Okay, so you want to complain about the lousy gimmicks. So what do you do? You lump ALL gimmicks into the same category, while ignoring some of the more successful ones. And I think that is wrong.
Perhaps i did do a bit of lumping, certainly some gimmicks that were just as silly were a HUGE success. But I don't necessarily believe a lot of those gimmicks would have the same kind of successs today. Maybe i'm wrong, it's just my opinion.
All of these wrestlers had gimmicks. And you are going to tell me with a straight face that today's personalities entertain you more than some of these guys
Hulk Hogan- the All American Hero
Hulk Hogan- From the time i was a child even, I have loathed everything about Hogan, the guy has never once appealed to me in any way. As I grew up my contempt for him only cultivated by learning what a curse upon other wrestlers he really is. I'm not gonna say the guy sucks because he has well established himself and there is no disputing his popularity and public adoration. But personally, yes I can say the guy doesn't and has never entertained me with a straight
The Rock- wisecracking, witty, People's Champion
The Rock lost me after he turned face in 99, but there's no denying the guy was legendary on the mic.
Steve Austin- the Rogue employee
Same answer except I was big on austin unti his cartoony "what" phase in 01.
Austin was great, I won't argue that.
John Cena- was at one point a White Rapper who had crowds on their feet participating in raps against his opponents.
Ew...I know you're right but still...ew. I preferred the villainous Cena, especially around the time of his feud with Lesnar. But I listed Cena if i'm not mistaken. I would say the miz is well on his way to being the new Heel Cena if creative keeps doing what they're doing with him.
The Undertaker- the Dead Man.
I also listed the Undertaker as an exception, I've always marked out for the dead man, even when I was robbed of the smoke and mirrors by his biker gimmick when I was at the 2000 survivor series, incidently he and Kurt had an awesome match that night. ther is no character that rivals the dead man.
The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase- wealthy, arrogant, snob who was out to prove that everyone had a price
Again, Dibiase was a terrific heel, I would put Mr.perfect just a slight notch above him in the heel department from that time frame though. Still Dibiase was a great character. I would say william regal is able to get his level of heat, when he is given the proper oppurtunity.
The Honky Tonk Man- Elvis Impersonator, who always assumed that people came to the shows to see the Honky Tonk man sing and dance.
Honky was great as well, but i would say Santino rivals his comedic persona.
Ravishing Rick Rude- the arrogant stripper who planted a Rude Awakening on a "random lady" after each match. Considered himself God's gift to women.
Rick rude, sighs, he played this gimmick greatly, I would say if there was a guy who paralelled him today......John Morrison.
Mr. Perfect- the Man who considered himself to truly be absolutely perfect
With the exception of jake Roberts, Henning was my favorite wrestler from this era. While this may be a bit of a stretchy comparison, I'd say Robert Roode shows me flashes of Curt at times.
The Big Boss Man- the former Prison Guard who brutally beat his opponents with his nightstick
the big boss/bubba/guardian angel man was a moderate character at best. His nightstick twirling was about all there was to that man, character wise. his promos were fairly unmemorable , but his ring work was always good.
That is because as I pointed out, there are good gimmicks ... and there are bad gimmicks. You can't just lump all gimmicks into the same category. As pointed out, the Boogeyman was one of the least talented superstars in the ring, who was one of the more over talents on the roster, because of his gimmick.
alright, that's a fair point made, I shouldn't have lumped, but I was just presenting the dark side of what you were proposing. I can't help it i'm a natural pessimist, sorry.
They should have kept him heel, though. I could have seen him and The Undertaker having an excellent program together on TV, if they would have done so.
I agree, Boogey owned his gimmick pretty well, i'll never dispute that, but he was just so unexcusably bad in that ring. It erased all merrit his character preformance had everytime that bell rang for me. If he had ever gotten his ring work together to even a capable level, he could have been huge.
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I put 99% of the blame on Creative, and not the characters themselves, given how scripted everyone has now seen that WWE really is ... after that script was released to the Internet right before Mania.
You're right, I spoke too kindly of creative and too critically of the preformers in this aspect. creative, in both the WWE and in TNA, is largely the problem for what we are currently discussing.
Who doesn't rap whatsoever, anymore.
yes but he still carries that gimmick with him. Regardless of whether he raps or not, that's why the miz rapped on him last week.
I don't know really what Triple H's gimmick is supposed to be. I only know him by his nicknames over the years ... from him telling us over and over and over again that he is "The Game" or Ross referring to him as the "Cerebral Assassin".
again, he was the "master of mental warfare", with actions like marrying into the mcmahon family at a drive through wedding chapel in vegas while steph was passed out and holding JR's well being hostage until mic foley granted him a title shot, the move that got him his first title run I might add. the gimmick has been unused lately, but it's still there, it's just a tougher gimmick to play up when he's playing the face.
Well, he isn't even crazy anymore. They took that away when they had him admit that he really didn't have IED the week before Mania ... thus killing the most intriguing character they had in years.
true, but he still plays into that sociopathic gimmick, even if they did kill it for him.
Have no idea what Batista is supposed to be. He has a nickname. He doesn't have a gimmick.
I know, but i just cant resist any oppurtunity to rip on Fruitista.
Well, you can disagree with me all you want to, but I stand by the amount of wrestling that is on TV today is killing long-term interest in the business.
For me, it's the other way around. But i do realize i'm probably in the minority there.
Nobody even looks forward to the PPV's anymore, because there is so damn much wrestling during the week, that nobody even looks forward to the PPV matches.
I agree, but I think again, this falls more on the ineptitude of creative. If they had compelling storylines, people would maintain interest.
There was almost just as much wrestling in the attitude era every week (replace ECW with WWF shotgun saturday night and WWE superstars with sunday night heat) but the ratings never suffered, IMO it's all about the sad state of wwe creative/booking.
