Gimmick or Character changes

[Leveller]

There is people here saying that Kofi is nothing more than average but I agree with Jack-Hammer that he is untapped talent. However this whole idea of giving him a gimmick change could work if he goes full heel and tweaks his look a little. I also had said this on a post before about how I would have booked it. I know a lot of it is irrelevant now but hey use your imagination and exchange a few names here and there but the turn would still work.

"Kofi just got taken out by Ryback so lets use that.

Henry/Cena goes on until SummerSlam in my eyes even if D'Bry gets involved like reported.
I would have Henry vs Cena in the main event at SummerSlam (normal match with the stipulation that if Cena gets DQ'd or counted out the title changes hands) and then towards the end of the match have Kofi just walk out in jeans and a tshirt. Have Kofi literally go psycho on them. Completely lay them out (make sure Kofi hits Henry first as he has the motive anyway) and have it so Cena got "injured".
I would then have Kofi stand over the top of Cena and say "Do I have Your Attention Now?" while looking straight down the camera.

This means;
1. Henry gets the title, which in my eyes would look better for Daniel Bryans weaker link gimmick when he wins.
2. Kofi gets put into a feud with the biggest star in the company as the heel. Cena would want revenge as he cost him the title.
3.The new guys get to hold the title and Cena gets to give a guy a rub.

This would give Kofi a character who got sick of being left behind and if needs be he could build a group over this with people such as Tyson Kidd. There are loads of way it could go really. You could have guys like Evan Bourne and R-truth try and talk him out of it and Kofi blatantly tell them to get lost and stab them in the back."

I mean I know its just fan booking but it would certainly give him a twist

 

[Jack G]

The Kofi push would be interesting; he's a quality in ring performer but for me it's the mic skills...If they can improve with the suggested heel turn then I'd be all up for that idea!

For me Kofi would have to be involved of a squash match with a big star; let's say Henry. Then, during the match Cena get's involved, or The Shield, The Wyatt's, anyone. Kofi would then think he's been robbed of beating a top star and then targets whomever got involved.

 

[MCMG]

I really like your idea about McIntyre idea. Maybe, have the 3MB on consecutive Raws and have him really impress. Then, during a 6-man tag match ; Heyman walks out, tells him something and that is the start of him leaving. He is definitely too good for them. He can shine as a singles superstar with the help of Heyman.

 

[I_Am_Electro_Boy]

Although I'd like to see Santino have a gimmick/character change, I don't think he really needs it. He's over with the crowd and you always see a few people wearing Santino merchandise, so a change isn't really needed but it would be cool. Santino is one of the guys in the back who is known to be pretty hard, so why not just make him a exaggerated version of himself? He wouldn't need a complete transformation, although that would be cool to watch, but he could be the friendly guy but when someone upsets him he doesn't hold back.

Cody needs to be a face. I'm a fan of his, I think he's a great wrestler but he just seems stuck as a heel, so I think he could make it as a face. First of he needed knee pads now he needs to get rid of that moustache as he looks comical and it's hard to take him serious. Then it's simple how to turn him face, turn him against Sandow and make him get sick of Sandow thinking he's above everyone, it's that simple. Make him a down to earth guy who just wants to be the best.

I'm guessing it sort of counts as a character change, Ryback needs John Laurinaitis. Everyone's sick of Ryback and him being boring, but if he had a mouthpiece it'd at least stop people getting bored of his segments. Laurinaitis is someone who can easily get Ryback over as a heel, he's the guy nobody likes but now he has a beast to protect him. Once again just a simple adjustment.

Obviously guys like Kofi and Drew are people who could do with a change but everything people are saying is what I think.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Orton doesn't need to go heel... the best thing for him would be to fail again and take the year out... he is beyond stale and fans are almost on autopilot when they cheer for him. If he was fired, took that year - the fans would certainly miss him and that would make his return bigger and without the monkey on his back... his own history says he is gonna fuck up the 3rd time so get it done and get it over with... a year later WWE can rebuild him.

Barrett would have been a perfect Paul Heyman guy. Failing that I think I would like to see Regal as a mentor - be it face or heel, they had a good rapport on NXT and their fued never really happened. maybe even make them both feud with Axel for the IC and have Wade screw Regal out of his last hurrah.

Kofi as a heel doesn't work for me unless something radical happens... I could see him getting involved with the Wyatt Family if they go "cult" and recruit members. Bray could handle the mic work that Kofi struggles in and Kofi gets rid of any potential backlash that the Wyatts may get (some PTC type will inevitably say they are the Klan...) or even Zeb... Kofi as one of Colter's Milita (horrid name) would be a master stroke - an american man forced to pretend he is from other nations just to get a shot? Great promo stuff there.

I like the idea of Santino going serious, he was the "russian machine" in OVW so can work that style. They could still go with him being goofy, use the old "concussion" angle so he kinda loses himself a bit and becomes this machine in the ring, maybe not even registering he has this streak in him - failing that, another great Wyatt recruit, grow his beard out, have Wyatt convince him that he has been made to look a fool.

There is one movie I saw that I am shocked no one has really tried as a gimmick, Danny The Dog with Jet Li - where the guy is basically raised as an attack dog, whenever the collar comes off and his "master" tells him to attack he does, viciously and without mercy... imagine if someone like Santino was Wyatt's attack dog - with the other 2 backing him up?

Jinder Mahal needs another gimmick big time, he's not great in the ring, but not as bad as he is made to appear. I would prefer him to ditch the turban altogether and play more of a Hassan type role - legitemately angry at how he has been protrayed and taking it out on the wrestlers, only without the terrorist overtones.

There are some guys who got let go who they could now bring back with new gimmicks - Harry Smith is perfect right now, again put him with Regal as a manager, use the Davey Boy Smith name he is using and have Regal "tour him around England", all the old places he and his dad used to wrestle, have them go and see Dynamite (and put the unedited version on the website) and basically have Regal "de-programme him" from being a Hart - his gimmick would basically be "Born a Bulldog...always a Bulldog" and have him use his more MMA style. They can have him feud with Tyson and Natalya by bringing Paige in as his "girl" and maybe even have him team with Neville in a new Bulldogs.

 

[newwaveknight]

Alex Riley. If he catches on as a commentator, fine, but the guy's a good talker, has the look, and acquits himself nicely in the ring. All he needs is a hook, something to get people invested in him. The whole "missing person" gimmick they had for him sucked. They found fun gimmicks for Brodus Clay and Johnny Curtis, I'm sure they could whip up something for The Miz's old sidekick.

Personally, if they brought back Jack Swagger's "All-American American" gimmick and Alex Riley's "Varsity Villain" gimmick, why not have the two of them form a tag team. It's an old-but-gold, Tag Team Formation 101 lesson:

1) Find two people with similar gimmicks (which is why they should have done this when Riley FIRST got out of NXT).

2) If you have a guy who can talk but isn't a great worker, find a guy who can work but isn't a great talker. Riley = Good talker but a little stiff in the ring. Swagger = Good worker whose lisp makes it a little hard for him to cut promos.

 

[FlairFan2003]

The reason why Cena continues to dominate is easy...NO ONE ELSE ON THE ROSTER CAN DO IT!!

How many wrestling fans even know who Ziggler is or what his gimmick is right now ? Punk is popular, yes, but he lacks the charisma of an Austin or Flair playing an semi bad "good guy", like HHH he is a solid face but a great heel.

Who else ? Big Show and Kane have probably peaked as stars and never reached Cena's status, give me a name, any name...see that's the problem, WWE doesnt have much on the roster that people want to watch, Cena is an obvious exception, they HAVE TO BUILD around him, he's the best full time performer they have (Notice I Said Full Time, excluding HHH & Taker) when it comes to drawing any interest from casual fans.

As for gimmick changes, any infusion of personality would make Cody Rhodes more interesting, just something other than the fact his father is famous.

Orton has never been a good face, he is however a great heel. Some guys can play both by greatly changing their character (like Hulk vs Hollyood Hogan, Lex Luger also) while others play both well with only subtle changes in character and get way over with fans (Kevin Nash, Flair, Austin). Orton either has not been allowed or doesnt have the ability to make a major shift in character presentation and clearly doesnt have the charisma to be as effective as a good guy as a he is a heel. Sting has played both but was better as a hero. Ricky Steamboat could never play a bad guy. Rick Rude clearly excelled as a villain, Brett Hart clearly favored being the good guy. Orton hit his stride as a cut throat villain, he needs to return to that.

 

[shalliin]

Everyone seems to want a Cena heel turn, so how about this: Don't go back to rapper, go the other way ala Jeff Jarrett. holier then thou country/gospel singer who just acts completely pious and genteel but will attack the second someones back is turned. Can keep it PG adn still generate a lot of heat with today's audience.

Big Show to a Gentle Giant.

Uso's same samoan gimmick but turn em heel and have them go wild. Counting Tamina in the Diva's.

ALL Diva's into a real WOMAN'S wrestling division, not fitness model wanna be's

 

[vthokie8]

I agree with you on Sheamus, he hasn't really got over as a face like WWE had intended and he seems to be stuck. He did work a lot better as a heel and got over a lot better there. I agree 100% on Drew as well. That being said, the Cena ideas are OLD now. Cena is probably never and especially right now going to get a character change or turn heel. WWE is in the PG era. Cena caters to that demographic of fans. He puts asses in seats, he sales shirts, he sales action figures and he brings women to shows something that WWE really has never been able to do to this level. In all reality, you can probably thank Cena (or curse him) for a Divas reality show on E!. That being said here are my character change ideas.

Kofi Kingston: I don't think a complete overhaul is necessary however, I would like to see him come back with a mean streak similar to his feud with Legacy back in 09. He has a program waiting with Ryback when he comes back, what better way to get him over than have him destroy Ryback upon his return. We can already see WWE has no intention of making Ryback a permanent main event fixture so why not use him to get over a guy who maybe could be. Kofi destroying Ryback and becoming a tweener could do huge things for his career. Instead of having him wear bright colors just put him in darker trunks, subtle things could make a huge difference in his character.

Brodus Clay I think this goes without saying. Brodus Clay was meant to be a monster heel. He looks like one, has the moveset of one and I feel could get over and feel the void Mark Henry and Big Show leave behind. There are way too many comedy acts on the roster right now (Santino, Zack Ryder, Khali, 3MB R. Truth) that Clay is really just setting stagnant in a comedy tag team waiting for Santino to return and steal his thunder. I say have him turn on Sweet T. go after a guy like Sheamus if you keep him face or RVD and the rest is history. Sweet T. can either change his name and move on with a guy like Santino or Khali or you can use him as someone to get younger talent over.

Yoshi Tatsu I have always felt that goofy Pokeman music aside that Yoshi Tatsu was an underrated talent. The guy can wrestle, and although he is undersized guys like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk have managed to get over that hump. I'm not saying I'm comparing Tatsu to Punk and Bryan, but he deserves better than to be a jobber on NXT. I actually liked the face paint change to his character and felt it was a great homage to The Great Muta. I feel with a change of music and a series of vignettes to reintroduce him to the WWE Universe, and maybe even a name change, Yoshi Tatsu could get over as a mid-card or upper mid- card talent. I think he could have some spectacular matches with the likes of Dean Ambrose, Fandango, Damian Sandow, Cody Rhodes and even guys like Daniel Dryan and Punk when they are in transition.

 

[newwaveknight]

Big Show to a Gentle Giant.

That would be okay, if they didn't spend most of 2009 and some of 2010 doing that while he was tag teaming with people. And besides, he might as well go out as a dominating powerhouse, since he's starting to get up there in years.

Uso's same samoan gimmick but turn em heel and have them go wild. Counting Tamina in the Diva's.

Here's the problem with that: There are WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY too many heel tag teams. We've got The Shield, Rhodes Scholars, Prime Time Players, we've got Team Hell No! tweening like bosses. No more room for heel tag teams.

ALL Diva's into a real WOMAN'S wrestling division, not fitness model wanna be's

Why do so many people want the Divas/Women's wrestling division to have better in-ring action? I'm not trying to be sexist, but the women's wrestling has NEVER been on par with the men's wrestling. If I'm going to fast forward past the women's wrestling, I might as well be fast forwarding past hot girls.

And the number one reason why this post made me ROFL..........

Everyone seems to want a Cena heel turn, so how about this: Don't go back to rapper, go the other way ala Jeff Jarrett. holier then thou country/gospel singer who just acts completely pious and genteel but will attack the second someones back is turned. Can keep it PG adn still generate a lot of heat with today's audience.

I spewed my Steel Reserve everywhere when I read this. Turn Cena into a country/gospel singer? Shalliin, are you really Vince Russo coming to see what the IWC is up to? I would say why that idea is bad, but just saying "Cena as a country/gospel singer" already says it itself.

A Cena heel turn is NEVER happening, but here's the ONLY way to turn Cena heel:

Have a WWE Championship match against an up-and-coming babyface (I'm all for D-Bry). He loses the belt, then goes batshit crazy and destroys him. Steel chair, AA through a table, the works. Next Monday, commentators (mainly Lawler) are all "WHY CENA,WHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY??????" a backstage correspondent approaches Cena, and he just walks off. Smackdown: no explanation. Next Monday: It is announced that Cena will address his attack on D-Bry on next week's Raw.

One week later.....

Cena goes out to boos. He tells the crowd to shut their mouths if they want to know why he did what he did. He tells them that for 10 years, he's been doing everything that he thought was the right thing. He went out and gave their kids a good message of hustle, loyalty and respect. He reached out to try and touch the lives of as many fans as possible and CARRIED the company when Stone Cold and The Rock left the WWE high and dry. He can then go on to say that his thanks for all his hard work was for people to chant "Cena sucks" and for dweebs on message boards to say that he only has Five Moves of Doom.

He then goes on to say that he's doing things for him from now on and he's not going to waste another 10 years trying to please the WWE Universe.

The fallen hero/jaded babyface shtick is old but gold.

 

[MVP#1]

Alex Riley- First of all I wouldn't have him calling himself with nickname of A-RY. He needs a gimmick overhaul as he seems like that college jock personality which was fine back in NXT, but he needs a more serious gimmick. I don't know why but I keep thinking some sort of Navy gimmick might work for him but the opposite of The Real Americans stable of Cesaro and Swagger.

Christian- Seriously how far can this "1 more match" gimmick keep going on? Bring back Captain Charisma or the CLB gimmick, that was when he was at his best in WWE. Also turn him heel, as much as I love Christian I think he does his best work as a heel.

Natalya-Yes I put a diva on the list so what? I think she needs a heel turn and get her away from Khali. They have a great opportunity to have her in a program with Kaitlyn, as she looked really angry at Kaitlyn when AJ read Kaitlyn's texts. Have her come out and interrupt Kaitlyn's matches and lock her in sharpshooters and refusing to let go. Have her screaming Nobody disrespects the Neidhart name and all the divas are going to pay. Have her evil and possibly have some scenes where she kidnaps some of the divas and has some sort of accomplice helping her out.

Randy Orton- I agree with others and that a heel turn is needed for him. Legend Killer wouldn't work for him anymore since well he's now a veteran in WWE. Use the fact that he hears voices instead of it just being the name of his theme song. Maybe have him with like a multiple personality type of gimmick?

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

I'm going to start this off by saying that now is not the time to turn John Cena heel and I don't think that turning him heel is necessary since he has heat with half the crowd anyways. That being said, if he were to turn heel, this is how you do it. Pay close attention my lovelies.

One of the problems with turning Cena heel at this point is that it would seem forced and silly. He's on top of his game as a face, routinely overcoming the odds. If were to all of a sudden become a heel that takes shortcuts as most heels tend to do it would be pretty stupid, like Ryback's heel turn when he all of a sudden went from a dominant force to a coward.

You have to run an angle based on the fact that Cena is getting older, and he's starting to slow down a step. He's not the Cena he used to be, he can't make the same big comebacks he used to. You book him in a match against a young up-and-coming babyface, and in the build-up you have Cena wondering if he still has what it takes to beat this guy. The big question going into the match needs to be "What is Cena willing to do in order to win this match?" In the match you have Cena give the face everything he has, but be unable to put the him away. The the ref gets knocked down, allowing Cena to deck the face with a steel chair, blatantly cheating to steal the win. Cena's heel character would essentially be that of somebody who's been on top for so long, and doesn't want to give up their spot.

Eventually, after a solid heel run, you have to do a redemption angle. You have the young face saying that he knows Cena doesn't want to go out of the company like this, he knows that this isn't the true John Cena, and that Cena wants to go out as a hero. Cena would respond by saying that the face doesn't understand him, and that he's not going anywhere, etc. However, it would be clear that the face's words had an effect on Cena. During their match, the ref gets knocked down and you have that moment where Cena has the chair and could deck the babyface the steal the win and hold onto his spot, like he had done before. Cena looks at the face slowly getting up to his feet, looks around at the crowd, and drops the chair. Cena goes for the AA, which gets countered into the face's finisher and it's over. Cena goes out by "doing the right thing", which in this case has a dual meaning. Now that's drama.

 

[kizarny]

My idea is to save zach Ryders career.

The gimmick isn't original, rather a way to get him to latch on to the coulter Militia.

Basically you have Zach Ryder Bitching about not getting the push or any opportunities like he was, but in kayfabe as well. he comes out on smackdown complaining how he isnt competing tonight etc. eventually he full on "quits" the WWE. the key is to make him bitch enough that ppl dont get behind him, but want him to shut up. make it as whiny as possible.

After being off tv for a few weeks, maybe until the next ppv, Jack Swagger and Cesaro are in a big match. when the ref is down or whatever, a shaved-headed Ryder makes his return and helps the militia win. the next night on raw, ryder explains that hwne everyone turned on him blah blah blah, only one man supported him. Zeb coulter shown zach ryder the light, that the reason he hasn't been getting opportunities is because management has been giving them to foreign talents (del rio sheamus whatever), and not hard working 'mericans like Ryder. there is his motivation.

There you go. Zach Ryder now gets tv time and has an aggressive edge to him making him a serious character. the Militia also has some more credibility.

 

[~Heup©~]

So, we're going to take the leader of a stable that (in my opinion) is one of the freshest and more creative things the WWE has done in a while, and we're going to basically have his gimmick be that of the most stale, overrated comic book character in history (even though Heath Ledger DID give a good performance as that character)?

This is so gimmicky that Attitude era fanboys everywhere are jizzing their pants.

I do think that everything just stated here is very true. I was speaking on a fantasy type format, I think we all know the ambrose isn't going to become thee wwes version of the symbolic rafter hiding wcw sting. I just think he fits the position awesome. No need to be so realistic lol, we are talking about wrestling right?