Are the days of "non-human" gimmicks 100% over?

[Guest Downhome]

You know, gimmicks like Kane, The Undertaker, and also guys like Kamalla and how The Giant used to be (the uncontrolable monsters). Do you think we'll ever see any gimmicks like this anymore? Just look at Bautista I suppose, as he was once The Leviathan, a gimmick that he was truly the right hand of Satan and was from hell. WWE certainly didn't let that carry over to the big time, sooooooooooo...

 

...fo you feel that we'll EVER see a return of any such gimmicks, or are they over for good in the big time?

 

Also, what are your thoughts about everyone know just being "a guy"? Are you loving that, simply because it gives them more human personality traits, or do you long for the days of bigger than life human characters?

 

Sincerely,

...Downhome...

[Guest saturnmark4life]

Not sure. If everyone was just 'themselves' like the heavyweights of Japan i don't think it'd be too well received. A large portion of the fanbase are kids, who like 'characters' and guys like Kane. But then, kane and hurricane are pretty much the only superhero types around now. They're both really over. I think there's always a place for one or two midcard cartoon characters to pop the crowd.

[Guest GenerationNever]

I can't stand non-human characters. They insult our intelligence and ruin our suspension of disbelief.

[Guest claydude14]

as long as they are done right, like hurricane is now, because its so cheezy, i think they have a place. however, that stuff with kane shooting fire out of his hands and undertaker surviving the casket being lit on fire at rumble 98, thats just stupid.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

Yeah, hurricane and angle are so cartoonish that they are put over as such, and taker and kane are more 'human' now. I guess that stuff was for the 80's.

[Guest Downhome]

What about the characteristics of Taker's old gimmick of being one hell of a guy to take down, he would sit up after he apparently should be down for good? Does stuff like THAT still have a place, or is that even too "out there"? Or heck...

 

...what about a character that just runs rampant and seems as if no one can defeat him?

[Guest GenerationNever]

I'm not a fan of no-selling. Even if you are being booked to look strong you should still sell it like it hurts...even if just a bit. Of course, this would be even more effective if the strikes were stiffer.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I'm not a fan of no-selling. Even if you are being booked to look strong you should still sell it like it hurts...even if just a bit. Of course, this would be even more effective if the strikes were stiffer.

I think Brock Lesnar does what you mentioned pretty well. He IS getting better in the ring every week, everytime I've seen him he seems to be getting better and pretty convincing with his offense. Funny how everyone loved him when he was beatign up the Hardyz, but now in a feud with RVD, everyone says he's gettign "too much too soon", etc... Which once again proves Jericho right about us all really being marks, not smarks.

 

But I digress.

 

I think the cartoonish characters defintiely have a place in the WWF. IT ruins the suspension of disbelief? So what? Everyone knows wrestling is fixed and that we have storylines and shit, so what gives? Just go all out with it, just don't give us terrible bullshit. I once again show to you all my friend who absolutely hates wrestling as an example... Watching a Smackdown! show with Jericho/Hogan on it, he was trying to get into it, but he was laughing at Hogan's punches real hard. Note also he never watched wrestling back in the day, so his reaction to Hogan's "Hulking up" routine...

 

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?! HAHAHAHAHAH"

 

I have thought about that exact same thing and that exact quote everytime I've seen a Hulk-up since then. People don't jsut get their ass kicked for 5 minutes then all of a sudden get this "AMAZING SECOND WIND!" and fight back. Of course, that's just wrestling.

[Guest Jack Tunney]

The "I have an occupation but I wrestle as well" gimmick is dead too. (Doink,IRS,Duke Drose) None of the characters in the WWF really stand out anymore.They're all just kinda regular average guys.Nobody has fake biographies like they used to.I liked the 96-97 Steve Austin because his gimmick was that of a complete asshole who cared about no one at all,and that was something we never really saw. (except maybe with bad news brown.) And I dont care what anyone says,I found Waylon Mercy to have a pretty good gimmick as well.

[Guest Downhome]

And I dont care what anyone says,I found Waylon Mercy to have a pretty good gimmick as well.

 

Are you kidding me, that was one of the greatest gimmicks of all time. Oh how I wish the rumors of Bull coming back with that gimmick were true! Also...

 

...I suppose my entire point with this thread is the fact that everyone is just "a regular guy", just magnified enough to be interesting. I sorta like that, but still, a part of me misses the truly larger than life characters. Or whatever, it could just be that I don't find too many characters in WWE all that interesting.

[Guest GenerationNever]

IMO, we need to combine Lou Thesz-esque wrestling with the feel of a rock concert.

[Guest BoboBrazil]

I miss all the old gimmicks. Some of my favorite WWF times were 1993-1995.

[Guest -Cutthroat-]

I don't think those kind of gimmicks will ever really be gone. Those kind of wrestlers are the base the WWE really. Even is you don't see any you'll see some another day.

[Guest TheSmarkzone]

I can't stand non-human characters. They insult our intelligence and ruin our suspension of disbelief.

 

You gotta be kidding me. The entire wrestling business is unrealistic...and that's why it's so much fun. It's like a live comic book. If you're a wrestling fan, you should be able to suspend your disbelief for just about anything. Pro wrestling = fantasy.

 

People do not get hit in the head with sledgehammers by 6'4", 270-pound men and stumble to their feet 3 minutes later. They either die or go brain-dead.

 

People do not fall from the top of massive 50" video walls and live to tell the tale. I'm lookin' at you, Shane and Hawk.

 

People do not get punched, kicked, stomped, and elbowed in the face for 10-20 minutes and leave the ring at the end of it without a single bruise. Nor could anyone take that kind of punishment without having their jaw shattered and their skull caved in.

 

If you trap somebody in an ambulance and then attempt to maim them by ramming a semi into that ambulance repeatedly, I'm pretty sure that the police are going to require more than a note of apology to get the charges dropped.

 

The police do not simply drop the investigation of an attempted murder/hit and run/vehicular assault simply because the crime took place in WWE Land ::cough::The time that Austin got run over by Rikishi::cough::. Sorry, had something in my throat.

 

Those are just 3 examples. Point is, the wrestling business isn't realistic at all, so who are you to draw the line at "monster" gimmicks?

[Guest Trivia247]

Papa Shango!!!!!!

 

PAPA Mania Running Wild!

 

he'll be the next pic right next to Haku LOL

[Guest Austin3164life]

I think pro-wrestling in general is desperately trying to remake the industry for it to appear as a realistic sport. With all of the prospect talent coming in (call it the "New Wave"), the WWE is trying to tell the masses that pro-wrestling is a sport and not a place for cartoon characters. I hope that they keep going in this direction, to keep their hardcore fans (not smarks, just diehard marks). It's always a good thing to stay true to what the sport once was about 20 years ago........

[Guest El Psycho Diablo]

And I dont care what anyone says,I found Waylon Mercy to have a pretty good gimmick as well.

 

Are you kidding me, that was one of the greatest gimmicks of all time. Oh how I wish the rumors of Bull coming back with that gimmick were true! Also...

 

...I suppose my entire point with this thread is the fact that everyone is just "a regular guy", just magnified enough to be interesting. I sorta like that, but still, a part of me misses the truly larger than life characters. Or whatever, it could just be that I don't find too many characters in WWE all that interesting.

*twitch*

 

If that "Bull"..is as in Ross' Bitch Bull Buchanan..he needs to drop into the OVW Jobber Abyss, and stay there for the rest of eternity.

[Guest DARRYLXWF]

I can't stand non-human characters. They insult our intelligence and ruin our suspension of disbelief.

 

Well that's gotta be the most hypocritical comment of the year.

[Guest Ram]

It's true, it's true.

 

Gimmicks are cool, until they do something stupid. Kane shooting fireballs, Semi's hitting ambulances..etc.

 

The cool thing about the Corporation/Ministry angle was that 'Taker and his crew seemed like a bunch of psychotic Satanists using the WWE as they playing grounds. But when supernatural things are put in effect, then it kills it for good.

[Guest SupaTaft]

The monster gimmicks are the greatest ever. They built the damned business. No-selling actually sold more tickets than good-selling. I honestly think the WWE is dead, or I suppose I should say hope. I was a die hard fan, right until Foley left. From there its kinda all went downhill. I wish for a complete renewal, hey maybe its just my anarchic views peeking out, but I believe we have to start again. Start to make people believe that a 7 foot man can be truly impervious to pain, or that he cant be lifted. We need that sense of hope to make us feel, as a people, that we arent so big. That the average man can be defeated.

 

But from a Smark's point of view, monster gimmicks bring the business down. Nowadays the monster gimmicks have been replaced by the expression "hoss". Sadly, hosses are not monsters, no matter how hard they try.

 

Don't knock "Hulking-Up" I've done it. Playing tennis one time I got winded and I started flexing and doing Hogan poses, my teammate and opponents thought I was crazy, but it worked. Don't knock it till you try it.

 

-SupaTaft

[Guest griffinmills]

I can't stand non-human characters. They insult our intelligence and ruin our suspension of disbelief.

Do you post in the third person or were you trying to speak for the "our intelligence" that reads this board? Otherwise you should stick to "my intelligence" because you are not speaking for me or others like me. :-)

 

Speaking of people that refer to themselves in the third person. Rock is someone thatp personifies what _I_ think works the best. A human with just enough "character" to make him interesting. Another person for whom this works really well is Angle, who is a unique human being anyway (olympic medalist) that had a bit of over the top character thrown in (Three I's, etc.) to make it work.

 

So yeah, characters have their place. Knowing the current atmosphere, cartoon vs. realism, a wrestler can fine tune how much character to go with.

[Guest DrTom]

Any character, mundane or fantastical, has to be done right. There's still a place for more outlandish characters, as the Hurrican's success attests to. But the days of characters pulling a Kane and shooting fireballs are probably over, and that's a good thing. I don't think characters like that insult the fans, since WWE does everything it can to expose the business these days. The best characters in any endeavor are exaggerations of real people, and I think WWE is doing a good job with their characters in this respect.

[Guest El Psycho Diablo]

"Characters" that work are guys like Rocky, and RVD.

[Guest Insane Bump Machine]

Imagine Batista going back to his Leviathan character. Then give him Gangrel's old entrance (without the bloodbath, just the ring of fire and the music). Who would not mark for that?

[Guest MrRant]

Imagine Batista going back to his Leviathan character. Then give him Gangrel's old entrance (without the bloodbath, just the ring of fire and the music). Who would not mark for that?

I agree. I think a really sweet entrance does help get a wrestler over in my opinion.

[Guest Insane Bump Machine]

I agree. I think a really sweet entrance does help get a wrestler over in my opinion.

One of the biggest reasons for the success of the Lord of Darkness Undertaker was his entrance. Yeah, he played his character really well and his opponents sold it like mad. But I don't think that he would have gotten that popular with a "normal" entrance. When the lights went out it was always a collective mark out moment.

 

I thinkt that Batista would get over like crazy is they would give him Gangrel's entrance and made him into a very dark character. He doesn't have to be sent from the devil or anything like that, just a gothic badass.

[Guest GenerationNever]

I can't stand non-human characters. They insult our intelligence and ruin our suspension of disbelief.

 

Well that's gotta be the most hypocritical comment of the year.

Riiiiight. That would be a true statement if you took out "hypocritical" and replaced it with "insightful."

[Guest DrEvil]

You only need to stroll on over to wrestlecrap or slayground to see how bad non-human characters can be. But these characters are what wrestling was built on. Sure people came out to see Flair and Steamboat et al tear it up, but a big part of the entertainment is the show itself. The characters make up a big part or the entertainment when the matches are lacking.

 

 

I think they're getting away from the non-human types because they're trying to re-build the foundation. Get these wrestlers out there in the public eye and let them be seen. You can add characteristics to them later, see Hurricane, but if you start them as some character, that's something that will stick with them the rest of their life. If it's a bad character, it could kill the career of a talented wrestler.

[Guest Redhawk]

The first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was Kurt Angle showing off Triple H's gorilla baby. That was funny.

 

Anyway, like someone said earlier, wrestling is like a comic book. They are getting more realistic, though. So while we probably won't see stuff like Mantaur and Battle Kat, they'll still have characters like Deacon Batista, Hurricane, and Kane, who are human but very demented.