5 Character styles WWE could steal from the UFC

The world of WWE has always been one that steals or borrows elements of its characters from elsewhere, whether it’s movies, video games, or other sports. Since the rise of MMA and the UFC in particular around a decade ago, WWE has most certainly attempted to borrow quite liberally from that world, too.

Take Vladimir Kozlov for instance, a stoic Russian character who was supposedly a master in Sambo and striking. Doesn’t that sound like Fedor Emelianenko, who was hugely popular at the time of Kozlov’s arrival in WWE?

Or the team of Sylvester Terkay and Elijah Burke, who basically ran what was a pure MMA gimmick, although it wasn’t very successful.

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Over the last few years, though, the UFC has become an absolute powerhouse in terms of selling PPVs and drawing ratings, while WWE’s ratings have plummeted and its PPV business is basically dead in the water now due to the advent of the WWE Network.

Part of this is to do with the fact that UFC produces characters that pique the interest of the fans, while WWE has clearly struggled in this area recently. In my opinion, some of the UFC’s biggest stars have characters ripe for the picking for a handful of WWE superstars. Here are five of them, and five wrestlers that could use them to great effect.

#1 HHH as Dana White

Okay, so Uncle Dana isn’t exactly a popular figure with the hardcore fanbase these days, but there’s no denying that he’s an effective character as well as a fantastic promoter.

Since he stepped into the spotlight in 2005 when the first season of The Ultimate Fighter was broadcast, Dana has become one of the UFC’s most recognisable stars. He cuts amazing promos; both putting his talent over and throwing them under the bus, he makes the matches people want to see, and slams his competition in vicious fashion.

Basically, he’s a massively effective authority figure because while his shadow looms large over the company, when it comes to the fights he takes a step back and it becomes all about the fighters.

WWE meanwhile is clinging onto the 90’s trope of the “heel authority figure” that was introduced by Vince McMahon for his feud with Steve Austin. Austin vs. McMahon worked brilliantly of course, but that was almost 20 years ago now. These days the authority figure is simply a booking crutch for lazy writers. It’s time for that to change.

With HHH being positioned as the “creator” in NXT, everything is basically set for this change anyway, so why not make it now? Why not turn HHH into a Dana White figure?

After all, both men practically look the same these days with their shaved heads and tie-lacking suits.

Rather than using an authority figure for the wrestlers to feud with, WWE could turn HHH into Dana; a man simply concerned with putting on the matches that fans want to see, who then steps out of the spotlight once those matches are made.

If he followed in Dana’s footsteps completely, he’d even be able to bury talent if he had to! This would freshen up the programming massively and would finally rid WWE of the tired authority figure as we’ve known it for the last two decades.

#2 Finn Balor as Conor McGregor

The UFC’s biggest star by far right now, Conor McGregor is an unstoppable PPV-selling machine. Since his rise to the top of the cards in 2015, he’s broken the 1million buy-rate mark a crazy four times, unthinkable for anyone else in MMA.

The Irishman might be small, but his brash attitude, cool swagger and killer promos have made him an absolute Superstar. Everything about him screams money.

WWE has a smaller Irish star of their own in the form of Finn Balor, currently on the shelf with a shoulder injury. While he was being pushed as a major star when he debuted in 2016, surely the way to go with him would be to take a leaf out of McGregor’s book?

The ‘Demon King’ entrance that Balor uses looks cool, but right now he’s light on character work. When Conor was injured, spending a year on the shelf due to a torn ACL, he never once stepped out of the spotlight.

Instead, he talked trash to anyone and everyone, calling out numerous fighters and somehow he became a bigger star despite not fighting. WWE should start now with Balor – have him run vignettes calling out the whole roster and have him act as cocky as possible, changing his character from a relatively silent killer into a trash-talking machine.

Bring back his leather jacket and shades from his days in Japan, have him become more obsessed with money and winning than anything else, and when he gets into the ring, have him back up every single word.

While there’s no telling whether WWE using Balor like this could ensure he has the same success as McGregor, surely it’s worth trying?

#3 Cesaro as Georges St-Pierre

A balding, muscular, athletic dude with a European background and accent. That description fits both WWE’s Cesaro and UFC’s Georges St-Pierre, but unfortunately, that’s where the comparisons end for now.

GSP is one of the UFC’s all-time biggest draws, and not all of it has to do with his fighting skill. Granted, he’s probably the greatest fighter in MMA history to this point, but his popularity came more from his likeable personality and the fact that he played the white-knight babyface to counteract his more heelish opponents.

Sure, he talked trash a couple of times – like when he said he wasn’t impressed by Matt Hughes, or when he threatened Nick Diaz with his “dark place”, but it never came off quite right.

GSP was always at his best when faced with arrogant trash-talkers like Josh Koscheck and Dan Hardy. He would shrug their insults off, making himself look like the bigger man, but when it came to the fights he’d always come out on top.

Cesaro is clearly not the best on the mic but he definitely has the quiet charisma that GSP showed, and his flashy and unique in-ring style allows him to become popular with the fans without saying a lot.

With a little change in direction, Cesaro could easily become the WWE’s equivalent to GSP. Put him up against major trash-talking heels like The Miz or AJ Styles, have him stick to a strong set of morals and then win in the end, like all the great babyfaces do.

The beginning could be as simple as giving Cesaro his old theme music back – after all, Euro-rap was a staple of GSP’s character, and WWE already have the cool ‘Miracle’ track on ice. Right now he’s being wasted and that’s criminal really.

Apparently Vince McMahon doesn’t see star quality in him, but evidently, he missed all the massive buy-rates GSP drew for the UFC.

#4 Dean Ambrose as Nick Diaz

Think of one phrase to sum up Nick Diaz? For me it’d have to be simply, the man doesn’t give a damn. He’s not a trash-talker – in fact when he does talk, it often comes off as clunky and awkward – and in all honesty, he doesn’t come off like a man who even wants the spotlight on him.

He doesn’t even really enjoy fighting. For him it’s just something he happens to be good at that allows him to make money. You get the feeling that if it were up to Nick Diaz he’d prefer to spend his time smoking weed and doing a bit of jiu-jitsu on the side.

Dean Ambrose, meanwhile, is often presented by WWE as being “crazy”, but his brand of crazy often comes off as cartoonish more than edgy. I guess it works somewhat for the PG-aimed WWE programming but wouldn’t it be cooler if Ambrose were allowed to channel his inner Nick Diaz?

Rather than cut wacky promos and find himself involved in bizarre, cartoonish skits, Ambrose could stop caring about what people think of him, start shooting from the hip more in his micwork and show a more aggressive style inside the ring.

It could go down almost like a modern twist on Steve Austin if done right, and we all know how well Austin drew. While it might be tricky to replicate such a unique character as Nick Diaz, Ambrose seems like as likely a candidate as any to be able to pull it off.

#5 Apollo Crews as Jon Jones

While WWE has tried all sorts of characters over the years, one of the few it has never truly nailed down is that of the talented, but unlikeable and entitled super-athlete. They tried it with MVP a few years back but it never really caught on as well as it could have.

UFC meanwhile has the perfect example of this character in Jon Jones. Even before all of his recent legal issues and positive PED tests, he was a thoroughly unlikeable fighter. Why, exactly?

A lot of people would tell you it’s a racial thing but I don’t buy that. After all, when Jones rose to the top of the sport, two of the UFC’s most popular stars in Rampage Jackson and Anderson Silva were black.

For me, Jones was – and is – unlikeable due to his sense of entitlement. It’s the feeling that he gives off that he thinks he deserves his success because he works harder than anyone else, and it has nothing to do with his natural physical gifts.

When he first broke into the UFC rankings, though? Jones was a smiley figure who didn’t have a lot to say really. Nothing like a Conor McGregor or a Michael Bisping, Jones largely flew under the radar because he didn’t talk much trash back then.

It was only when he started destroying all of his opponents that people started to sit up and take notice.

By the time he won the UFC’s Light Heavyweight title, a lot of observers expected him to take off as a beloved Superstar but that wasn’t the case, instead, he became one of the most hated men in the sport due to his attitude.

WWE wouldn’t have to try hard to replicate the character of Jon Jones. However, they’d be best to avoid the drug and legal issues.

All they’d need to do is push Apollo Crews a little harder, have him run through all of his opponents using his natural talent, but with each added win, have him become a little more confident. Confident until it turns to arrogance.

Next, have Crews act like he’s the most beloved star in the game, all while acting like an entitled, arrogant heel. He’s a great athlete and damn it he knows it, but it all comes from hard work, really!

Right now Crews is floundering due to a lack of personality but it isn’t like it’s too late to save him. He’s talented enough to carry this off, I’m sure. All it would take is a little work and WWE could have its very own Jon Jones.