Sometimes a film can be so popular and inspiring, that it may have elements and characters that would fit a wrestling persona so well. It could be what can make or break your career, and while in some cases can work out pretty bad and silly, other times it can make a bonafide star out of a performer.

And while some have done a bad job over the years with this, some, whether the results be good or bad, have still been entertaining along the way. Here are five of the best wrestling gimmicks inspired by movies.

#5 Tyler Breeze - Zoolander

As documented on the WWE Network Breaking Ground series, Tyler Breeze spent almost 3 years floating around in different gimmicks before settling on this male model gimmick.

Debuting as the character in 2013, Tyler Breeze was not just a male model, but seemed to experience several similarities to the Ben Stiller cult comedy, Zoolander. Breeze shared many similarities to the character, including to thinking he was incredibly good-looking, and bringing up this ‘fact’ at every given opportunity.

The character also at times seemed to have his intelligence and other normal attributes be completely blinded by his own over the top self-awareness. While the gimmick ended up being a flop on the main roster, it still provided many comical moments in NXT, throughout his promos every week, during feuds and even recording a humorous music video about how good looking he was.

#4 The Legion of Doom/Road Warriors - Mad Max

Animal and Hawk are arguably the greatest tag team in history, with many considering them the greatest ever.

When the 20-time Tag Team Champions introduced their iconic look of face paint and body armour, while sporting Mohawks, they were strikingly similar to the characters portrayed in the 1979 cult classic film Mad Max.

While Animal revealed in the WWE “Road Warriors: The Life and Death of the Most Dominant Tag-Team in Wrestling History (2005)” DVD that the name “Legion of Doom” was taken from the Super Friends cartoon of the 70’s/80’s, the Road Warriors name had blatantly come from the Mad Max sequel, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.

#3 Bray Wyatt - Cape Fear

After a failed run as Nexus member Husky Harris, this future WWE Champion was sent back to developmental where he and creative genius and Hall of Famer, the late Dusty Rhodes came up with the character of Bray Wyatt.

Bray Wyatt was the leader of a Backwoods Cult, a leader of a group of people who look up to him as somewhat of a God, yet also being a man with a controlled monster inside of him. With his home in the woods, a legion of followers who listen to his preaching and patterned Hawaii style shirts.

If any of this sounds familiar, it is because the character is inspired by the fictional movie character of Max Cady from Cape Fear, particularly modelled after Robert De Niro’s version of the character in the 1991 remake of the movie. This is actually WWE’s second attempt with a Max Cady character, originally giving it to Waylon Mercy in 1995, but his portrayal and booking were poorly received.

The Bray Wyatt character has been a success for the most part, although his booking has drawn much criticism over the last 3+ years.

#2 Razor Ramon - Scarface

After a mostly uneventful run in WCW in the early 90’s, Scott Hall joined WWE in 1992 and pitched the idea for his character to Vince McMahon.

Scott Hall debuted in WWE as Razor Ramon, a shady but stylish bully who was Cuban American. The character was modelled after Tony Montana of the Scarface movies, particularly the more famous Al Pacino version. Vince, who had never previously seen Scarface, loved the character and gave it his personal touch by being involved with his creative development and directing his debut vignettes.

Scott’s Razor Ramon nickname, ‘The Bad Guy’, and catchphrase, “Say hello to The Bad Guy”, were also heavily inspired from Tony Montana’s famous quotes: “Say hello to my little friend” and “Say goodnight to the bad guy”. Vince McMahon loved the character so much that when Scott Hall was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014, he went in under Razor Ramon.

#1 Sting - The Crow & The Joker

Sting was one of WCW’s biggest, most popular and best superstars of the early 90’s. As WCW and the times changed, however, so would Sting.

Sting had been playing the same colorful face paint wearing happy and always smiling superstar for a long time. When WCW turned Hulk Hogan heel, ditched the red and yellow and embraced the NWO, it to was time for a big change to Sting. After the NWO brought in a ‘fake Sting’, whom many believed was the real Sting, the Stinger felt betrayed by everyone and teased leaving WCW in a promo.

Sting returned the following month, dressed in all black and wearing a black trench coat, with black painted around his eyes, and white face paint being added weeks later. It would be a look that would remain with him for the next near 20 years.

Sting revealed that the look was originally thought of by Scott Hall, and Scott described it as a ‘Marilyn Manson look’. Due to the coincidental similarities to what Sting wanted in the character, however, WCW took a direction that was more of an inspiration of the Brandon Lee’s role in the critically acclaimed 1994 epic The Crow.

After playing this role for over 4 years in WCW and over 6 years in TNA Wrestling, Sting changed up the gimmick in 2011, dubbing himself ‘Joker Sting’, with his character now being a tribute of sorts to the clown prince of crime, particularly the version played by the late Heath Ledger in the ultra-successful 2008 epic The Dark Knight. He played this version for the better part of his final 3 years with TNA, before joining WWE as ‘Crow Sting’ in 2014.

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