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WWE has spent decades working to provide fans with entertainment of the highest quality possible. The company has revolutionized the way we look at wrestling as a sport and has added several additional dimensions to it. However, the classics are classics for a reasom.
Gimmicks and characters have always been a large part of what WWE Superstars have to offer. Many wrestlers are hired by the company based on the characters they have created elsewhere.
WWE Superstars such as The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, John Cena, and Sgt. Slaughter have had some of the most iconic characters and gimmicks in WWE history, and that is part of the reason why they are referred to as legends today.
While many several WWE Superstars have worked hard to come up with completely original gimmicks, some have based their characters on real-life people to become more popular. While it might seem lazy on the surface, basing elements of a character of real-world figures - without being a straight-up impression of them - can help the audience connect with them even more closely.
Let's look at the 5 WWE Superstars who based their on-screen characters on real-life people.
#5 Adam Rose / Russell Brand
Adam Rose was an interesting character in WWE who competed with a couple of different gimmicks for the company. In Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) and NXT, Rose had a much more serious gimmick where he was seen as a tough competitor - a bounty hunter from South Africa named Leo Kreuger.
However, his gimmick as the party-loving Adam Rose was introduced to the fans in 2014, late into his NXT career. He debuted on the main roster with The Exotic Express (aka his "Rosebuds") after several vignettes had already set up his arrival following WrestleMania XXX.
Adam Rose picked up his WWE character from a popular British comedian
Fans and critics noted that Rose’s character was brilliantly patterned after comedian and actor Russell Brand, and it seemed to have a spark that could have worked very well for the WWE Superstar with the right booking.
Rose himself spoke about his gimmick on E:60’s special "WWE: Behind the Curtain" by ESPN:
“The initial inspiration was Elton John and I wanted something where I could be really flamboyant and dress up and show a completely different look,” explained Leppan. “I had always done a South African accent and I wanted to do something with more of a European accent. Then someone else said to me it was pretty much Russell Brand and then I hooked on to the Russell Brand stuff and put a lot of that into Adam Rose.”
While Rose got some initial backing, he soon fell out and was reduced to the mid-cards and lower mid-cards after which he started to fade away. Rose requested his release from WWE in 2016 and retired from wrestling in 2019.
#4. Honky Tonk Man / Elvis Presley
The Honky Tonk Man made his television debut for WWE in September 1986, and fans immediately saw that his gimmick was inspired by one of the most inspirational musicians of all time, Elvis Presley.
He won the WWE Intercontinental Championship during his initial run and held it for 454 days before losing it to The Ultimate Warrior at the 1988 SummerSlam. He is still the longest-reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion of all time.
This WWE Hall of Famer was inspired by The King of Rock and Roll
Digging deep into his gimmick, even his profile page on WWE.com states how he resembled Elvis:
“Though he may have resembled one of the most famous musicians of all time, The Honky Tonk Man would be the first person to tell you that Elvis Presley couldn’t shine his shoes, both in the ring and in the recording studio.”
The WWE Superstar spoke in detail about how Elvis inspired his wrestling gimmick in an interview with Great North Wrestling.
The Honky Tonk Man was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019, and it’s no secret that his Elvis character helped his overall wrestling persona shine out in WWE and elsewhere.
#3. John Cena / Vanilla Ice
John Cena arrived in WWE in 2001 as ‘The Prototype’, but there is one gimmick that he worked on a year later that helped him “save his career” in WWE.
During the Halloween-themed episode of WWE SmackDown! in 2002, Cena dressed up as the world-renowned 1990s rapper (and TV home renovation specialist) known as Vanilla Ice.
From there on, Cena worked his gimmick around Vanilla Ice and appeared in SmackDown as a rapper who cut promos while rhyming. This allowed him to come up with ‘The Doctor of Thuganomics’ gimmick that really clicked with the WWE Universe and, mostly importantly, Stephanie McMahon.
Cena revealed during a documentary on the WWE Network in 2020 that the company was planning to release the Superstar from WWE, but the gimmick and Stephanie’s intervention helped save him from that particular fate.
On Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard, we heard Prichard talk about Cena’s initial WWE gimmick:
“First of all, it wasn’t Stephanie, it was me. We would travel on buses and on private charter planes and Cena would be in the back of the plane. It was like a scene from a movie where the cheerleaders gather around and start singing and s**t like that. Cena would sit on the back of the plane and rap. And he would cut down everybody around him on the plane. I remember sitting there listening to this going ‘oh my god’ and everybody’s popping. The entire plane is popping at some of the s**t he does. It was entertaining as hell. Guys would throw things at him during the tour, say ‘hey John, how about his guy over here’ and John would just go into a completely impromptu rap.
"We were (in the UK), the Smackdown writing team, to have to come up with the Halloween show I believe was in Cincinnati. We had nothing for John. We had a big Halloween party where they were going to be dressed [up]. And I said ‘well, for Cena, he’s gotta be Vanilla Ice. Let him rap.’ Heyman looked at me like I had steaming turds hanging out of my mouth. His words: ‘If you saddle this young man with a rap gimmick, we might as well put a bow on his career and bury him now. It will never get over and he will die.’ I said ‘we have nothing else.’ … So we did the Vanilla Ice s**t and it kinda grew from there, but John did his own raps, but it was that moment in the hallway that Vince heard him and went ‘holy s**t, this guy’s talented.”
Cena put his own twist to the gimmick soon after to make it huge in WWE
While Cena did mold his gimmick later on and added a lot more edge to it, he has revealed that the initial inspiration for the character he portrayed as The Doctor of Thuganomics.
Cena later changed his gimmick as he turned into the biggest face of the company for over a decade, he still remembers his time as The Doctor of Thuganomics extremely well and appeared in character at WrestleMania 35 to take out Elias and during his match against Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 36.
#2. John Morrison / Jim Morrison
John Morrison is one of the top WWE Superstars of our generation. The "Shaman of Sexy" has had great success both inside and outside WWE, and remains a top draw.
As many fans would know, John Morrison picked his WWE name after it was noted that he had a strong physical resemblance to the legendary frontman of the The Doors, Jim Morrison.
According to The Prince of Parkour:
“The officials informed me that I would undergo a character transformation. To my surprise, the WWE allowed me to create almost every aspect of my new character. I always felt I had a resemblance to legendary Doors Rocker, Jim Morrison, and I ultimately decided to model my new gimmick/character after him.
"I really got into Jim Morrison. I spent time reading his biography, related books, and his books of poetry. I wanted to immerse myself into the role, and this was the best way. Jim Morrison possessed a mysterious quality that made it seem like he was always on the edge.”
This WWE Superstar had studied Jim Morrison's persona thoroughly
That’s not all: one of his finishers known as ‘Moonlight Drive’ is also named after one of The Doors’ most famous songs - written by Jim Morrison himself. John Morrison not only looks like Jim Morrison, but also dresses like him and speaks like him on the mic.
His “Elite Hollywood Status” gimmick was backed by Jim Morrison’s real-life persona, something that helped the former Intecontinental Champion become an immediate crowd pleaser for the company.
#1. Velveteen Dream / Prince
The longest-reigning WWE NXT North American Champion of all time The Velveteen Dream is one of the hottest young prospects in WWE.
At just 20 years old, Dream was selected as a contestant for the sixth season of the WWE reality television program WWE Tough Enough in 2015, but was eliminated early on. Thankfully for WWE, they saw potential in him and signed the young guy to a WWE contract later that year.
Dream’s character was fresh and unique, allowing him to immediately get a lot of attention when he began a rivalry against Aleister Black in 2017. It was evident that his character was inspired by none-other-than one of the greatest musicians that ever lived, Prince.
Prince inspired everyone, including WWE Superstars
In an interview with WWE, Dream said the following about Prince’s influence on his life and character when after he was asked about his unique appearance:
“Prince played a big influence on my style. When I was 10 years old, my stepdad [took me to a Prince concert and] put me on the stage with him and I danced a little bit until the bodyguard took me off. As I exited the stage, I spotted the finest ensemble of backup dancers I had ever seen in my life. This is where I immediately felt his influence — the absolute control he had over this group and the beautiful women that always surrounded him.”
The Velveteen Dream’s finisher known as the ‘Purple Rainmaker’ is also named after Prince’s hit sixth music album called ‘Purple Rain’. This shows just how much influence Prince has had one the WWE Superstar.
