ric Flair emulated Rogers in every way. From dying his hair blonde, to the flamboyance, the over the top character and the shiny glittery Ring Robes. Flair was handed the torch himself by Buddy Rogers int he late 70's, and he ran with the Nature Boy Gimmick to become, arguably, the greatest NWA champion in history. Flair has often been considered not only the greatest wrestler of all time, but the greatest heel of all time.

So before people spout out that using an old gimmick is dumb, or lame, blah blah blah, I've just given you the examples of possibly the two most successful wrestlers of the last 25 years, and their gimmicks, their ring work, everything, was done because of the ground work of someone that laid it down before them. Without Graham or Rogers, who knows where Hogan and Flair would be today?

Now those are just two, and I have a ton more that I'll get into. Who do you see today that reminds you eerily of someone from the past?

 

[Shocky]

When Sting first entered the NWA/WCW, he was a young, charismatic figure. He was a figure of the times, a loud colorful character, complete with facepaint and bright tights. Ric Flair says that Sting was a perfect blend of Hogan and Warrior, but better then the Warrior obviously. Sting always gets the knack for being over rated, or bad in the ring, that's subjective and up to you, but I disagree strongly. Sting was strong as an Ox, and added a submission maneuver to his repitoire. He made his career by beating A Ric Flair in his prime, and proving his strength against the likes of Rude and Vader.

You hear it all the time, people trying to compare John Cena to Hulk Hogan mostly. People complain about Cena's title runs as Hoganesque, or when he first stepped on the scene, he was a blend of the Rock's charisma and mic ability, and the brawler of Steve Austin. I challenge all of those, and say that if Cena is like anyone, he's the second coming of Sting int he business. His rap character was a direct reflection of the times and that Eminem crowd, much like Sting was the character that reflected the loudness of the late 80's.

Plus, John Cena and Sting are scarily similar when it comes to being in the ring. They are both strong as ox's, and utilize a damn devistating submission manuever to end the match. Whether it be Sting bodyslamming Vader, or Cena FU'ing a Big Show or Umaga, their strength is scary strong. Both are exceptional on the mic, and under rated for their matches. Like Sting, Cena made his career by beating bigger names like Angle and Triple H, but solidified it with his hour long match against Michaels, much like Sting over Flair. Also, both without question are/were the face of their companies during their times. Their companies would struggle to survive with their absence.

 

[Lee]

First off Shocky, great thread. This will be interesting to see what people come up with. There's two (well 4 people) that spring to mind with me.

Ed 'The Sheik' Farhart, an over the top 'sheik' character, who was master of the submission holds. He paved the way for "hardcore wrestling" and apparently wrestled his last match in 1998, aged 72.

The Iron Sheik, famed as the transitional champion of Backlund to Hulkamania, he had a similar style to the original Sheik, in appearance and finishing move.

The other two people I have are two midcarders, one from WCW and the other from WWF.

Rob Conway and Buff Bagwell (after Conways split from la resistance;
The two men have a similar cockiness and arrogance.
Both came out to the ring wearing a crazy hat and sunglasses.
Both had neck breaker finishers. Conway was a copy of Bagwell, that's for sure.

 

[Shadowmancer]

well Im not going to say the most obvious Comparison that is floating around this forum right now in the Triple H being a rehash of Harley Race.

Jake is one of the greatest tragedies in wrestling. However there is one man that can be compared to him among many different ways, from the way that the psychology was used in a match, through to a way of sitting in a corner just staring. There is the finisher as well. The Man that I am referring to is...

Raven was the next incarnation of 'the snake' as you watch a match between the two.

There is another very easy comparison to make whether you wish to remember it or not.
"the Dynamite Kid" Tom Billington and his virtual clone in Chris Benoit. While Chris went with some other things, there is an almost uncanny pattern of match styles as seen through numerous cases of matches. It can be explained by the fact that Benoit idealised the Dynamite Kid when he was young.

and