Virgil: August 1987. Rib on Dusty Rhodes, booker of the rival (and primary competitor) Jim Crockett Promotions. Based on his real name, Virgil Runnels.
Randy Hogan: February 1988. Jobber in Jim Crockett Promotions that is redubbed Randy Hogan, complete with Fu-Manchu moustache.
The Big Boss Man: June 1988. WWE responds with The Big Boss Man. This is a couple of subtle jabs at Virgil Runnels, who is still booker of JCP. "Bossman" is an alternate industry term for booker, and Traylor's listen hometown is that of Dusty Rhodes.
"The African Dream" Akeem: October 1988. WWE again digs at Dusty Rhodes, by putting out a satire of "The American Dream" with the rebranded One Man Gang.
Rio Rogers: For some reason, in the fall of 1993 the WWE felt it needed to come up with yet another spoof of Dusty Rhodes. The character was portrayed by Tom Pritchard, yet was somewhat puzzling as Rhodes (while booker of WCW) was largely off TV at that point.
V.K. Wallstreet: September 1995. Originally Mike Rotunda was brought back to WCW to resume the gimmick that he briefly portrayed in 1990 - Michael Wallstreet. Instead, the Michael was dropped and replaced by "V.K." - as in Vincent Kennedy. WCW had finally responded.
Vincent: Fall 1996. WCW brings in the former Virgil and renames him after Vince McMahon, probably without objection by Virgil Runnels.
The Extreme: January 1997. Ace Darling and Devon Storm were brought in and dubbed "The Extreme", and billed from the same town as the WWE headquarters. They were also a play on ECW, and were portrayed as jobbers.
Gillberg: November 1998. WWE responds to the Bill Goldberg phenomena (and piped in crowd chants) by christening jobber Dwayne Gill as "Gillberg".
Asya: June 1999. WCW responds to the Chyna phenomena by bringing in Christi Wolf and ultimately dubbing her Asya. After all, "Asya" is bigger than China. This might classify more as a gimmick copy than an outright spoof.
And finally, there was this. Apparently the UWF did not appreciate The Wrestling Observer's coverage of their events...
Randy Hogan: February 1988. Jobber in Jim Crockett Promotions that is redubbed Randy Hogan, complete with Fu-Manchu moustache.
The Big Boss Man: June 1988. WWE responds with The Big Boss Man. This is a couple of subtle jabs at Virgil Runnels, who is still booker of JCP. "Bossman" is an alternate industry term for booker, and Traylor's listen hometown is that of Dusty Rhodes.
"The African Dream" Akeem: October 1988. WWE again digs at Dusty Rhodes, by putting out a satire of "The American Dream" with the rebranded One Man Gang.
Rio Rogers: For some reason, in the fall of 1993 the WWE felt it needed to come up with yet another spoof of Dusty Rhodes. The character was portrayed by Tom Pritchard, yet was somewhat puzzling as Rhodes (while booker of WCW) was largely off TV at that point.
V.K. Wallstreet: September 1995. Originally Mike Rotunda was brought back to WCW to resume the gimmick that he briefly portrayed in 1990 - Michael Wallstreet. Instead, the Michael was dropped and replaced by "V.K." - as in Vincent Kennedy. WCW had finally responded.
Vincent: Fall 1996. WCW brings in the former Virgil and renames him after Vince McMahon, probably without objection by Virgil Runnels.
The Extreme: January 1997. Ace Darling and Devon Storm were brought in and dubbed "The Extreme", and billed from the same town as the WWE headquarters. They were also a play on ECW, and were portrayed as jobbers.
Gillberg: November 1998. WWE responds to the Bill Goldberg phenomena (and piped in crowd chants) by christening jobber Dwayne Gill as "Gillberg".
Asya: June 1999. WCW responds to the Chyna phenomena by bringing in Christi Wolf and ultimately dubbing her Asya. After all, "Asya" is bigger than China. This might classify more as a gimmick copy than an outright spoof.
And finally, there was this. Apparently the UWF did not appreciate The Wrestling Observer's coverage of their events...
