Presentation of the Golden Era

[Moneyinc]

Does anyone know who was responsible for the boost in WWE gimmicks in the late 80s early 90s?

Who was brilliant enough to think these things up, and on top of that who designed the costumes?

Lately I've just been so blown away at how many characters there were at this time, and how different they each were. The colors were especially different and all of the costumes were pretty well made a thought out. It makes watching now so much more fun because there is just so much more to pay attention to. Bret Hart coming out in his DOPE ass leather Jacket around 1991, with the shades. Pink and Black. I know a lot of characters like Hogan, Piper stuck to their old school roots.

I'm talking about guys like Undertaker, Tito Santana, Papa Shango, Tugboat, Mountie, Bezerker, Tatanka, Razor Ramon in the early 90s. I read recently that WWE signed the contract with Hasbro and then quickly after there was a lot of cartoonish characters introduced. Coincidence? I actually figure that the Hasbro contract was probably a pretty darn big one. It seemed like every one used to have those figures back in the day and if they actually signed a big contract, there is a chance that Hasbro helped a bit in the direction of some of the character creations?

I know that certain guys come up with their own gimicks, but I find it hard to believe that the majority of the roster actually came up with their gimmicks on their own. Also guys like Razor Ramon might of come up with the accent and the name, but who designed his awesome costumes. The choice of colors by the costume crew back then was really well thought out. Razor's purple vest looked nothing like any other piece of costume made at that time.

Million Dollar Man Ted Debiase's jacket/Million Dollar Belt. Who was making those awesome belts back then??? Tag Team, IC, and Heavyweight belts were all awesome looking as well.

Also the wrestler's intro music back then was FANTASTIC. I mean even guys like Mr Perfect who didn't have music at first, ended up getting an awesome theme song. Sherri singing HBK's song with HBK doing back up vocals? And it was actually an darn good song?. Who the hell was writing this stuff? Undertaker's theme song was very important for his climb to the top.

Debiase's "Everybody's got a price." All of his stuff was so perfect it makes me wonder if he was writing everything about his character from the clothes to the theme song. Buut I still find that hard to believe.

Ramons music of course was really cool. Rockers and Warrior had very similar music so I assume that was done by the same guy.

Does anyone here have any insight as to why WWE was so much better/ with character presentation back in the Golden Era, than any era after?

[THTRobtaylor]

The important thing in the Golden Era was that everyone was supposed to be "Larger Than Life" in the WWF - so that extended into how they were presented with gimmicks, music and vignettes. Take Mr. Perfect's debut, while he didn't have music at the start, he did have those golf, basketball and baseball vignette with Wade Boggs, who at the time was a massive name. Straight away Mr. Perfect looked the part, just by association.

Wrestlers themselves had a lot of input into their attire/look although if Vince saw something he liked then he would seize on it. Bret famously wrote about the pink, that his seamstress had suggested they try it and the first time Vince saw it he ordered them never to change it. Things like the jackets were a natural evolution of the look and the wraparound shades pure merchandising. Rick Rude was another guy who pioneered with his individually airbrushed tights for each opponent, he paid for them himself but it was a solid investment as it added to his heat, especially when he put Cheryl Roberts face or the IC title on his crotch. As for who was responsible for gimmicks, it was always Vince...

Music has always been down to pretty much one guy - Jim Johnston, he wrote most of the music for WWE that we would call "classic", until they started using Alt bands around 2001 time or letting Cena write his own. There was always some repetition and recycling, The Patriot and Kurt Angle used the same theme not even 2 years apart and Real American went from the US Express to Hulk Hogan within weeks. There is a youtube version of the first Mania available with all the original musics available, so Hogan has Eye Of The Tiger, Windham and Rotunda have Born in The USA and JYD Another One Bites The Dust... it's fascinating to watch but you can see why WWE went in-house, as the artists they were using were generally top of the tree - Bowie's Modern Love was the theme to Superstars for example, so they were going to be expensive. In return we got more tailored themes. Johnston is one who should really be in the HOF in my eyes, if you want proof then take themes like Gangrel's or Rick Rude's original version, not the re-recorded version they always use now cos they clearly don't want to pay performance royalties. Both tunes summed up their superstar better than any look, entrance effect or poster ever could. You knew Rick Rude was a sleaze from the sax on his theme... you knew Gangrel was dark and edgy from the backmasked guitar and whispering... That both guys then had classic entrances to go with the themes just added icing to the cake. I actually think the only guys never to have music at all were Andre and Bob Backlund, everyone else had a theme by 1990.

Some presentation failed cos it was too cartoony or to try-hard, for example Tito Santana's phase as El Matador or Akeem. Many could buy into the cartoonish elements but older fans who remembered Tito Santana had been around for 10 years just thought "Really?" same for Ricky Steamboat in his Dragon costume... some was inspired, Davey Boy Smith's repackage as The British Bulldog was really well done, he was clearly bigger, had the dreadlocked hair which made him immediately stand out and his gear always looked expensive and custom... you could always tell a push cos guys would get new duds... Rick Martel got his sport jacket and Atomizer, Warlord his Phantom mask and Barbarian his deer antlers. Most looked ridiculous but the odd one or two did work on the visual level to elevate the wrestlers, even if they themselves failed to deliver.

The best way I can describe it is that it was phased, first you saw the wrestlers in short trunks and the odd long tights, with a WWE given name or specific gimmick. Then they'd get music and maybe a wardrobe upgrade or new "do", then by the time WM6 rolled around they ALL had music and a logo which they used on stickers and trading cards etc and later Tron screens. Someone like Curt Hennig had a big enough name to use that and Mr. Perfect equally, others like IRS became their gimmick with no reference to their past.

The other thing that really made WWE stand out over time was their TV presentation. It started with standard "filmed" shows, with static cameras and commentary at ringside. You'd always see Vince/Gorilla/Jesse or whomever at the top of the show and the "WWE News Centre" segments and of course the Mean Gene pre-tapes were a big part of the show. Mean Gene himself was a big part of it, a specific guy who was "the best" at interviewing a wrestler one on one and asking what was considered then, probing questions. They had their B-teams, Al Hayes, Sean Mooney, Mel Phillips et al but having that one main guy for interviews, announcer added to the presentation. Few of us who were around then hear any other voice than "The Fink's" on an introduction even today.

Over time, they started to up the presentation to more skits include talk shows tailored to the worker, while Piper's pit and the Barbershop hosted memorable moments, there was also Blackjack's Barbeque, the Flower Shop and The Brother Love show and over time they became "in-ring". WCW tended to stay the same for longer, using their Bischoff hosted WCW Magazine segments and Jesse or Solie would go out and interview whoever was on the dias at that time, by the time A Flair For The Gold rolled around with it's infamous Shockmaster moment it seemed cheap in comparison.

I don't think you can ascribe the presentation of the Golden Era to one person, it was alot of talented guys and gals who had synergy - the Hart's in pink being a great example, one person has an idea, the wrestlers agree to try it, Vince and the fans love it and it becomes iconic, as much of that era was down to right place, right time and "F-it let's try it" than down to design. Today it's gone the other way, too slick, too corporate - Old School RAW next week will be a welcome break - just hoping they leave Tout and the App out of it for a week.

[sdelfin]

I think, back then, the presentation was better and more consistent because Vince knew what he wanted to product to be. He was trying to cater to a large, national audience, but it wasn't about pleasing everyone or caring about quarter-hour ratings trends which just seems silly. Back then, WWF was private and Vince could do what he wanted without having to worry about shareholders or networks.

And as THTRobtaylor said in his tremendous post, WWF's presentation was extremely well done and consistent. They treated their product with importance and had all the right people in the right places. Mean Gene was great in his role. I still fondly remember and miss seeing the Event Center with Sean Mooney. Jim Johnston was responsible for so much great music. I wish they never changed from the old, classic, 90s PPV themes, another example of the great presentation.

As for belts, I have heard Reggie Parks and Dave Millican did most of the belts.

On gimmicks and costumes, I suspect it varied. I forgot who it was, as I've seen and heard so many interviews, but I recall one wrestler saying he got some great advice from Randy Savage about investing in his character. So he was spending some money on his costumes. Ted Dibiase's gimmick was Vince's own idea, so I suspect they both came up with stuff. Jake Roberts has told the story many times of how Vince had specific ideas on what he wanted Jake to wear. Koko B. Ware pitched the idea to bring the bird.

[Nadeem Ahmad]

Not taking anything away from what THTRobtaylor said, I wanted to add that the economy was not nearly as bad as it had become, following the end of the nineties as well. Wrestlers were able to invest in costumes, and tailors making the clothes were more likely to spend time on them, as in the example of a seamstress putting out the pink attire for Harts. In these days, crappy materials with lower qualities are put into all sorts of products, from clothes, to cameras, to microphones and so forth. I mean, with the limited amount of gold in the world and reserves right now, who knows what percentage of the current belts are actually authentic gold, and not an alloy of other mixed materials like faux copper or brass? Even the tights and small trunks wrestlers wear nowadays look like they were made in some sweatshop, where labor unfortunately is exploited, and they cut costs as much as possible by using garbage for materials, like nasty plastics.

I remember reading on www.wrestlezone.com after 1999, that the cameras which Bret Hart broke at Survivor Series in 1997 had cost about eighty thousand dollars each. They probably were the same cameras used for much of that decade, and if you paused digital video back then, you could notice that the "picture", not the video, was much stronger and thicker. Obviously, with advances in technology these days, you get faster moving video, seemingly more realistic and live, but if you look at the non-moving videos from about twenty years ago, it would be evident that the lenses captured things to make them look stronger and heavier. These are just small examples, but the point I was trying to get across was that in earlier times, products were made with more care and personalized touches, rather than putting everything on a constingent mill or line of production.

[THTRobtaylor]

Even today, wrestlers will still invest in their look - while most tanning/gyms will still give them freebies, you can imagine that they still have to pay for a lot of it themselves as gyms couldn't shut down to their paying customers for the whole day just to let the WWE guys do it for free.

The best example though I watched a Honky Tonk Man shoot where he said he had 3 suits, one at $10,000 which was for big events, the $6000 one and the nastier $3500 one for oil wrestling events etc and he still uses the original ones (even though the guy who made them was apparently jailed for being a cult leader? weird...) He and his wife would actually Fed Ex each other the laundry!

In the 80's it was new to spend a bit of dough on your look - some got away with spending minimally - I'm guessing Hogan never paid for one of his ripped shirts - but a Honky Tonk Man would either buy the suit himself or take what was given and what was given wasn't always right. Today the characters are so fleshed before they debut that it's likely they give you a sum and say "get this made" to their spec rather than you having real input. Famously with Max Moon they made the suit for Konann, who quit, and then they had to literally put Paul Diamond in there cos he was the nearest in size after spending $20k on the suit and gimmick. Custom made is always custom made, sure you might order 10 of them now rather than 2 and you might get them quicker, but when guys have their own attire it always shows and there is always thought and effort gone into it. Indeed I can remember seeing Taker in the UK when his luggage hadn't arrived - he was dressed in street clothes and it took you out of it completely, no entrance just the match beginning "brawling from the back".

Sure things like trunks look different, it's cos the fabrics have changed - not necesarrily co they are cheaper. In 87 you had spandex, leather or denim. Today you can use newer stuff to cover a multitude of sins. Trunks are easier to move in but look dull unless they are custom, they have to "shimmer" etc to look good on HD TV, you know if a wrestler is wearing cheap ass gear these days. When someone does spend the money though, like Chris Jericho's light jacket it shows immediately and puts them up a notch - Jericho had no need of it, he would have been over without it but it's that final touch that makes him a big deal even for 2 months here and there and more to the point, outside WWE. Everytime he is on a talk show etc, they'll now show the intro with the light jacket.

Belts sure, they often look cheap - but they have to be durable as the talent has to lug them from pillar to post. I am sure WWE has a "A" version of each belt they wheel out for the PPV and give a cheaper replica to the talent to travel with but even then HD picks up every imperfection.

To be fair HD is the biggest change in the last 30 years. When it started for the first year it was easy to see every botch or "faux punch", so WWE had to go more the "we're entertainment" route to counter it. On the good side, when someone works snug it really shows up, Brock's head cut on RAW and the move leading into it looked amazing.

[Moneyinc]

Damn just learned a lot. Thanks a lot for the info. THTrobtaylor pretty much answered everything I needed answered. Ahmad also made some good points about the economy. Sounds like Vince was a character building genius back in the 80s, and over time lost sight of what he used to be so great at. GIMMICKS!

As you said, things like putting the Hart Foundation in Pink. Vince could tell that was a great idea. I mean everyone knows Vince is brilliant but I didn't know he was so hands on back then at creating all of those characters.

Though I guess a lot of them were just big guys in glorified halloween costumes..

Dolph Zigglers jacket is really cool these days with the spikes. Jericho's jacket is beyond awesome right now as well.

[THTRobtaylor]

At the end of the day, Vince is/was a marketing machine - his main skill has been creating characters and situations that lend themselves to cross-promotion and merchandising. That's why it was a misnomer to blame Linda's campaign for the PG - it's always been Vince's forte, Attitude was always his last gasp rather than a planned thing.

People say he is a "wrestling genius", not really as even his peak periods had input from lots of other people in the actual wrestling side, but he's got the skill to filter and see the action figures and cartoons and commercial tie ins. Not every idea works, you can see from Beyond the Mat when he is with "Puke" or from the Mankind/Mutilator stuff that Foley has always talked about that a lot of his ideas suck but he's smart enough to take what the wrestler can bring and adapt it.

[AttitudeAJM]

One thing to take into account during the Golden Era (1984-1990) didn't produce as many hours of television as they do now. WWF was more like a traveling circus, pulling in most of its money from live event ticket sales. That is why you rarely saw Hulk Hogan competing on national television. This meant that more emphasis was placed on the visual in-ring product. Costumes were colorful and characters were over-the-top.

This isn't to say that the same thing doesn't exist now. Although it is safe to say that the over abundance of pro-wrestling on television has desensitized audiences and left people feeling as if somehow the current product is vastly inferior. It isn't. It's just that it was a different time and a different place.

[FlairFan2003]

Wrestlers spending their own money on costumes back then wasnt new. Ric Flair was spending 5 grand per robe back in the 80s.

Vince had a background in arena management and event promotion before he took over WWE from his dad. Vince clearly saw the upside in marketing action figures, posters, etc, aimed at a kid heavy audience driven by kid friendly, Disney like production and characters. The NWA was drawing good ratings and great house show numbers but with a more adult oriented storylines. The potential was there but they never mined the marketing gold Vince did, aiming his product almost totally at kids, getting parents to buy their products to the tune of mega profits. The kid friendly audience is what drove the characters, Disney like cartoon characters that would appeal to grade schoolers.

As for the amount of TV hours produced, in the late 80s-early 90s WWE ran two hours weekly every Monday on USA, did a Sat PM and Sun AM show, hour long each, on cable channel WWOR, plus two different syndicated shows, each an hour long. That's at least 6 hours of original programming every week.

Vince was heavily involved in the creation of gimmicks, although most of his biggest stars of the era were mainly guys who established their names and characters in other federations before joining WWE, some tweaked a bit, others not at all (Hogan, Savage, Piper, Jake Roberts, to a lesser extent Greg Valentine, Road Warriors, Brain Busters, Rockers, Warlord & Barbarian).

Personally I found a lot of the gimmicks to be so cheesy I almost couldnt watch. Some of them werent bad, Henning and Race for instance, DiBiase was brilliant. Rick Rude was basically the same guy and gimmick he portrayed in the NWA before coming to WWE, Although the tights were a nice addition. However, when I think of The Berzerker, Repo Man, Skinner, the hopelessly cheesy Koko B Ware, and even worse Repo Man, All I remember is how bad I thought so much of those shows were back then.

Still, the costumes, the cheesy characters, the merchandise (Hasbro was making action figures as early as 1986 if not earlier), all of that was related to Vince McMahon's vision. This was also a big reason why match quality declined so much, much shorter bouts, more basic maneuvers, with an emphasis on cartoon characters and an audience of kids, a demographic with short attention spans, it made sense to make the matches shorter, more basic, and less violent.