What talented WWE Superstars were held back by horrible gimmicks?

[Big Papa Santo]

Goldust- He is definitely at the top of my list, he is a talented performer and has been in this business for over a decade, yet hes commonly overlooked as a comedy jobber, and its WAY too late in his career to repackage him, because no-one would take him seriously.

Santino Marella- Now i'm not saying future world champion, but he could of at least been a credible Intercontinental champion if it wasn't for his Italian stereotype gimmick, i mean the man was born in Canada and i read somewhere that he has an amateur wrestling background which he could of used in the WWE.

Colt Cabana- "Scotty Goldman"? i mean they really could of used this man, he was a talented indy performer but instead they slap on him some Jewish gimmick for 2 weeks and then he's back off to the Indy's.

Johnny, Mitch, & Mikey- i'm not including Kenny Dykstra and Dolph Ziggler, since they bounced back. Vince has 5 talented young guys who could be future stars and what does he do with them? make them dress up as male cheerleaders............

If you have any other superstars who you thought were held back because of idiotic gimmicks then post them below.

 

[Paralyzer Z]

I can only think of one example and he is the epitome of wrestlers held back be gimmicks:

Eugene- This is very simple, a great technical wrestler, former OVW champion, and all around great talent gets the gimmick of.. wait for it A ******ED GUY! The true man behind Eugene, Nick Dinsmore was a multiple time OVW world champion and had proven that he can go in the ring. So WWE decided to have him be Eric Bischoff's nephew that is a ******. His music is something I will never get out of my head as long as I live. I will admit his storyline with Triple H was good (only because he got his ass kicked) but everything else just annoyed the shit out of people. When the fans turned on him at SummerSlam 2004 you knew it was over. For the rest of his career he would go on to have meaningless storylines and eventually be released after "Super Eugene" would be the final nail in the coffin for him. So sad such a talent was wasted by a stupid gimmick. I will wrap things up by saying that at SummerSlam 2004 the legendary COO, multi time WWE champion and future hall of famer spent almost 20 minutes BEATING UP A ******!

 

[Big Papa Santo]

I can only think of one example and he is the epitome of wrestlers held back be gimmicks:

Eugene- This is very simple, a great technical wrestler, former OVW champion, and all around great talent gets the gimmick of.. wait for it A ******ED GUY! The true man behind Eugene, Nick Dinsmore was a multiple time OVW world champion and had proven that he can go in the ring. So WWE decided to have him be Eric Bischoff's nephew that is a ******. His music is something I will never get out of my head as long as I live. I will admit his storyline with Triple H was good (only because he got his ass kicked) but everything else just annoyed the shit out of people. When the fans turned on him at SummerSlam 2004 you knew it was over. For the rest of his career he would go on to have meaningless storylines and eventually be released after "Super Eugene" would be the final nail in the coffin for him. So sad such a talent was wasted by a stupid gimmick. I will wrap things up by saying that at SummerSlam 2004 the legendary COO, multi time WWE champion and future hall of famer spent almost 20 minutes BEATING UP A ******!

Damn, i was going to add Eugene but then i thought that he wasn't a good wrestler anyway, i guess that he is a prime example of good wrestler with bad gimmick.

 

[One to Remember]

I was thinkin of Goldust before i had even finished reading the title but you gotta remember one thing, Goldie beats Dustin Rhodes or Runnels in WCW and that pinless pinhead character he had in WCW any day. Something else you gotta remember is c.1995 Goldust was an odd but serious wrestler who did have WWF title viability. He was that fresh and ground breaking for that short time i coukd had seen him with the belt for 2 or 3 weeks. Razor could had beat him for it.

I hated Eugene like i did the ******s in the crowds but i legitimitely felt bad for Mr. Densmore after PWI kept running articles about his indy career and his OVW work. I wish i had met Nick first but in my head WWE ruined him for me outright.

I dont like the Big Show AT TIMES. I Mostly have since 2003 or so but sometimes I just miss The Giant. I remember him smokin those ciggs on Thunder like an asshole and makin those cancer sticks look suav as fuck. I miss the long blonde locks, the demeanor, the youthfulness, and his original lean but large shape. I miss the coolness..

I never seen Low Ki in action but going off of what the PWI articles said or still say, I could not respect KaVaL. He was not up to par. And no qualms here about blamin the WWE brass.

Goldberg felt and looked different. I did not feel that same intensity and hated his circa 1999 UFC shorts/tights. He just felt contained at times.Should had been more angrier and ruthless due to his fury over the demise of WCW.

DUSTY Rhodes looked like a fool and so did Harley Race. And then you got Shane Douglas with all his great tag team title work with Steamboat in WCW and his actions seconds after capturing the dibilitated NWA heavyweight title, and then his actions as the top guy in the new ECW, coming to the WWF as a college dean who had nothin to teach then losing titles withen minutes of getting them..

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I'd have to go with Val Venis among the guys that have not been mentioned so far. Val was a good in ring performer as has been acknowledged by many people. He was one of those guys who would have several tryout matches with upcoming superstars when they were trying to make it into the WWE. He was pretty good on the microphone too especially as Cheif Morley at times. But well, he played a pornstar on screen and was a part of some mindnumbingly stupid angles like the "Choppy Choppy your pee pee" one. I guess that gimmick did give him a huge cult following back in the day but you cannot be a world champion with that sort of gimmick. I mean, you cannot really say that the WWF Champion is a porn star, can you?

 

[chibet]

two words - DUDE LOVE.
next on my list would be isaac yankem dds. this was kane yeeeears before he was kane. imagine if they got a few more golden years out of kane and his in ring style and presence. though the E may not have been ready for a kane during that era but this has always bugged me. alongside with the fact that if they kept the mask on kane he could still be scary and intimidating. once they turned him into a comedy jobber, altered the mask and then ultimately took it off the gimmick has worn very thin. if they kept one full mask on one big dude with long hair they could have had a KANE from now through the end of time. new big dude with long hair. bam kane.

 

[KatCoog]

Val Venis is a good one. I'll never forget when Terri Runnels and Jacqueline formed "PMS" and they wore out Val to the point that he could hardly stand up in the ring.

I would actually tend to disagree that the Goldust character held back Dustin Runnels. I remember being taken aback when that character debuted and did the things he did. For the first couple years of the character, he was a guy to be taken seriously. It wasn't until Goldust's second stint, when he was teaming with Booker, that it got to be played out for me.

 

[nicwits]

I'm gonna have to go with Shane Douglas on this one.

His stint in the WWE was way, way too short, and his Dean Douglas gimmick didn't fit him at all.

If Vince would've let him come in and do his Franchise schtick with Francine, he would of been World Champion within a year.

To me, 'The Franchise' Shane Douglas was one hell of an entertainer. Not only could the guy go in the ring, his in-ring storytelling was absolutley amazing. He was the personification of a villain. To top it all off, he could work a mic like no other. (remember when he threw down the title and claimed ECW to be the best? yeah.. OUTSTANDING delivery)


It's just too bad, because the gimmick they gave him didn't let his personality and charisma shine like it did with 'The Franchise'.

 

[bigandpissed]

I think the biggest fuck up WWE ever had gimmick wise has to be Matt Morgan. Here you have one of the most athletic 7 footers you could ever imagine, who could easily be built as the next monster (he fucking f5ed the big show), but instead they bring him in as a STUTTERING GIANT!!! I can't imagine that gimmick working for mid carder (except bubba, but he's one of the best mic workers going), much less somebody whos clearly a main event talent. I don't know what they could've been thinking, taking a beast like morgan and giving him such a joke of a gimmick.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The best examples are Eugene and the Spirit Squad. Eugene in particular because that character destroyed his career. The man had decent skills and was successful in the developmental territory. Why did they have to give him such an awful character? Dinsmore could have had a great career had he not been stuck as Eugene. Then there's the Spirit Squad. Other than Kenny and Nicky who would see singles runs as Kenny Dykstra and Dolph Ziggler respectively, none of the others got a true chance. They could all have been future stars had they not been stuck in cheerleader characters. I really do not think there are any better examples than these two. I really would have liked to see what Dinsmore and all of the Spirit Squad members' careers might have been like without being ruined by terrible gimmicks.

 

[#1Dobz92]

Eugene seems to be becoming a general consensus here. But while Goldust is mentioned, I think it was the best thing for Dustin rather than the worst. Sure, WWE didn't push him as hard as they probably should have in the mid 90s, but it was a somewhat revolutionary character/gimmick and Goldust became quite prominent. That sure as hell wouldn't have been the case with Dustin Rhodes. I suppose with a lot of guys who had stupid gimmicks they did end up losing them after a short period. I think guys like Colt Cabana and Shane Douglas, who came into WWE but WWE tried to reinvent them with different gimmicks, they got the short end of the stick. Other names that come to mind include Lance Storm with his 'face' gimmick, the party guy character he had. Fun at first but ruined his credibility.