TNA Gimmicks

[Ivan_Drago]

Best: "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal
Worst: Rock n Rave Infection

And I thought I'd post my retorts on the rest of the gimmicks people love to complain about:

Curry Man - Daniels wrestled as Curry Man in Japan, so why not in TNA?
Shark Boy - It's along the same lines of the Blue World Order and how they parodied the nWo.
Black Reign - Black Reign = Goldust. Runnels is used to gimmicks.
Super Eric - A superhero gimmick. No different from The Hurricane IMO.

And this is just my humble opinion: The Boogeyman is worse than ALL the gimmicks in TNA rolled into one.

 

[michaelfinger23]

i agree; lethal is the best and rock and rave have to be the worst in my own opinion. tho i am not a fan of the shark boy and curryman gimmicks they are better than the rock and rave infection. and what is everyone's thoughts on petey williams?

 

[Malicant]

The Jay Lethal and Sharkboy gimmick are just rip off of gimmicks done by wrestlers already in the past. How can one companys best gimmick be a rip off of another wrestler from over a decade ago. In my opinion TNA needs to start coming up with their own gimmicks and stop pushing whatever ex WWE talent they can get their hands on. That just my opinion. I dont think you can call copying what someone else has done in the past a Gimmick.

 

[doublej_TNA]

Here is how I look at it..
Lethal= Money.. its a great fit for him and it works well. fans love it.
Sharkboy has a solid fanbase but what I dont understand is why TNA still uses him as a jobber... He is a good wrestler, and basically he never got on the Mic before the stone cold thing, so i think it is a GREAT thing.

I hope sharkboy can get a X-division title shot.. otherwise he will be like a Jerry Lawler (if you look at his wikipedia. many titles held, but non on major tv promotion)

 

[Father:_Polley]

I really hate gimmicks. Let's just clarify that straight off. The majority of them are ridiculous and don't work. I know they're there to bring in the kids and to have them identify with something, but that doesn't mean I have to like them.

Best - Jay Lethal, simply because he pulls the gimmick off and was the original gimmick rip-off in TNA. I hate the whole recreation of the Elizabeth angle, but Lethal does his character the best.
Worst - So many to choose from...but Super Eric takes it. Hurricane was mentioned before, but SY isn't like the Hurricane. At least the Hurricane stuck to the superhero gimmick and had a secret identity. Eric Young just acts as though he's schizophrenic and has no recollection of his alter-ego.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Worst: Black Machismo. So imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But if a wrestler is really that talented then they can come up with an original gimmick. Lethal was solid, but bland. Now he imitates Randy Savage. He's a comedy character. Wrestlers who don't usually get very far. Yet in TNA he's the premier comedy star, possibly in the top 5 in the company. It was ok for a couple of months, but it just went on, and on. Doing a good Randy Savage gimmick isn't even anything to brag about, if you try, you can do it.

Best: I have no idea. This is TNA. Abyss despite what people claim IS an Undertaker/Kane rip off. He's evolved, but that is how the gimmick begun. The comedy gimmicks are awful in general. So I'd have to go with that gimmick that Angle has. The broken neck one.

 

[SpiralHands]

TNA is gimmick world really ive never seen a wrestling promotion with so many gimmicks its insane. Total NonStop Gimmicks. But anyways if I had to pick the best gimmick, I think it would be Black Machismo, before he was that gimmick he didnt really have anything, but now he has sold loads of merchandise making alot of money for TNA which is a big thing they need, he can also carry the X Division. Although its a rip off gimmick it worked I dont care what anyone says. But where TNA went wrong is they saw what happened to Jay and they thought wow it worked on him, lets try it out on everyone in the roster and then we have the worst gimmick born from that SharkBoy. I think what TNA needs to do is create thier own gimmciks and stop living of gimmicks from the past because its not going to work forever and it WILL backfire.

 

[Instant Classic]

I dont like Jay Lethal either, it was ok for a bit but they have gone on far to long with it IMO, and there is no way he was a better x division champ than Sabin. There is not much point to his gimmick of copying savage, but I am hoping they will ditch it after the Val storyline is finished (which is equally as bad). Its really disapointing because his match against Angle last year was fantastic, and easily forgotten the total underdog. They shoulda gone with an underdog gimmick like Mysterio that wudda worked better IMO. I loathe Curry man/daniels gimmick i wish they would just think of a good storyline with him that isnt stupid as it would be easy for him to get over with a good one because of his wrestling ability. As for the best I really like Christian's though thats just his charachter in general though and isnt really a TNA gimmick. I think most people are right with that TNa gimmicks are generally v. bad. Though I quite like Petey Williams mini-steiner gimmick for some reason, and I also thought SCSB was funny for while it laster.

 

[greatmuta]

I would really like the Raeesha Saeed thing with her wrestling with the hood on. It would be great if everybody didn't already know who was under the hood and if she actually wrestled. The mystery would be real good.
But ... I like Petey Williams' mini-steiner thing, too, right now.
As for the worst, hands down, Super Eric.

 

[Crimson Bonez]

i like jay lethal but the "black machismo" thing is old to me. it was a good gimmic when it started and for a while but its old. lethal was a good x division competitor, but now with the black michismo, you dont see good "x division" moves. its all simple moves, diving elbow, hip toss, diving double axe handle. you dont see much of the flips, the athletism, the lethal combination while in the black machismo gimmic, yea he geting more tv time i guess what but take him out of that gimmic he dont need it no more. and as for TNA using old WWE personalities they just need to make there own ppl thier own names, randy savage wwe/wcw, stone cold wwe, super eric wcw/wwe they just need to make thier own names thier own stars.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

3. Do you think TNA over do it with the gimmicked matches?

3)not yet

Bad omen. So TNA hasn't pushed the gimmick match enough yet? Come on, it's not the 90's. TNA has just promoted a PPV full of gimmicks. Half the matches on PPV usually have a gimmick. A quarter of the wrestlers on TV have outlandish gimmicks. This is ridiculous. I demand straight wrestling matches. TNA has, in my opinion, a more varied and talented roster. Gimmicks not needed. I thought they were wrestling?

 

[GUMBO2ndcoming]

Personally i think the best gimmick in TNA is black machismo because its the only one that makes me not wanna change the channel. The worst hands down goes to rock n rave its just stupid and boring and every time they come on i change the channel. But Super eric is a close second. Just let him be Eric young.

 

[gorsty2k7]

Bad omen. So TNA hasn't pushed the gimmick match enough yet? Come on, it's not the 90's. TNA has just promoted a PPV full of gimmicks. Half the matches on PPV usually have a gimmick. A quarter of the wrestlers on TV have outlandish gimmicks. This is ridiculous. I demand straight wrestling matches. TNA has, in my opinion, a more varied and talented roster. Gimmicks not needed. I thought they were wrestling?

I find this to be a very interesting thought. TNA promoted Lockdown in April where every match was inside the 6 sides of steel. This is a once a year pay per view, much like the Royal Rumble, or even more recently, One Night Stand. Every match on that was a gimmick match too. So does that mean WWE is going too far with the gimmicks? No it doesn't. It was one night. This is about the gimmick matches, after I have discussed that, I will give my thoughts on some of the actual gimmicks. So, lets look at the PPVs since Lockdown.

There was TNA Sacrifice. The concept of the night was the Deuces Wild tournament. Now while I didn't really like the concept, it served the purpose of putting LAX back on top of the tag team mountain in TNA and made them look dominating in doing so. There were 2 gimmick matches on the PPV out of 10 matches. There were 7 regular tag team matches and a triple threat match. The gimmick matches were the TerrorDome match which I really enjoyed as it showed what the X Division can do and the Knockouts Battle Royal was really good since they kept the cluster bit at the beginning short and the ladder match segment was a good show of how the Knockouts are better than the competition.

TNA Slammiversary which was TNA's last pay per view event. There was a single gimmick match on the card, the annual King of the Mountain match for the TNA Heavyweight Championship. There were also a number of very good matches on this card too.

As for gimmicks. Super Eric hasn't been seen since Sacrifice and is likely dead. RelliK and Black Reign haven't been seen since before Sacrifice. The Rock n Rave Infection is a cheesy gimmick, I agree, but as a fan of Jimmy Rave's in-ring work, I still watch. Shark Boy, Curry Man and Jay Lethal are three gimmicks I find highly entertaining, but this past couple of weeks, we have seen more of Jay Lethal and less of Black Machismo, we have seen Curry Man once and there have been no Sharky sightings at all. While TNA does have some colourful gimmicks they are being used sparingly and that is a good thing.

Here is one thing I will say, and Fighting Spirit Magazine made this point. Would you rather defend wrestling for the occasional gimmick like Curry Man or Shark Boy, or would you rather defend the early drug related deaths?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I find this to be a very interesting thought. TNA promoted Lockdown in April where every match was inside the 6 sides of steel. This is a once a year pay per view, much like the Royal Rumble, or even more recently, One Night Stand. Every match on that was a gimmick match too. So does that mean WWE is going too far with the gimmicks? No it doesn't. It was one night. This is about the gimmick matches, after I have discussed that, I will give my thoughts on some of the actual gimmicks. So, lets look at the PPVs since Lockdown.

You can't compare One Night Stand & the Rumble to Lockdown. The Rumble is one match, on the 2nd or 3rd biggest show of the year. One Night Stand has about 7 different gimmicks. Lockdown has the same gimmick. 7 times over. The main event could be the greatest match of all time. But you would never know. With 6 previous matches it's total overkill. Not only that but they sometimes add on another gimmick. Table vage match, blindfold cage match and so on. If the only gimmick was one Lethal Lockdown I'd take your point.

There was TNA Sacrifice. The concept of the night was the Deuces Wild tournament. Now while I didn't really like the concept, it served the purpose of putting LAX back on top of the tag team mountain in TNA and made them look dominating in doing so.

Yeah. The concept was odd couple tag teams. Yet the winners ended up being an established team. It was pointless. Not only that, nobody got elevated. There were too many matches, which resulted in short pointless matches.

There were 2 gimmick matches on the PPV out of 10 matches. There were 7 regular tag team matches and a triple threat match. The gimmick matches were the TerrorDome match which I really enjoyed as it showed what the X Division can do and the Knockouts Battle Royal was really good since they kept the cluster bit at the beginning short and the ladder match segment was a good show of how the Knockouts are better than the competition.

The Terrordome was pointless. If you liked it then you are just a fan of people jumping off high things. You can watch Jeff Hardy for better and more intresting bumps.

The Battle Royal was stupid. The loser didn't get her head shaved. The runner up did. And who ends a Battle Royal in a ladder match? That's just ridiculous.

TNA Slammiversary which was TNA's last pay per view event. There was a single gimmick match on the card, the annual King of the Mountain match for the TNA Heavyweight Championship. There were also a number of very good matches on this card too.

True. But they also promoted a King Of The Mountain match on the iMPACT before the show. Thus devaluing the PPV verion and making it slightly less annual.

While TNA does have some colourful gimmicks they are being used sparingly and that is a good thing.

I've seen nothing that backs up that claim.

Here is one thing I will say, and Fighting Spirit Magazine made this point. Would you rather defend wrestling for the occasional gimmick like Curry Man or Shark Boy, or would you rather defend the early drug related deaths?

Fighting Spirit is stupid. Ok so if you need to defend wrestling to somebody then they're not a fan, right? So if they're not a fan then they wouldn't know about the drug related deaths. But they would be able to see the stupid gimmick that TNA promotes with their very own eyes. It's also easier to defend drug related deaths than a man called Curry Man.

 

[Macho Man Andy Savage]

i absolutely loved Black Machismo at first because I was always a big macho fan and i liked lethal before hand. I hate to say it but I have to agree that it's getting old. It was a good gimmick but it's being strechted out too long. I think Lethal should have some sort of identity crisis after the Sanjay/Socal val thing is done and over the course of a few weeks slowly drop the gimmick.

 

[Tolk]

Sonjay Dutt's current gimmick is hilarious and fun to watch. He reminds me of the Joker kind of. He should turn super heel and just do the weirdest, borderline psycho things with his little Guruites helping him, lol.

I also don't see why anyone would want for the Machismo gimmick to be completely dropped. The best thing to do is make it half and half, like when Jay gets serious, and talks regular, but is still basically black machismo. Jay Lethal prior to his Macho gimmick wasn't anything worth watching. Plain Lethal may work in the indies, but on mainstream TV, you need something other than in ring talent and the ability to scream into a mic and say "I'm comin for you sucka!". Believe it or not, even Lance Storm in WCW had a gimmick.

If Jay drops the Macho gimmick, where does he go from there? Serious, bad ass Jay? That's been done way too much. Super baby face Jay? Way too generic. Maybe there is another character option out there for him, but I think a toned done Machismo gimmick is the best option. Or simply turn him heel, you can't call a character stale yet until they've been both heel and face.