Great Gimmicks That You Think Were Over Looked

[SAMOAJOE187]

Recently, Cody Rhodes has been using the gimmick of StarDust. Somewhat of a straight out of comic book villain(check the video package for his recent feud with Neville) but even though Vince McMahon thinks that this his some of his best work, I would have to disagree. Back in 2010, Rhodes was given the "Dashing" gimmick. It wasn't anything new, a heel that believes that he is better looking than everyone in the building and has a massive ego due to his pretty boy looks. He won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Drew McIntyre at the time and seems he would run away with this gimmick. However, something happened. In a singles match on SmackDown in 2011 against Rey Mysterio, Rhodes would be hit with a 619. A 619 that would go on to "break" Cody's nose.

We wouldn't see Rhodes for about a month and between his "injury" and his return we would see Cody in the dark backstage saying how he is not "Dashing" anymore and was a monster. Rhodes would return with a new theme and new addition to his attire, a protective mask. Rhodes would go on to feud with the man who was responsible for causing him to look this way, Mysterio, at WrestleMania 27 and Extreme Rules. He would carry on the gimmick for the rest of the year that culminated with a feud with Booker T. Throughout his run with the "UnDashing" gimmick/character, we would see him add more depth to it by having men come out with paper bags and hand it to the crowd cause he wanted them to see how he felt. He would sometimes use the mask as a weapon. Rhodes would also bring out a new IC Title Belt(the same that is used to this day). I would say that this wasn't a throw away gimmick . This character that Rhodes portrayed was a brilliant heel. It was one that at first we sympathized with. Sure some members of the WWE Universe would claim he deserved it, but it was a heel that we can see why he is the way he is. I think that is something we are missing today in WWE, heels that we understand why the way they are. I think that's what makes a memorable heel or villain for that matter.

I just loved this gimmick as a whole. Just the details that was put in to it from the theme having the fade of his Dashing theme and Rhodes pushing the camera to not show his face or hiding his face from it. To me it was a gimmick that has gone over looked due it taking place the same year CM Punk broke out and became a big time player.

What's a gimmick that you think hasn't gotten the credit it truly deserves or people have just over looked?

 

[Prince Vee]

BAD NEWS BARRETT!!

Without a second thought! Many of us would've wondered why WWE made Barrett to drop that gimmick. You see, the WWE universe these days has became more entertaining in the way they engage with the character. They doesn't look the heel and face separately. They just like to cheer anyone who they're interested in. If the WWE Creative team debates that Bad news gimmick was meant to draw heat but it doesn't which is why we dropped that, it's asinine!! Look at Bray Wyatt, when does he get louder boos than John Cena or Roman Reigns? On What clause the WWE dropped the Bad News Gimmick? I really enjoyed that gimmick and regardless I'm a Barrett fan or not. My sister who isn't even a Wrestling fan would come and sit beside me to watch Bad News Barrett's promos.

Cheers!!

 

[Aquaman6686]

I agree with Cody Rhodes, but not with that gimmick. I didn't like the Undashing gimmick, never did. I LOVED the Dashing gimmick though. We'd seen the vain, self-absorbed type so many times before, like "The Narcissist" Lex Luger, Rick "The Model" Martel, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, the early solo days of Shawn Michaels, and so on. But the difference with Cody Rhodes is that he wasn't a bodybuilder with a godlike physique, or an incredibly handsome man. He was just a more or less average guy with a ridiculously overinflated ego, which is what made it brilliant coming from him. It worked to perfection and I liked it even better when he went back to it in late 2011 after Randy Orton shattered the Undashing mask.

Bad News Barrett I also agree 100%. He was white-hot with that gimmick and they ended it because he was too over with the crowd.

Going back a little further to one of my personal favorites, Deuce n' Domino. The greaser gimmick was so unique, and they brought an interesting dynamic to tag team wrestling, with the larger and stronger Domino being the faster and more agile competitor, while the smaller and lighter Deuce wrestled a more powerhouse style. I think they could have gotten insanely over as babyfaces after their heel run was done, but instead they were jobbed out, split up, and released. My dream for them was to see Deuce n' Domino as faces, challenging for the tag titles at WrestleMania, with Henry Winkler in their corner. That would have been hysterical.

 

[MoRtAnDaD]

Almost every Cody's gimmick, the guy is fucking talented, underrated as hell.

Bad News Barret, another wasted gimmick that was going up (i understand that several injuries also affected the natural development of the gimmick).

I know i will get bashed for this one, but i always loved the original Fandango gimmick, the guy was just fucking funny, as stupid as it was, it made me LOL several times and actually root for him.

Honorable mention goes to Bray Wyatt, because i still have hope that WWE will give him a proper run, the gimmick is great, the wyatt familiy as a stable is great. They gave him so many unnecesary loses.

 

[AustinHartLesnarHBKTaz80]

MOHAMMED HASSAN. Had the potential to be one of the best heels of all time. He was entertaining, had a gimmick that garnered massive heat, and good in the ring/on the mic.

SIMON DEAN. Provided hillarious comedy relief with his schtick of inviting over-weight men/women to the ring to try one of his "simon" weight loss shakes.

Heel R TRUTH. When he turned heel against John Morrisson and smoked cigarettes inside the arena during Raw---classic heel moment. The WWE shoulda ran with this and could have got more mileage out of it. Instead, he never lit another cigarette again and turned face again within a couple of weeks

 

[Iversen]

His later success maybe makes it a bit redundant, but I'd have loved to see Punk get a run at the top of the card with the Straight Edge Society. He perfectly nailed that gimmick on Smackdown and I think if he'd been allowed to take it into the main event of Raw he could have got crazy heat with it. Punk ruling over the WWE title with his cult behind him would have led to some interesting feuds, which would have been very different from the standard Authority esque heel stables.

 

[wrestler36]

I've seen it mentioned in forums here before, but Doink The Clown as a heel in the early 90s was short lived, but awesome. He played the sad clown to perfection and his promos were just as good as Jake or Piper. From what I heard, they turned him face for kids and to sell video games. But if you haven't yet, google heel doink and watch his stuff. It's awesome.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Gene Snitzky , I think they could've done more with this guy but alas...it wasn't to be.

 

[MMK]

Hakushi

He should have been Undertaker's wrestlemania opponent at Wrestlemania 11 in 1995. They're gimmicks matched up perfectly with each other. One wore all white, including a big hat, the other wore all black, including a big hat, one had a manager in an all white suit and and a white face, the other had a manager in an all black suit and a pasty white face. They both had ominous entrances and spooky theme music. Hakushi debuted in late 94 and was I believe undefeated well into 1995 until he took on Bret Hart. So Hakushis undefeated streak could have been on the line against the Undertakers undefeated streak at Mania, even though it was only 3-0 at that time.

Instead Taker faced King Kong Bundy who was 11 years past his prime.

Hakushi is arguably the most underrated performer in wwf history. If he had debuted in the Attitude era he would have been far more succesful

 

[Vintage]

Mordecai

The anti-Taker. I have no idea what happened here but this guy could have been huge. The look was there, the entrace was there, I don't recall his ring work being bad but it had to be better than Kizarny who probably had the absolute worst WWE debut match of all time. Yet... he disappeared never to be seen again

 

[Slash-LN]

Mordecai

The anti-Taker. I have no idea what happened here but this guy could have been huge. The look was there, the entrace was there, I don't recall his ring work being bad but it had to be better than Kizarny who probably had the absolute worst WWE debut match of all time. Yet... he disappeared never to be seen again

He came back as Kevin Thorn in ECW. Nothing special about the guy really. That was the problem.

This part isn't directed at you Vintage.

Gimmick and wrestler are two different things.

For example you can't say "Billy Gunn, they should have done more with him."

Yeah, but which gimmick? Ass Man? The One? His gimmick with Chuck? RockaBilly?

I think Crush's heel gimmick after his turn on Savage gets overlooked as a persona that seems to actually fit a wrestler. He seems like he would have been a bit of a bad ass in real life and a guy you probably didn't want to mess with.

The whole good guy wearing bright colors, happy dude didn't feel authentic.

So in that term I think that gets overlooked.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

Muhammad Hassan and it's not even close.

Hassan was a topical modern twist on the oldest heel gimmick in the book. He was a compelling character that flipped around the notion of the traditional "evil foreigner" in wrestling, and actually challenged the prejudices of the audience. Here was a guy that was born and raised in Michigan, an American citizen that just happened to have an Arab background and was a Muslim. Granted, he had an obnoxious heel attitude, but he blamed the fact that the fans booed him based on his race and religion. The best villains are villains that feel completely justified in their actions. Hassan felt entirely justified in calling the fans racist and prejudiced, because in reality there is a deep and pervasive racist streak in the United States. Especially in the post 9/11 hysteria which was still rampant at the time. So here we had a charater with depth, a character that was interesting and relevant to the modern world, so of course the WWE would fuck it up.

Looking back now, it's fucking amazing that this happened. It's almost as if the WWE didn't understand the character at all. Like, at all. By having that segment where Hassan and a gang of "terrorists" attacked the Undertaker, it went against everything the character was supposed to be. He became a ridiculous parody, he became the evil foreigner trope that he was originally trying to subvert. Mind numbingly stupid. The fact that people behind that decision consider themselves professional writers is an absolute joke.

Muhammad Hassan could've changed the game, and been a top heel for a long, long time.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Cody's "disfigured" gimmick was something VERY special, but they bottled it cos of the bullying campaign... Cody's chance of ever being World Champ disappeared when the mask did...

Stardust is a different thing, he's looking at his dad who had years on top but ultimately needed to work for Vince and his brother who has had 20 years as Goldust and made half a million a year... even with cock ups, Dustin is minted.. and he knows which is the better life... as Stardust he basically replaces that character his brother played, for potentially 20 years... or he gets one run on top that lasts 3 months... not rocket science...

As fro TRULY underrated gimmicks... They could have done a lot more with Gangrel, that had real potential... Paul Birchill's Pirate had a reasonable shot but Vince realised he was being worked cos he didn't see Johnny Depp in the film first.... probably the one that really was a loss was Wade Barrett - Not Bad News... that also failed cos they bottled it, but Wade "should have taken the title" Barrett - that guy was dynamite... Bad News was good, but the moment they took the scissor lift and didn't let him be #30 in the Rumble, it was over...

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

I'm also really surprised this guy hasn't been mentioned.

[YOUTUBE]i5LJvOt_8B0[/YOUTUBE]

The Devil's Advocate was a type of character we had never seen before. Sean O'Haire was a phenomenal athelete, he had size, and he looked like fucking Satan.

 

[timothy26]

Mordecai

The anti-Taker. I have no idea what happened here but this guy could have been huge. The look was there, the entrace was there, I don't recall his ring work being bad but it had to be better than Kizarny who probably had the absolute worst WWE debut match of all time. Yet... he disappeared never to be seen again

When he was wrestling as Mordecai he got taken off tv because he was involved in a bar fight and there were some lawsuits involved, not sure of the details.

He came back as Kevin Thorn in ECW later on, he switched to a vanilla character for a match or two after about a year as Kevin Thorn then disappeared from TV.

Supposedly there were plans to bring him and a group back in around 2009 to feud with undertaker but it never happened, from what info I have he asked for his own release from his WWE contract