Who had the best minister gimmick in wrestling history?

[CM Steel]

Wrestling legend Jake "The Snake" Roberts just gave praises to one Bray Wyatt on Twitter saying that Wyatt reminded Roberts of himself from earlier in his career in the then-WWF. Which had me thinking about those kind of minister characters from wrestlings past. From the Brother Love's to the Rev. D-Von Dudley's. And how can we forget dear old Mordecai. But in your own opinion.Who had the best minister gimmick in wrestling history?

My money is on Rev. D-Von Dudley. I wish that I could play a pastor-like role like that in a movie or something.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Can't forget the Reverend Slick. He started as a manager, running around the ring to escape good guy wrestlers who were chasing him and stirring up trouble everywhere he went. In his next incarnation, he was installed as a man of God, taking Kamala to previously unheard of "heights" as the monster's manager/handler/zookeeper.

All the while, he dressed and acted as a pimp. Had he been around in today's politically correct society, public opinion probably would have forced WWE to take him off the air, with viewers screaming in horror as they ran from their TV sets.

Really though, Slick was funny and entertaining.

Ironic that after finding religion in his stint with WWE, he went to Bible college and became a practicing minister. Go figure.

 

[justtxyank]

James Mitchell, The Sinister Minister.

One of the best managers ever. Loved his stuff in ECW. He made Tajiri and Whipwreck interesting.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

James Mitchell, The Sinister Minister.

One of the best managers ever. Loved his stuff in ECW. He made Tajiri and Whipwreck interesting.

I would have to agree, James Mitchell played the Sinister Minister character perfectly and his voice was was just so damn creepy. Its a shame he no longer works for TNA as he really could be there answer to Paul Hayman.

 

[Matty~!]

Totally agree with James Mitchell he was immense in ECW probably one of the best promo's in the entire business during 2000. Really made the Mikey and Tajiri team feel like something special when initially it felt like 2 guys that Heyman had no idea what to do with, especially Mikey who had kind of floundered after returning from WCW.

 

[gk11973]

I'm going way back here... GLOW...Evangelina!!! She only made a few appearances in a later season but it was funny seeing a female evangelist type character.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

<Brother Love>I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU!</Brother Love>

Over the top, obnoxious, great on the mic...Brother Love was my personal favorite minister character.

 

[Vance Ryan]

James Mitchell wow I forgot about him man he was a excellent manager in tna ( don't know to much about his ecw career) he made me care about abyss and Juduse massias if I spelled it right. Anyways yea father James Mitchell needs to go back to tna and manage abyss again.

 

[HBsam31]

Can't forget the Reverend Slick. He started as a manager, running around the ring to escape good guy wrestlers who were chasing him and stirring up trouble everywhere he went. In his next incarnation, he was installed as a man of God, taking Kamala to previously unheard of "heights" as the monster's manager/handler/zookeeper.

All the while, he dressed and acted as a pimp. Had he been around in today's politically correct society, public opinion probably would have forced WWE to take him off the air, with viewers screaming in horror as they ran from their TV sets.

Really though, Slick was funny and entertaining.

Ironic that after finding religion in his stint with WWE, he went to Bible college and became a practicing minister. Go figure.

I always had a soft spot for the Slickster haha. He turned The One Man Gang into an African Dream around a barrel fire in a parking lot. He is definitely a powerful man. Like Sally said, he went from dressing like a pimp, and exploiting the men he managed to finding God and helping free Kamala from his handlers. James Mitchell probably played the minister character better, but I had to give Slick, one of my favorite managers ever, a vote here.

 

[DarksideEric]

Are we talking *just* Minister in terms of religious or can it include lifestyle and overall zealotry?

Because if it's not *just* religious, CM Punk as the leader of the Straight Edge Society gets my vote for "preaching."

 

[Spidey Revivey]

How I see the minister concept, it's anyone who preaches on a particular topic. So I'm going with that.

Sean O'haire preached on my favorite things- debauchery and why you should go with it. A real Devil-on-your-shoulder gimmick. What little we got to see of it I hope to see it pop up again with another guy.

Simon Dean preached about exercise and how you should try his patented Simon System. This gimmick was phenomenal but overshadowed tremendously at the time. In this Era is would be red hot.

CM Punk preached on the straight edge lifestyle and how it made him better than anyone else. Taking possibly the most kid-friendly gimmick imaginable and turning it upside down was a stroke of brilliance.

Triple H preached on proper etiquette back in his younger days. A classic sophisticated heel that had a firm stick up his blue-blood ass.

 

[DarksideEric]

CM Punk preached on the straight edge lifestyle and how it made him better than anyone else. Taking possibly the most kid-friendly gimmick imaginable and turning it upside down was a stroke of brilliance.

I truly loved the SES and what Punk did with it, one of the main reasons I got back into wrestling.

He was so believable, especially to me since until around... 24-25 I think I was completely straight edge (then I actually tried alcohol ), and he took the small bit of "I'm a more moral person than you" that I used to feel and twisted it.

 

[LuchaJ]

Punk is definitely one of my all-time favs. His WWE work has seen him rehash a lot of his angles from the independents on a much grander scale. His feuds with Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio bring back memories of his ROH feud with Raven from 2004ish. And in 2011 we got to see the Summer Of Punk 2.

However, when talking about the best Minister/Preacher gimmick, James Mitchell is tough to beat, particularly the incarnations we saw with Tajiri/Whipwreck in 2000 and Abyss with TNA.

My personal favorite has to be MoD Undertaker though. I was only 11 in the full swing of the Monday Night Wars ('99), so the Satanic cult angle they ran with the Ministry Of Darkness was quite creepy to me.

 

[CeramicDuck]

Somewhere in this list Raven should be mentioned, his cult leader schtick worked well for what it was