Scott Hall's Gimmick Infringement

[The Brain]

Last night I watched The Crow again. Earlier today Scarface was on tv. Seeing these two movies about twelve hours apart made me think of Scott Hall. For those who don’t know Hall got the Razor Ramon character from Al Pacino’s character in Scarface. Also it was Hall who suggested to Sting that he alter his gimmick to be like The Crow.

Just curious why no one calls out Scott Hall for basically stealing these gimmicks from movies. Is it because the gimmicks were so good that we don’t care where they came from? Maybe I’m wrong but I can’t help but think if someone like Hulk Hogan or John Cena did this they would be accused of stealing gimmicks and not being creative.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Wonder if he had anything to do with this....

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Last night I watched The Crow again. Earlier today Scarface was on tv. Seeing these two movies about twelve hours apart made me think of Scott Hall. For those who don’t know Hall got the Razor Ramon character from Al Pacino’s character in Scarface. Also it was Hall who suggested to Sting that he alter his gimmick to be like The Crow.

Just curious why no one calls out Scott Hall for basically stealing these gimmicks from movies. Is it because the gimmicks were so good that we don’t care where they came from? Maybe I’m wrong but I can’t help but think if someone like Hulk Hogan or John Cena did this they would be accused of stealing gimmicks and not being creative.

Regarding Sting/The Crow, some of that resurfaced last month with the indy guy Krimson accusing TNA of stealing his gimmick, although he himself based it off of The Joker.

It seems that there is a fine line between what one person considers "stealing" and another "paying homage" to characters from other media. Not quite the same thing as taking inspiration from the movies, but Shark Boy seems to tread the fine line in regards to Stone Cold; same finisher, very similar hand gestures, wears a vest, finisher's name rhymes with stunner.

Sting's adoption of the Crow gimmick was very fitting to the overall storyline in WCW at the time and the symbolism of Sting altering his facepaint to reflect a character associated with death, despair, loss etc is what I think makes that character one of the most striking in the history of wrestling.


BTW, awesome combo of films!

 

[Shocky]

Umm, Hulk Hogan is essentially a rip off of the Incredible Hulk. When Hogan gets beaten up he "Hulks Up" and becomes damn near invincible. The whole Hulk Hogan character is based on it. Hell the WWF used to include the Marvel trademark at the end of shows with Hogan in it.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I am sure there were independent wrestlers at some point with the name Leatherface... wonder where that came from???

Raven was blatantly ripping off the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange in TNA during his Serotonin phase too

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

It seems that there is a fine line between what one person considers "stealing" and another "paying homage" to characters from other media. Not quite the same thing as taking inspiration from the movies, but Shark Boy seems to tread the fine line in regards to Stone Cold; same finisher, very similar hand gestures, wears a vest, finisher's name rhymes with stunner.

I think I read or heard an interview once where Shark Boy said Austin actually rang him up saying he loved the character, best moment of Shark Boy's career by far.


With regards to this gimmick infringement thing though I just think that the characters are more like a take on the original, most ideas are taken from somewhere. I mean, it's interesting you bring up this point but people rarely mention infringement of gimmicks in the world of wrestling itself ie The Nature Boy Ric Flair taken from Buddy Rogers.

Crow Sting was influenced highly by the film but not an exact copy in, they differ in the wrestling character being mute for instance. In the same way Razor Ramon was pretty distinguishable from Scarface. And this latest thing about Joker Sting? The guy claiming gimmick infringement has some balls. Taking a character from a movie and then basically copyrighting it is in theory what he tried to do. Joker Sting acted pretty different from that guy and different to any performance of The Joker in film or television that I've seen before.

As long as you can separate the original and the duplicate I don't really see the issue.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

I always had Point Break and Sting's surfer gimmick connected.

 

[ChickenWaffles]

re: the person who said Shark Boy, the whole point was that he was similar to Austin. Unless you're the kind of person who considers themselves perceptive because you noticed the similarities between Gillberg and Goldberg too?

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

re: the person who said Shark Boy, the whole point was that he was similar to Austin. Unless you're the kind of person who considers themselves perceptive because you noticed the similarities between Gillberg and Goldberg too?

You actually think some people didnt realise Shark Boy was a parody of Austin?

I would be shocked if anyone was that fucking stupid














Shell Yeah!

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

And that's the FISHIN' LIIIIIIIIiiiiiiIIIIIINEE.....

 

[ABMorales787]

I am sure there were independent wrestlers at some point with the name Leatherface... wonder where that came from???

Or his tag team partner. The Son Of Jason from W* ING and IWA.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

re: the person who said Shark Boy, the whole point was that he was similar to Austin. Unless you're the kind of person who considers themselves perceptive because you noticed the similarities between Gillberg and Goldberg too?

Whose this Goldberg fella?

And the Shark Boy/Austin similarity was what I was getting at with the whole stealing/paying homage argument, it depends if the person being used for inspiration appreciates the gesture or wants to get their sue on.

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

^ Well exactly Dowds, Stone Cold clearly remembers that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and parody is the sincerest form of imitation!

Even if he wanted to, Austin couldn't sue Shark Boy. Parodying is not a crime. Some people that I've seen on the net though, seem ignorant to the fact that parody is not the same as 'ripping off' ... in fact, it's completely the opposite. I'm glad we're clear about that here though.

I hope Scott Hall's creativity is not exactly being questioned here? I know that Sting takes 'inspired by' to mean 'be nearly the same as', but I don't have a problem with it. Sting is cool, at least his characters are different from anyone else in wrestling.

 

[ABMorales787]

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

And that's the FISHIN' LIIIIIIIIiiiiiiIIIIIINEE.....

So funny. I thought the Shark Boy-Austin parody was so ridiculous that it actually made for great entertainment.

He even got the voice pretty spot on too