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WWE has existed for over 50 years and has greatly evolved as a company and a show over those decades.
There was a time in WWE when the vast majority of its roster had larger than life gimmicks. Old school WWE events were filled with plumbers, vikings, correctional officers, hockey players, magicians, Voodoo priests and arrogant millionaires to name just a few.
It was a millionaire who was one of the biggest stars of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was all gimmick, but the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase was given a character that he states was an extension of his boss, Vince McMahon.
Not only did DiBiase play the gimmick on television, but he also lived it offscreen too, as McMahon paid for his limousine travel to and from hotels, first-class air travel, as well as the expensive clothes he sported onscreen. McMahon wanted to convince the masses that the DiBiase character was genuine.
It's hard to imagine McMahon putting that same investment into one of his characters today and that is one of the many reasons why nostalgia and the old school WWE is so celebrated by the WWE Universe in 2018. Not only does old school wrestling remind them of their youth, it also reminds onlookers of the great possibilities that exist within wrestling.
WWE loves its own history of course and routinely celebrates it by inviting its former stars back for major shows, particularly Wrestlemania, and putting on its Hall of Fame event each Wrestlemania weekend.
The WWE Hall of Fame is a celebration of WWE's past and this slideshow looks at five Hall of Famers who are well remembered for being stars of WWE's old school.
Relive with SK, some of sports entertainment's favourite old school superstars.
#5 Big Boss Man
Hailing from Cobb County, Georgia, Ray Traylor joined the then-WWF in June 1988 and was given the gimmick of a prison guard.
It was a perfect fit for Traylor who had previously worked as a corrections officer before he entered the wrestling business.
Decked out in a bright blue prison guard outfit with a nightstick and with an uplifting entrance theme penned by Jim Johnstone, Boss Man was one of the most memorable performers of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Boss Man's best run in WWF came between 1988 and 1990 when he was an opponent of Hulk Hogan and then one of his buddies when he turned babyface prior to Wrestlemania VI.
Boss Man's place in WWE history was assured when he was inducted into the 2016 class of the WWE Hall of Fame.
#4 Razor Ramon
Scott Hall had been in the wrestling business for eight years already, when he got the call from Stamford, Connecticut in mid-1992. He was offered a character inspired by the 1983 Al Pacino film, Scarface.
In truth, the Razor Ramon character with his garish jewellery and colourful attire more closely resembled Pacino's co-star in Scarface, Manny Ribera.
It was a character that fit in perfectly in early 1990s WWF, where gimmicked performers were rife but when Hall left the company in 1996. He left the colourful attire and gold jewellery behind and played a more serious character, though he did retain his Tony Montana-style voice: Hey yo!
Ramon was sensationally successful, winning the Intercontinental Championship four times during his WWF tenure though he was blocked from winning the World title due to his personal issues.
Hall was inducted into the 2014 class of WWE's Hall of Fame as the Razor Ramon character.
#3 Mr Perfect
Vignettes once were a major tool in promoting a new superstar before they ever debuted on television. Largely a lost art in the 2010s, the ones heralding the coming of Mr Perfect were some of the very best in company history.
Mr Perfect's vignettes demonstrated him hitting home runs on the Baseball field, nailing a basket from an incredible distance on the Basketball courts as well as launching a football across an NFL pitch then catching it himself.
It was a classic old-school gimmick; Mr Perfect, the man who was perfect at absolutely everything. For the first year of his WWF career, he had a perfect win/loss record too.
A classic gimmick for the late 1980s, early 1990s era, Perfect's character is till fondly remembered to this day.
He was inducted into the 2007 class of WWE's Hall of Fame.
#2 Rowdy Roddy Piper
Despite "Rowdy" Roddy Piper heavily influencing current WWE superstar, "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey, the kilt and the nickname and the dynamic personality are the only traits that transfer from the 1980s to 2018.
It is impossible to see Rousey march down to the ring, playing the bagpipes or ascertaining to be Scottish, as Piper did.
Despite being Canadian, Piper was billed from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite the incongruous nature of the gimmick, Piper made it an unadulterated success.
Piper was one of the top five most famous wrestlers in the 1980s and had almost as much to do with the success of the inaugural Wrestlemania event as Hulk Hogan, Mr T and Vince McMahon himself.
It is hard to see Piper's gimmick extending beyond the mid-card though in 2018. Piper would have made it of course but playing a very different role. Truly an old school gimmick for an old school great.
Piper was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.
#1 Ric Flair
No other man better encapsulated the glitz, glamour and outrageous pageantry of the 1970s and 1980s more than Ric Flair.
Decked out in a stunning array of extremely costly and extravagant robes, Flair looked every bit the megastar, as he flew from arena to arena in private jets and limousines.
It was a role that the real-life Richard Fliehr lived for real, which is why he played it so immaculately for over four decades.
It was a gimmick very much of its time, which is why when the likes of Bobby Roode dons a robe and tries to portray a similar character, it seems dated in 2018.
Although Flair's daughter Charlotte wears even more extravagant robes to the ring when she competes, it is in tribute to her father and not part of her characterisation.
Flair was of his time but what a time it was. "The Man" is the only double Hall of Fame inductee in WWE history, enshrined in 2008 and 2012.
