One sure sign of a wrestler who is either a) struggling to get over or b) has no faith in their ability to get over on their own is when they steal the gimmick of another wrestler and try to use it for themselves. This is most common with wrestlers who have been struggling for years to get over with little or no success, or young guys just starting out in the wrestling business.
The first guy we'll look at who is guilty of several cases of gimmick infringement is Jeff Jarrett. During his first WWE run (back before they got the F out), Jarrett's gimmick was that of a guitar playing, country-music singing good ol' boy from down South. In other words, he was Honky Tonk Man 2.0. Now, if you've ever read anything at all that HTM has to say on the matter, it's clear that Jarrett didn't exactly ask to swipe the gimmick which Wayne Ferris, for years, made (in)famous. Jarrett has been one of many objects of HTM's ridicule for quite awhile because of it. However, the gimmick never gave the same success to Jeff which it did for its originator. Let's face it, Jeff Jarrett was never a top-selling heel during his first WWF tenure. He just had that "mid-card for life" feel to him. And that's where he stayed- during his first WWF tenure, and then again during his second, where he had the lowest of low career points by jobbing the Intercontinental Title to Joanie Laurer.
But, that wasn't Jeff's last attempt at gimmick theft. During the early days of NWA-TNA, run by Jeff and his old man Jerry, Jeff (uncoincidentally) became the company's top guy and World Champion- using a gimmick very similar to one WWE fans had been watching for years. What? I said it was something we'd seen before. What? The gimmick wasn't new. What? If you have half a brain in your head right now, obviously you can see the inference I'm making to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Oh yes... during the early NWA-TNA days, Jarrett followed the philosophy of "if it works for WWE, it'll work for J-A-double R-E-double T" and decided to model himself, the top guy of the company, after the top guy of Vince's company. In other words, he became "Stone Cold" Steve Austin 2.0. He beat people up backstage, he swore, he brawled, he got escorted out by security, etc. Basically all he didn't do was drink beer. But he still swung that damn guitar around.
What became of "Stone Cold" Jeff Jarrett? I don't know. Ask somebody else. I only ever watched the first three episodes of NWA-TNA or so- and they were sent to me on a tape from a good friend of mine. Never really got into it enough to pay for it, and I can't get PPVs anyway. I don't bother reading the results either. But I haven't exactly heard very much big news about Jarrett lately that would make me think he's had a lot of success. And that's the bottom line... because Sarah said so.
Now we'll move back into WWE waters, at another man attempting to take the old "Stone Cold" gimmick and use it for himself as a means of getting over. He's been in WWE since 1995 and has done a whole lot of NOT MUCH since then. This guy's name is Bob Holly. If you were watching back then, you would've seen him back when he was a long-haired stock-car driver running around the ring in pink spandex with tread-mark patterns on them. That's a hard thing to imagine when you look at the "Hardcore", Tough Enough-terrorizing, bleach-blonde badass he became in the late 90's. But at least in the late 90's he was doing his own thing. Fast-forward to 2003, post-neck surgery/rehab, and what do you get? You get a Bob Holly who's beating people up backstage, threatening to break somebody's neck, constantly surrounded by cops and security. He's not "Hardcore" anymore, and he's damn sure not "Sparky Plugg"- what we have now is "Stone Cold" Bob Holly. Is it gonna get him a world title, main event push? Probably not. He'll get his feud with Brock, he'll lose, and he'll go back to the land of the mid-card. Because, after almost nine years in WWE, no matter how many gimmicks he has, he still won't be able to change one thing- he sucks.
Last but not least, I'd like to look at an indies wrestler. His name is JD Michaels, from Monster Pro Wrestling. He claims to be the nephew of the Heartbreak Kid himself, and whether he is or not, I really don't care- either way it's no excuse for what has got to be the absolute WORST case of gimmick infringement in the history of professional wrestling. This guy has stolen Shawn's ring attire, his hairstyle, his most well-known finishing moves. It's unbelievable. Here is a link to some pictures of JD Michaels, both posing and performing- you'll see what I mean. Now I'm sure that JD won't have a problem getting over on the indies circuit with this gimmick. But if he thinks it's gonna help him make it to, say, WWE, he might be in for a surprise. Because up there, he'd have to make it on his own, and certainly not wrestling as a younger clone of Shawn Michaels. He'd have to get his own ring attire, he wouldn't be able to do HBK's patented pose anymore, etc. The gimmick might be good for getting attention and fans, but outside of that, what can he hope to accomplish with it? Is it really that hard for him to try to develop his own personality?
There is a difference between trying to pattern your wrestling style after somebody else, and going all-out and stealing every last thing the person ever did. Triple H is a good example. The knee drop he does is modeled after Ric Flair, his knee lift after Harley Race- how often have we heard Jim Ross mention this whenever Hunter uses those two moves? And there are other, subtle Flair-like things that Trips does, such as never, ever succeeding at anything done off the top rope, that are easy to pick up on. But when you look at him, you see Triple H. You don't see "Stone Cold" Steve Austin or Shawn Michaels, you definitely don't see the Honky Tonk Man. He's his own man. Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, and Austin no doubt modeled a lot of their own stuff off of wrestlers of the past, but they're still themselves with their own distinguished personalities and gimmicks, and they got themselves over by doing original stuff. Is it asking too much for some other guys to do the same?
Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but there's got to be a line where too much imitation is a bad thing. Even Shawn Michaels would probably curl his lip in disgust after seeing just how like him JD Michaels is trying to be. Honky Tonk Man was never thrilled with Jarrett's appropriating the country-music gimmick, and he's made that known several times- he never felt flattered by it in the least. And who knows what Austin thinks everytime he hears Goldbarf say in an interview, "I didn't pattern my look after Steve Austin at all." I'm sure there are plenty of other guys in wrestling who I could add to the list of notable gimmick infringements, but I'll settle for these as three of the saddest examples.
If you can't get over on your own, don't degrade what somebody else has done by stealing it for yourself and then flopping. Gimmick infringement sucks.