Heroes of the Squared Circle Meta: Billionaire Brucie

While I'm polishing up the next couple of chapters of Heroes of the Squared Circle, I thought I might start posting a little meta now and then about the series: inspiration for some of the character designs, visual references for some of the moves and matches, etc. Pro wrestling is a crazy, crazy world with a lot of bizarre inside lingo, and I have to admit the idea of sharing some of it is really fun, so...

BILLIONAIRE BRUCIE.

One of the basic types of heel is the "vanity heel," and they tend to break down into either the "wealthy heel" or the "intellectual heel." Brucie obviously is mostly the former, but he has some aspects of the latter as well.

The most obvious inspiration for Brucie is an older wrestler named Ric Flair and his amazing, AMAZING entrance robes. Look at this man. Genuflect before his awe-inspiring wardrobe:

Another inspiration was the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase, whose motto was "Everybody's Got a Price."  He pulled some of Brucie's stunts like openly bribing referees or opponents--he also stuffed hundred dollar bills in the mouths of his defeated opponents.  You can see him in action in a couple of videos:

( Videos of the Million Dollar Man and Damien Sandow Behind the cut )