In that novel, the rightful king is replaced by a look-alike while he languishes in the dungeon beneath an iron mask. The Three Musketeers eventually set things to right, but not until after the look-alike has caused all kinds of havoc.

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Since Pro wrestling is an amalgamation of various different forms of entertainment, it stands to reason that this imposter trope would be utilized in sports entertainment. Here are ten times a popular wrestler was replaced with an imposter.

#1.Black Tiger and Tiger Mask

Actually, Tiger Mask counts as an imposter of himself, since several men have played the character. The original was Satoru Sayama, and he was the one who mainly feuded with the dreaded Black Tiger, who was played by Gaijin Mark Rocco.

Black Mask was basically just like Tiger Mask, only evil.

#2. “New” Razor Ramon

Rick Bognar was a journeyman grappler looking for his first big break in the industry. He was hired by WWE and had to think his career would finally take off.

Unfortunately, he was placed in an imposter gimmick of Razor Ramon. The jury is still out on exactly WHY WWE thought a fake Razor Ramon would get over after Scott Hall, the man who made the gimmick famous, left for WCW.

Some say it was done for revenge on Hall, others say it was to confuse fans into thinking Hall never actually left WWE, and still others think it was supposed to get Jim Ross over as a heel since he ‘believed’ the new Razor Ramon played by Bognar was the genuine article. The gimmick was quickly scrapped, but not until after a Royal Rumble appearance.

#3. Fake Diesel

Fake Diesel came about around the same time as Fake Razor in WWE, but there is a key difference between the two; The new Diesel was able to continue his career in WWE under a different gimmick.

Under the shades and flowing hair was a wrestler known variously as Unabomb, Fake Diesel, Issac Yankem DDS, and…KANE! Yes, that’s right, the big red machine started his WWE career playing an imposter.

There are many who consider Kane an imposter of Undertaker, but the character has evolved in his own right.

#4. NWO Sting

NWO Sting didn’t make much of a Stinger Splash, but unlike many of the imposters on this list he actually served to further a storyline, and it turned out to be one of the most famous and popular storylines of all time.

Sting was played by Jeff Farmer, who had previously wrestled in WCW under the military gimmick Cobra. Fake Sting was used to sow confusion and discord among the WCW wrestlers trying to resist the NWO invasion. The NWO went to a lot of trouble to convince folks that Sting was the ’third man’ of their invasion force. Of course, it turned out to be Hulk Hogan, but not before the real Sting became bitter and resentful.

Fake Sting helped the surfer dude Sting transform into the ominous, frightening, and silent “Crow” Sting, perhaps giving him his most compelling look and persona ever.

#5. Gillberg

Duane Gill was in the ‘James Ellsworth’ role in WWE in the late 1990s. Obviously much smaller and less impressive than most of the roster, he was mostly used for comedic relief but did actually get a minor push as WWE’s lightheavyweight champion, their answer to WCW’s cruiserweight division.

Gill would eventually transition into Gillberg, a character meant to poke fun at WCW’s Reigning world champion Bill Goldberg. While the character was quite entertaining and a spot on parody, it was dropped when WWE realized they were just giving the real Goldberg legitimacy by having the character around in the first place.

36. The Road Warriors rip-offs.

If you want to get technical, the Road Warriors themselves were rip offs of the Mel Gibson film of the same name. That being said, their success created a whole slew of similar gimmicks.

The Powers of Pain were perhaps the most blatant, and could legitimately claim they were actually bigger than the Road Warriors. Their tandem came to an end after they joined WWE and were split up into singles wrestlers.

Demolition were the most successful of the imitators, holding the WWE world tag team titles for a record time until the New Day shattered it. Demolition were basically destroyed by the Road Warriors–re-Christened Legion of Doom–when the latter joined WWE.

And finally, the Blade Runners were a Warriors rip off with a New Wave flavor. They went on to tremendous singles success as The Ultimate Warrior and Sting.

#7. Hulk Hogan

Arguably the most famous wrestler of all time, Hulk Hogan’s mantra of ‘prayers, training, and vitamins’ was followed by many a 1980s child. But they had no idea Hogan was a rip off of a 1970s era star Superstar Billy Graham.

As you can see from the photo, there are a lot of similarities. The biggest difference is probably that Graham was a heel for most of his career, while Hogan worked babyface. Hogan acknowledges that Graham was a huge influence on him professionally, and there is no ill will between them because of the imposter gimmick.

#8. The Juicer

The interesting thing about Art “The Juicer” Barr is that he’s not an imposter of another wrestler, but rather a copy of popular film character Beetlejuice from the film of the same name.

Barr even lifted Beetlejuice’s catchprase “It’s Showtime!” His main moves consisted of shooting opponents with silly string, shaking white powder from his head into their eyes, and baffling them by shimmying around the ring ropes like a spider.

The gimmick fell flat, as the children that were the intended audience were too young to see the PG 13 film it was based upon.

#9. Dean Malenko as Ciclope

According to Chris Jericho, the biggest pop he ever heard in WCW wasn’t for Goldberg, Sting, or Hogan, it was for Dean Malenko!

Jericho had captured the Cruiserweight title and had been openly mocking Malenko. Dean was taking time off because his wife had recently given birth, but WCW officials wanted the feud to continue. Jericho trolled Malenko by calling himself the ‘man of 1004 holds’ and repeatedly mocking him while he was away.

After a cruiserweight battle royal was won by lower card lucha libre star Ciclope, he unmasked and revealed Dean Malenko. The crowd popped huge, Malenko demolished Jericho, and the cruiserweight championship was relevant and hot again.

#10. Undertaker vs. Underfaker

Since Undertaker was due to take time off to rehab an injury, WWE put his close friend Brian “Chainz” Lee into the gimmick as an evil minion of Ted Dibiase. Because of clever camera work and Lee keeping his hair over his face most of the time, some fans were legitimately fooled, at least when they watched on television.

However, Undertaker, of course, made his triumphant return and put away the UnderFaker, as fans had come to call Lee, in short order. The gimmick is considered a flop by most critics and for a long time WWE demanded their talent NOT mention it in any capacity. After the debut of the WWE network–which put the whole saga on digital access–the company relented on this policy.

There you have it; Ten pro wrestling imposters. Questions or comments? Please leave them below the article and thanks for reading.

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