Could another Mr. U.S.A. gimmick benefit a new WWE superstar?

[CM Steel]

For as long as we can remember over the years of pro wrestling. There has always been that one wrestling figure who bleeds red,white, and blue. From Sgt. Slaughter to Kurt Angle, wrestling has always had it's own Captain America character. Now who can forget the only wrestler who ever came close to being a Captain America-character in all pro wrestling? "The Patriot" Del Wilkes! Del Wilkes wrestled all over the world sporting red, white, and blue as the Patriot while wearing a mask.

The WWE tried to bring back a masked Patriot in 2003 on Smackdown in the form of Hulk Hogan called "Mr. America"! Doing his introduction on Smackdown by WWE chairman Vince McMahon. Your thinking to yourself, "Oh they then brought back the Patriot Del Wilkes". But as soon as you heard the "real american" theme being played on the arena's PA system. WAIT A MINUTE IT IS HULK HOGAN! Which started out as a rumor at first. But there was own Mr. America.

Now what if a new talent came up to the main roster from WWE NXT. Could another Mr. U.S.A. gimmick benefit the new WWE superstar?

 

[The Butcher]

You're implying that the "Mr. USA" gimmick benefited Wilkes or Hogan. It didn't, and I don't think it'd be a good way to introduce a new superstar.

Sure, you could pit such a character up against Zeb Colter's Real Americans, but then what? It isn't like there's an overwhelming wave of patriotism in America at the moment, and there are no quality foreign heels to play against. It's a one-note gimmick that requires the actual cultural zeitgeist to exist to stand a chance, and with that there's got to be a heel that represents the enemy. Neither of those exist, so I can only see this hypothetical Mr. USA falling flat as a face and either disappearing or joining up with Colter and company.

 

[sanefan_har]

It isn't like there's an overwhelming wave of patriotism in America at the moment, and there are no quality foreign heels to play against. It's a one-note gimmick that requires the actual cultural zeitgeist to exist to stand a chance, and with that there's got to be a heel that represents the enemy. Neither of those exist, so I can only see this hypothetical Mr. USA falling flat as a face and either disappearing or joining up with Colter and company.

I couldn't agree more. This is a classic case of the hypocrisy the IWC represents, they want better characters and gimmicks but the best they can come up with is Chris Jericho mocking the Sting(I read that on another forum) and an overdone Mr.USA gimmick.

Right now the Real Americans are a better version of the patriotic Americans, and like Dr. said, the days of a culture based gimmick are long gone. People are tired of the same old shtick.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

For as long as we can remember over the years of pro wrestling. There has always been that one wrestling figure who bleeds red,white, and blue. From Sgt. Slaughter to Kurt Angle, wrestling has always had it's own Captain America character. Now who can forget the only wrestler who ever came close to being a Captain America-character in all pro wrestling? "The Patriot" Del Wilkes! Del Wilkes wrestled all over the world sporting red, white, and blue as the Patriot while wearing a mask.

The WWE tried to bring back a masked Patriot in 2003 on Smackdown in the form of Hulk Hogan called "Mr. America"! Doing his introduction on Smackdown by WWE chairman Vince McMahon. Your thinking to yourself, "Oh they then brought back the Patriot Del Wilkes". But as soon as you heard the "real american" theme being played on the arena's PA system. WAIT A MINUTE IT IS HULK HOGAN! Which started out as a rumor at first. But there was own Mr. America.

Now what if a new talent came up to the main roster from WWE NXT. Could another Mr. U.S.A. gimmick benefit the new WWE superstar?

Seriously?

Considering we're not in war time and the USA loving wrestler has been done over and over and over, it's a rather terrible idea. To saddle someone in NXT with a gimmick like that just doesn't make a bit of sense. There's nowhere to go except downhill with that kind of gimmick, because it stereotypes them and doesn't do anything for their character. Simply being a patriotic guy only helps when there's an antagonist like a Mohammed Hassan or Iron Sheik. Right now, no one like that exists in the WWE.

I mean... do you even lift?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

While there will always be a certain niche where extremely patriotic characters fit, it's arguably the most redundant character in all of pro wrestling. Remember the lukewarm reception Tensai got as the one dimensional "Asian" monster heel? The ultra patriotic character falls into the same category. As to why that is, well, to me, it's not so much that the character is too old fashioned but, rather, it's because wrestling fans seem to be FAR more cynical now than they were 25-30 years ago. Patriotic characters are generally pretty one dimensional themselves, there's no real depth to them most of the time.

I'm sure some people would warmly receive the character, especially if said character was a pretty solid wrestler at that, but the smarks would eat the guy alive. After all, unless your name is Punk, Bryan, Jericho or a small handful of others; many smarks would rather jeer and generally act like assholes rather than even considering giving the guy a shot. These sorts of characters are also often the definition of a traditional babyface and ultimate nice guys. Can you think of anybody else in WWE that fits that category? Yep, that's right....John Cena. Cena is everything that a traditional babyface is supposed to be and that's a central element on the foundation of pro wrestling in & of itself.

In this day & age, I don't see a gimmick like this being of a major benefit. Hell, as overly sensitive as many people seem to be these days, a pro wrestler openly declaring that he believes the US is the greatest country of them all and going on about all that makes it great would probably offend people. You can't blow your nose in public these days without someone's feathers being ruffled. I suppose it's not politically correct to be a patriot these days.

 

[SilverBullet1929]

Could another Mr USA gimmick work? Yes of course if done correctly.

Thing is, there's really many ways to do this gimmick. Sgt Slaughter, Jim Duggan, Tony Atlas, Corporal Kirchner, The Patriot, Lex Luger, they all had differences beyond just carrying the American flag. Slaughter and Kirchner were obviously miltary types. Tony Atlas didn't really do much for the USA, he was more like a prototypical Mr USA bodybuilding competitor. Duggan was your blue collar American, well, citizen actually. He was just a normal American, guy? He's the guy you see in the background of a news broadcast when they're showing the Memorial Day parade or something! lol... The Patriot was a symbolic representation of ALL of America. And so on.