Casting Call: Looking For Characters

[klunderbunker]

As I'm watching these mid 1990s In Your Houses for my latest series of reviews, something is catching my attention. On one show, in three segments we've seen the following: Razor Ramon, the laid back Hispanic wrestler that was way over, Goldust the freaky movie star homosexual, Jeff Jarrett who was a country singer using the WWF to get to the top of the charts, Dean Douglas who was a teacher that had a paddle called the Board of Education, and now Hunter Hearst Helmsley, the blueblood from Connecticut that was above everyone else.

Now let's compare that to some of today's big names: John Cena, Shawn Michaels, HHH, Orton, Hardy. None of them play characters. They're nothing but archetypes. Think about it: Cena is the all American boy, Shawn is the grizzled veteran, HHH is the best, Orton is the cocky young stud and Hardy is the counter culture guy. All of those guys are such cookie-cutter wrestlers that it's pathetic. There's nothing truly distinct about any of them. In the 90s, everyone played a distinct, memorable character. It made for much more interesting TV in my mind.

Then came the Attitude Era and everything changed. Suddenly everything was about shades of gray and tweeners etc. You didn't really have true heels and faces anymore and to me while it was fun at the time, now it's hurt the business in the long run. Today everyone is trying so hard to be the cool heel or the brash face that it's just boring as hell. To me, the biggest thing WWE is missing right now are distinct characters. In the main event scene, the only true distinct character is Undertaker. Look at Edge for example. While few could match his promo skills, you could literally put anyone into his role as the Ultimate Opportunist and they would get a large amount of the same heel heat that he gets, simply because it's not about Edge but about what he does. That makes things boring and needs to change.

 

[Uncle Sam]

It depends how you like your wrestling. I know many were casting their eyes skyward when TNA had its colourful cartoon revolution last year. I think it was last year. All I know is that if anybody spots any hang overs of that, a long, monotone groan is likely to follow.

I mean, whenever The Undertaker pulls out some of his signature bullshit - like nigh on literally "sending Edge to Hell" - it just doesn't really click.

As condescending as it already is, I think wrestling with 'proper' larger than life characters just seems incredibly condescending, even to young children. Kids these days, eh?

As unremarkable as the roles they do may seem, I think the wrestlers today are just as good. Jeff Hardy puts wacky face paint on and flails around - that gives me my fill.

 

[twisterwrw929]

There is a big difference between the two groups of people you mentioned. The guys you mentioned from the early to mid 90's, were only mid carders. All the guys from today you mentioned, have been a World Champion at some point. The only guy from the original group to win the WWE Championship was Triple H, but he was far from the blue blood gimmick he had when he started out.

Look at guys who were WWE Champions during the early to mid 90's, how many of them had some really strong character? Hogan, Warrior, Hart, Michaels, Savage, Flair just to name some of them, how many of them had really distinct characters? I'm not saying they weren't memorable, or didn't have anything distinct about them, but I really wouldn't say they had overly distinct characteristics like the ones you mentioned. I think for the most part, most of the top guys don't have them, they didn't then and they don't now.

But I will say if you look at some of the lower card to mid card guys from the earlier time you mentioned did have more distinct characters and gimmicks. Fast forward to todays guys, how many of them actually do? Definitely not as many.

 

[ztwhite]

Yeah, and maybe we should have guys who "hail from parts unknown" - Just kidding, don't take it personal klunderbunker

I do find it funny that you're clammoring for characters, rather than straight up wrestlers though.

I can only imagine the blow up these message boards would have if someone like Duke "The Dumpster" Drose or "Sparkplug" Bob Holly debuted this week on Raw or Smackdown.

Gimmick superstars are right up there with gimmick matches. Oversaturation killed the mystique and aura (no, not the strippers at your local flesh fest) that used to be associated with them. Taker is obviously the exception for the simple fact he fucking kicks ass !!!

 

[Mighty NorCal]

KB, what you have to remember, is we are now in the day and age of everyone trying to maintain the utmost level of coolness at all times, even in wrestling arena's, as sad and contrived as it is. People boo CENA for fucks sake, becuase his character is too cookie cutter, and cartoony (becuase he is so good)...you think anyone will give larger than life characters the LEAST bit of a chance? Never, not at all.

Its just not...like, very cool.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I actually think Klunderbunker is very much on target with his comments of what is badly missing from today's wrestling. That's part of the argument I have been making for some time, as well.

There is a difference in coming up with characters like Duke "The Dumpster" Droese and Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly ... as compared to characters like the original Goldust, Razor Ramon, Waylon Mercy, the Godfather (who we obviously won't see today, but he was a great character), Gangrel, and countless others.

I personally think the popularity of the days of the wrestler just being called by their own name and hoping to get over with personalities alone ... is actually wearing thin. I just don't think it is as appealing anymore as it once was. The concepts have simply become boring.

My best advice is that they try an experiment and introduce some characters back into wrestling again, and see how the audience reacts to it. Of course, Vince is never one to care what the audience thinks, anyway ... but that is what I would do.

Too many fans of today have rather bland and boring tastes, and that is part of the reason (that I feel, anyway) why wrestling isn't as popular with casuals anymore. If I wanted to watch the original Ring of Honor, where I could basically watch just wrestling matches, I would have watched just that. I don't want to see WWE become Ring of Honor. I want it to go back to being the product that caught me to begin with, featuring unique characters and complex storylines.

It is the characters and the storylines they are involved in that draw ratings, and subsequently boost attendance and PPV Buyrates. The quality of wrestling has very little to do with it.

Again, another reason I have to chuckle when people are asked what's wrong with wrestling, and the solutions provided are to have "Wrestler X go to Raw" and "Wrestler Y to go to Smackdown".

If anyone wants to see wrestling go back to and incorporate some elements from the Hogan Era, Attitude Era, and today (which is personally what I want to see) ... then MAJOR, MAJOR changes need to be made to the product. Virtually a complete overhaul of the format of the shows, the look, the characters, the story-telling ... EVERYTHING. A hybrid of the best elements of each of those Eras is what I would love to see in today's product.

The only thing I can give this particular Era credit for is the quality of wrestling. And that isn't enough, sadly.

I rate everything else: story-telling, characters, format, etc. a "D" overall. If I wasn't a fan of wrestling for as long as I have been, and someone sat me down to see if I wanted to watch today's wrestling for the very first time, I probably wouldn't tune in again, to be perfectly honest. I watch Raw out of loyalty, and that is pretty much it. That is how bad I honestly feel it has gotten. I don't watch the other shows regularly at all, and I only switch over to Raw after I'm done watching 24.

 

[finneycom1]

I would love to see some of those kind of characters again. The fact is, the world that we live in now, people basically got tired of having their intellegance insulted. We all know that wrestling is a "controlled environment," we always have. But back then, nobody admitted to it. Now, you cant even buy WWE DVD without it having "real" interviews from the wrestlers that post their "real" names. Hell, even WWE will tell you that it is just "entertainment."

If they tried to pass a "half-bull, half-man, wrestler like Mantar,nowadays, he would get booed outta the freakin' building! I wish it wasnt like that, but it's true. I will give props to TNA, b/c it seems like they are not as willing to throw the "entertainment"aspect of it in your face.

I think society as a whole has just gotten lazy. They dont want to suspend their belief anymore. I, for one, would like to see "half-man, half-whatevers, pimps, voodoo doctors, clowns, friars, hockey players, baseball players, psychos, racecar drivers, trash men, rappers, Bastion Boogers, porn stars, etc. It might freshen things up again!!

 

[Decarow]

Look at how far gimmick characters go in today's times.

Boogeyman: a fairly good stint, no title reigns though

Paul Birchill (Pirate): ya... not so far

Zombie: from the first few episodes of the new ECW

Hell, the only semi-successful gimmick character is Hornswoggle. and the only title he's one got canceled.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Look at how far gimmick characters go in today's times.

Boogeyman: a fairly good stint, no title reigns though

Paul Birchill (Pirate): ya... not so far

Zombie: from the first few episodes of the new ECW

Hell, the only semi-successful gimmick character is Hornswoggle. and the only title he's one got canceled.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought WWE determines the pushes that characters receive ... not the characters themselves. Therefore, if Vince wanted to give Boogeyman, Paul Burchill, and the Zombie a push ... and spread that push out over time, then they could do so. It's not like the guys themselves have any say.

By the way, the Zombie had one AND ONLY ONE appearance on ECW, and that was the first episode. I was actually there for it. I immediately picked up on it being a rib on the Sci Fi Network, and thought it was hysterical.

 

[DhA]

To put it simply, society has changed and if people don't want to see cartoon characters, they're not gonna be pushed. No one liked Kizarny. Boogeyman? Hornswaggle? Eugene? You can say you want cartoon characters, but then you'll simply bitch about them when the WWE creates them - because they're crap. As much as I don't like John Cena or HHH, at least they're not insulting my intelligence like Hogan and his "I Am american, therefore I am better!!!1111!" gimmick.

 

[HBK-aholic]

TNA tried to have 'characters' and all we did was laugh at them. It doesn't bother me either way to be honest, as long as the wrestler doing the job is good. I don't agree that anyone could go into their positions and do the same thing. It wouldn't be anywhere near as good anyway, especially for Edge who works his character great.

 

[Blade]

But back in the days of Razor and Jarrett etc... All the main eventers were very vague characters too. Hart as the hero, Michaels as the cocky young guy, Diesel and Sid as the bodyguards-turned-champions. You can't complain that it's only now that we don't get real characters. Those real gimmicky characters have never made it to the top.

The only real gimmick characters that were every really successful were the Undertaker as the undead wrestler and Kurt Angle back when he was the Olympic Hero with the 3 i's and Kane as the burned, tortured monster hell bent on revenge.. And even Angle was never that much into his character, especially when he came into the main event. Kane never truly made it to the main event and as time went on his character became more diluted. Triple H did have the blueblood gimmick, but he needed to shed it to become a legit main eventer. Good characters simply don't make good main eventers.

And I believe, that WWE really tried to limit their Character gimmick because of the angles they need. The more vague the character or gimmick, the easier it is to write angles and feuds. Chris Jericho is the bitter, judgemental egomaniac, which there are millions of possible storylines for. But Jeff Jarrett as a country singer? We saw how difficult it was to write angles for him back when he was in WWF.

Now with the PG rating and the focus on kids, you'd expect a rise in the amount of character gimmicks floating around. But I don't think the IWC/'smarks' would be too happy with that. In the early 90's when the characters were all over the place, the IWC was non existant and the 'smarks' were few and far between. Would the wrestling world like seeing some in depth, gimmick characters?

 

[Planty]

I think we're starting to see these gimmick-orientated characters come back more and more in recent times. It also helps that Stephanie McMahon is asking for the wrestlers to come up with more ideas for their characters so that its not just the bookers coming up with generic material.

In WWE right now we have:

Kofi Kingston- Token Jamaican
The Great Khali- Huge Love God (apparently)
Kennedy- THE Microphone Guy (Sure, so many generic people get on the mic, its essential for most in wrestling these days but this is the guy's gimmick!)
Santino- Token Italian
Santina- Token Shemale
Umaga- Token Samoan
Miz is getting there- VOICE OF THE SMARKS

So I think we're getting back to that age again, mostly thanks to the absense of those main eventers.

In recent times, Orton had been injured (until near the end of 2008), Batista had been injured (up until recently), Cena has had a few injuries, HBK is resting, HHH is off tv for a while.

I think with all these factors, we're seeing a new age of those very diverse gimmick-orientated characters.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

To put it simply, society has changed and if people don't want to see cartoon characters, they're not gonna be pushed. No one liked Kizarny. Boogeyman? Hornswaggle? Eugene? You can say you want cartoon characters, but then you'll simply bitch about them when the WWE creates them - because they're crap. As much as I don't like John Cena or HHH, at least they're not insulting my intelligence like Hogan and his "I Am american, therefore I am better!!!1111!" gimmick.

There are different degrees of characters. The problem is that you are lumping all characters into one category.

Personally, I didn't care for Kizarny, as I thought it was a pointless gimmick the way it was designed. All it does is appeal to smarks to get a chuckle or two.

Boogeyman, I didn't really have a problem with. If you had a problem with Boogeyman, why don't you have a problem with Kane's gimmick?

Hornswoggle, I personally don't like. I don't find him entertaining or funny. However, I had no problem with him earlier on when he was introduced as Little Bastard. I enjoyed seeing the vicious Little Bastard come from underneath the ring and attack Finlay's opponents. But that is essentially ruined now.

Eugene, I thought worked fine as a face for several months. The crowds were actually giving him decent cheers. Then, they grew tired of him. I thought the character would have still worked fine as a heel, though, but they never really fully explored that route with him.

As stated, there are varying degrees of characters and gimmicks. They can't all be lumped into one big category. The New Generation, despite being overrun with cartoon characters, still featured some great ones. The original Goldust, Razor Ramon, Waylon Mercy, Yokozuna, the Undertaker, the Nation of Domination, etc.

The Goon, TL Hopper, Bob Holly ... not so much.


Then, in the Attitude Era, we still had characters like Val Venis, Gangrel, Edge, the Godfather, Ministry of Darkness Undertaker, among others. Obviously, much more adult-oriented characters.



Characters are badly needed in this day and age. Complex characters that adults can appreciate. You can only go so far with giving talent like John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase, Shelton Benjamin, Matt Hardy, Chavo Guerrero, Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, and others the "No Gimmick Needed" approach, and I think it has clearly ran its course.

You talk about characters "insulting one's intelligence" ... but what I can't understand is that you obviously realize that what you are watching is a scripted television program. Therefore, what is the harm in telling yourself that these "characters" are simply wrestlers acting and producing a television show? How exactly is that "insulting your intelligence"? Do you feel that WWE really expects you to believe that Godfather is really a pimp, or that Gangrel is really a vampire?

You can't have a successful wrestling program without interesting characters, and without complex storylines to involve them in. Straight up wrestling will not work, since everyone knows it is scripted anyway. Therefore, you have to offer something else to appeal to viewers.