5 WWE Superstars whose characters were inspired by real people
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.