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Bad Gimmick Made Good/That You Enjoyed

8K views 47 replies 28 participants last post by  BigSillyFool 
#1 · (Edited)
For this week's podcast, at the request of our own Arrogantly Grateful, we're looking at examples in wrestling history of bad gimmicks made good, and are keen to get some feedback on cases that you always thought stood out to you in that vain. Couple of ways to look at this one, so feel free to give an example of either

1 - A bad gimmick that either the promotion or the wrestler worked hard at and made it work, and what you feel was the reason it did.

Or 2 - A bad gimmick that, for whatever reason, worked for you and you personally enjoyed despite the common opinion that it sucked, and why you got into it.

Of course the key question is why - the more detail the better. As always the best posts will be read on the show and you'll be credited accordingly, but looking forward to seeing which ones stand out to you guys.

EDIT - The podcast discussing Bad Gimmick Made Good, you that you just flat out enjoyed, is now available at the following link: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/w32phd/SCGRadio38-BadGimmicksMadeGood.mp3
 
#2 ·
The Undertaker. A Zombie who can never die, shoots lightning from his fingers...but for some reason wants to be a wrestler...

Stardust. On paper its awful but Cody makes it work.

Goldust. Same as Stardust, but Dustin was even poised to be a Main Event guy before people freaked out.

Undashing Cody Rhodes. Seemed goofy, but again Cody made it work.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Awesome, glad you guys run with this, I will be interested to hear the podcast :)

One's that come to mind for me personally:



The Mountie - Roddy Piper has said on a few occasions that it reminds him of the Village People, the gimmick wasn't the best gimmick to be given, however Jacques truly made this work which I feel is nothing but a credit to him, Jacques is a VERY good worker and a great in ring talent that often got over shadowed by the gimmicks he was continuously given, he often had to play the coward too, which didn't help, however he has to be one of the most entertaining characters ever, he made a bad gimmick work the best that he could and got everything out of it that I doubt many people would have been able to do, he was funny, incredibly witty, fluent, fast on the ball when it came to his promo's, created some great vignettes (which are often spoke about today, so definitely made their mark) and he took the character and got his teeth into it, very funny guy and everyone remembers his Summerslam moment with the Boss Man and the Jailhouse match, one of the most entertaining parts of the show (and that was a great PPV), if you haven't seen his promo on Youtube with the British Bulldog, watch this and you'll see just how good, funny, natural and very entertaining he was, and as a bonus, everybody loved his theme, Jacques was very very talented and doesn't always get the recognition he deserves.

Watch this promo before your show to see what I mean, it's so funny and he's very fluent, witty and quick thinking too, which is a very hard thing to do.





Skinner - Although Steve Keirn didn't do massively loads with the gimmick in the WWE, looking back on it now, it was actually pretty good, it was disgusting with the whole chewing tobacco thing and the Alligators claw around his neck, if you think about it, it was pretty intimidating and quite a timeless gimmick, when you think about how we have The Wyatts now, Skinner would have been a great addition to those guys even today.



Adam Bomb - I think people either love or hate this gimmick, some feel he looked like some dodgy Marvel character or like Bart Simpsons 'Radioactive Man' where as others just felt he looked bad ass, and for me it's the latter, I feel that Bryan Clark had an incredible look and presence about him and his execution was great in the ring, he could have been more dominant and done more and I think the WWE dropped the ball on this one, a lot of potential feuds could have been had with some other big guys at least.



I.R.S. - Come on, everyone hates these dudes, he'd come to the ring all smarmy lecturing the audience about them being tax cheats, he was that cool he didn't even need entrance music, would just walk to the ring with a mic (Guess this is where Bo and Bray get it from) and would piss people off, everyone wanted to see him get his face smashed in or thrown very hard onto a cactus that it worked, he was also great in the ring and executed moves so well, I loved his 'Write Off' and when he teamed up with Dibiase it was the perfect pair, a man who loved money and a man who loved taking people's money, I.R.S. definitely had a lot going for him as a character which you see more so now in hindsight.​
 
#13 ·
Adam Bomb - I think people either love or hate this gimmick, some feel he looked like some dodgy Marvel character or like Bart Simpsons 'Radioactive Man' where as others just felt he looked bad ass, and for me it's the latter, I feel that Bryan Clark had an incredible look and presence about him and his execution was great in the ring, he could have been more dominant and done more and I think the WWE dropped the ball on this one, a lot of potential feuds could have been had with some other big guys at least.
Good choice. I too felt he looked badass and intimidating as a heel especially with those yellow contact lenses which used to scare me as a kid. His heel entrance theme, which I'll post below, was pretty scary too. Sounded like the theme from the Kurt Russell version of The Thing. WWE should have done more with him as a heel, if Undertaker weren't injured and was available for Wrestlemania X, Adam Bomb would've made a good opponent for him at the PPV imo. It's a shame Earthquake squashed him in 30 seconds at Wrestlemania instead. Even as a babyface, Bryan Clark made Adam Bomb work and he could've been somebody if the WWE had given him the chance. He was starting to develop a personality and become marketable. He connected with the crowd with the rubber nuclear missiles he would throw into the audience before & after his matches and he called his fanbase "The Bomb Squad". I loved Adam Bomb and I would love to have seen him have an IC Title run at some point in 1994 or 1995.

 
#5 ·
Golddust and Bray Wyatt (and Harper/Rowan by extension), definitely. If they were played by anyone else they would have bombed. Russev and Lana also made their characters work even though they are about 30 years too late.
 
#7 ·
Dude Love. No real reason why that should've worked but since it's Mick Foley, who can make anything work, it did.

I remember when he first debuted it, coming out to help Austin against Bulldog & Owen, my reaction was the same as Austin's. What the hell is this?

But, Foley gave that act his all. A half assed attempt and it would've bombed. But half assed and Foley don't belong in the same sentence. Sure, it didn't instantly make him a bigger star than he already was but it showed his range and his ability to tackle on different personas and actually make it work. He essentially was having fun and the character came off as natural, which is testament to how good Foley is.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Disco Inferno


The guy looked like John Travolta from Grease and he just came off as a dick. The fans would boo him enormously and he'd still be struttin around like his shit don't stink. LOL He played this character perfect. Couldn't think of a better guy for this gimmick.He was trolling before trolling was born.Comedy Gold IMO.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I'll stay far away from how good or bad workers they were the wrestlers I like. I'm talking exclusively about their gimmicks. I like very much ''The Model'' Rick Martel. Many guys out there believe that was the reason Martel's career buried with that gimmick. Personally I think he was very enjoyable. He was very funny when the ''Arrogance'' his gadget start to spray everywhere. Who remembers the feud he began with Jake Roberts from the ''Brother Love Show'' and Jake's blindness? Does anyone remember their Blindfold Match in WrestleMania 7 ? Another one was Fred Ottman as ''Tugboat''. I love it very match and Fred was the best person for that role. He was absolute good friendly as a face and always brings good memories from my childhood. I love you Mister Ottman.
 
#15 · (Edited)
When Rick was given this gimmick he was pretty much told to run with it, his response to himself was 'The Model, what am I going to do with that', then he went away, thought about it and created the whole persona, everything from the badge, to the arrogance spray, the look, the swag ... was all his creation, he also used it to his advantage for things such as how no one could wear the belt with more elegance than him etc ... and it worked, I love the whole 'Model' gimmick, I think around 91 time and while he was feuding with Jake was the best look, though he did switch it up a few times over the years, as you can see here :)



One of his comments was 'Well at least I wasn't given the Red Rooster' lol

Good choice. I too felt he looked badass and intimidating as a heel especially with those yellow contact lenses which used to scare me as a kid. His heel entrance theme, which I'll post below, was pretty scary too. Sounded like the theme from the Kurt Russell version of The Thing. WWE should have done more with him as a heel, if Undertaker weren't injured and was available for Wrestlemania X, Adam Bomb would've made a good opponent for him at the PPV imo. It's a shame Earthquake squashed him in 30 seconds at Wrestlemania instead. Even as a babyface, Bryan Clark made Adam Bomb work and he could've been somebody if the WWE had given him the chance. He was starting to develop a personality and become marketable. He connected with the crowd with the rubber nuclear missiles he would throw into the audience before & after his matches and he called his fanbase "The Bomb Squad". I loved Adam Bomb and I would love to have seen him have an IC Title run at some point in 1994 or 1995.

Yeah it was great, and he had the look too, he'd have definitely been good being one of The Undertakers opponents for sure :)
 
#12 · (Edited)
It looks like I'm picking two guys from the "new generation".

Bad Gimmick Made Good = Country Music Star Jeff Jarrett



I think this is a great example of a company getting completely behind a gimmick more so than the wrestler. With all of the bad-ass gimmicks that never got over, to me it's amazing that the gimmick that was best crafted in this era would up be an aspiring Country Music star.

Even though this might sound like I'm over analyzing it, I think what made this gimmick so great, and so believable, was that they actually gave this character "layers". He was given a very logical back story, and from the very beginning he made it very clear at what his goals were in the WWF. He was a guy who wanted to use the WWF to catapult his country music career. It's a very concise and simply goal. He though that through the popularity of the WWF, he was going to somehow get a recording contract by getting his name heard. Makes sense (sort of). He was going to prove to the world that he was the world's greatest wrestler, world's greatest singer, and the world's greatest entertainer...by any means necessary (heel).

Although, I think I've heard stories where Jeff didn't really like the gimmick because he always saw himself as a world champ, straight wrestler, but it was definitely clear the WWF was totally behind this character. They had him shoot DOZENS of vignettes. They gave him a catchy theme song. They gave him very bright, unique wrestling gear, and then through his own charisma, he really made the character his own. Fuck, they even had the guy have a concert during an in your house!...and then eventually gave him a roadie. He was just a really well rounded character. That strut + the light up glasses = gold!

I also loved Tennessee Williams in Jeff's 2nd stint with the character too...and then debra, but that was when Jeff got more "hardcore'. Different character.


Bad Gimmick No One Liked....but Me = The Body Donnas



This is more about my love for the Skip and Sunny tandem, and not the jobber tag team edition with Zip.

This gimmick had all of the makings of a great mid-card heel. Workout freaks who make fun of all of the out of shape losers in the crowd....perfect. But that's not all. This gimmick gave us a dynamic we hadn't seen yet in the WWF, a male/female debuting together, both as heels. Two brand new faces, one in Chris Candido, a fine enough wrestler with a face you absolutely want to punch + a sassy, entertaining, young, and most importantly sexy manager named Sunny. This was also during the time when the WWF were throwing out TONS of really shitty gimmick ideas...just over the top really goofy things (Friar Ferguson!? ew)...so finally we got a normal gimmick that made sense. It was great. It really changed the dynamic of a night.

For me, there's nothing not to like about this set-up. Great theme song, great attire, and the whole thing just looks great. I think that's the most important thing for factions or duos or teams, just overall, how does it look when they come out, and Sunny/Skip looked awesome to me.

But the WWF gave up SO quickly on this and I don't get why. Clearly they saw $$$$ in Sunny, and I know Candido isn't the best talent in the world, but why not use Sunny's popularity to elevate this guy while you can. While I loved the Horowitz angle, I just think it's a shame that that was the extent of the Sunny/Skip angle. Not even a IC title run? Or at least an IC title feud. I could only imagine that a program between Razor Ramon and Sunny being hilarious for a while.

Unfortunately, this was during the era where Vince and the WWF didn't know what the fuck they were doing and let the Kliq run while, nearly taking the company down to the ground (I'm a big anti-HBK guy as you'll soon learn).

Worse off, after the Body Donnas thing ended, it's not as if they put Sunny anywhere else. A few weeks with the Smoking Guns, and then she was left to ring announcing and new t-shirt model duty.... I know her attitude towards the end lead to her downfall, but I think it was all a complete waste.
 
#16 ·
Chuck, Billy and Rico.

99.9% Gay, bleached blonde hair, matching valentine red attire, headbands with names on and a hairdresser with pork chop side burns. On paper it bombs, but they really made it work. I enjoyed this due to the fact all 3 guys seemed to really take it on board and held nothing back at all. Churning out some great tv
 
#17 ·
"Damien Mizdow" is a terrible gimmick, but Sandow didn't let it stop him from becoming one of the most entertaining things on WWE television for the duration of his association with the Miz. That shows you how talented he is. It proves that he deserves much, much more than he's been given.

Mickie James' psychotic stalker lesbian fan gimmick during her debut storyline with Trish Stratus shouldn't have actually worked, but people dug it.

Bo Dallas right now is a weakly booked John Cena parody, but he's still made it work, and is very entertaining. It'd be better if he was booked stronger.

I have no idea how to describe Ultimate Warrior's gimmick. Or that of Randy Savage. But they were so charismatic that whatever they did worked.
 
#19 ·
The Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission would top my list. Sure, the execution of their personas may have seemed a bit dumb, but each were just so darn entertaining to watch. Luke and Butch just had the ability to connect with the crowd and get them into the match. Mabel, Mo, and Oscar may have been stereotypes slightly out of touch with the times, but they were amusing stereotypes slightly out of touch with the times (and I just loved that frequent spot where Mabel would lumber up behind an opponent and just stand there glaring until his unsuspecting foe turned, saw him, and freaked out).
 
#24 ·
A wrestling clown might be the dumbest idea ever, but Matt Borne did some great work as Doink. Once he was replaced, the character became just as terrible as it should have been.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Val Venis.

The porn star gimmick fit the Attitude Era perfectly but it wouldn't have worked in any other era obviously and even in the Attitude Era, a wrestler with a porn star gimmick was never going to make it as a main eventer. But Venis was a good mid card act, a solid worker in the ring, and fun to listen to on the mic with his sexual innuendos, he didn't cut them as good as Joel Gertner did, but his promos were still fun. Other than Rick Rude, I don't know if anyone else could've made the porn star gimmick work and without the porn star gimmick, Sean Morley wouldn't have been as popular and as good as he was.
 
#28 ·
Val Venis.

The porn star gimmick fit the Attitude Era perfectly but it wouldn't have worked in any other era obviously and even in the Attitude Era, a wrestler with a porn star gimmick was never going to make it as a main eventer. But Venis was a good mid card act, a solid worker in the ring, and fun to listen to on the mic with his sexual innuendos, he didn't cut them as good as Joel Gerner did, but his promos were still fun. Other than Rick Rude, I don't know if anyone else could've made the porn star gimmick work and without the porn star gimmick, Sean Morley wouldn't have been as popular and as good as he was.
Yeah, he got a lot of reactions too didn't he really? His theme was a rework of Martel's too :)



 
#36 ·
I'm a big fan of Roaddog, he seems like a really nice guy too :)

The first two names that come to mind are the Big Boss Man and the Red Rooster.
I was thinking about the Boss Man but I don't think the gimmick was too bad really, the Rooster well it was bad but I think Terry Taylor was stuck there, not sure if anyone could make that really work lol

Charles Wright was the KING of making any ridiculous gimmick work... from voodoo shamans... to fighting machines... to pimps.
I thought they were decent gimmicks, but definitely credit to him for making them what they were :)
 
#41 ·
Dude how can you say the Boss Man is in any way a bad gimmick?

Intrinsically physical and potentially violent profession: check
Authority figure - check
Cool uniform - check
nightstick and cuffs - awesome
Can be evil or good and makes sense: check

I mean he's a prison guard. How can that possible be a bad gimmick?

I mean the clown and the dentist sure. But the prison guard? No way dude.
 
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