Reviving old gimmicks

[Guest Deadbolt]

Now, I have never been one to try and pick apart and criticize the WWE, but I am growing so leary of seeing gimmicks that had a good run the first two or three times, but honestly, enough is enough. Just pick out a handfull of the top guys in the WWE, or up and coming blue-chippers, and you'll see my point. Here's just a small taste of what I'm talking about:

 

Carlito Carribean Cool-Razor Ramon, anyone?

Mark Jindrik-Reflection Of Perfection-Lex Luger called, he wants the Narcissist back.

Mohammed Hassan-Iraq>America-The Iron Shiek did this one proud...20 years ago!

Heidenreich-Throw him in a rubber room with Pshycho Sid

Women-Goodie Two Shoes Or Bitch-Honestly, if their a face or heel, it's always one of these gimmicks, never anything else.

 

 

And the list goes on and on. Gimmicks that do well once are twice are only meant to have one or two lives, not five or six. It's always the creative and new gimmicks that we, the fans, enjoy and that are ever/long-lasting. Maybe guys like The Undertaker or Stone Cold might have something to say about that. In order to make a name, you need to be origional, and the up and comers of today just aren't getting there in my opinion.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

John Cena = PN News - 200 lbs

 

Yo baby yo baby yo baby yo.

[Guest netslob]

Heidenreich is more like the bastard offspring of Sid and Lanny Poffo.

[CanadianChick 0]

Women-Goodie Two Shoes Or Bitch-Honestly, if their a face or heel, it's always one of these gimmicks, never anything else.

 

Yeah, the only two females in the last while that have been anything but were Victoria (psycho heel) and Molly (prude). Oh you did miss something though: if the women is a non-wrestler, add "slut".

[Guest Phenom]

Don't forget about Simon Dean=Skip of the Boddydonnas.

[Fökai 0]

Women-Goodie Two Shoes Or Bitch-Honestly, if their a face or heel, it's always one of these gimmicks, never anything else.

Please come up with a better idea for these girls -- everyone save Trish and Molly have a hard time acting out of a paper bag.

 

If you even need an example, Lita wasn't even believable as the storyline girlfriend of Matt, yet SHE'S HIS ACTUAL GIRLFRIEND.

 

EDIT: Besides, Trish has evolved beyond the usual "diva heel" schtick.

[Exslade ZX 0]

Maybe this is just me, but I've never had anything against them doing gimmicks from the past. I mean seriously, most of you saw a gimmick for the first time when you first got into wrestling, and you were probaly 'amazed' I guess would be the right word. (whether or not there was someone earlier with that same gimmick) And this goes especially if it was when you were a kid.

 

Whether people realize it or not, kids are still a huge part of WWE's audience. So my question, is why shouldn't they be able to enjoy some of the same gimmicks there you were able to? (or that you didn't) Seeing as they weren't able to first time around. Example, my little cousin enjoys CCC, and doesn't just think 'OMG Razor Ramon ripoff'. So I guess, in a sense I'm saying, should he not have the chance to enjoy a gimmick, just because long time fans, think it's a rip off. (I mean, it's kind of hard to constantly, constantly coming up with something that's never been done before, espcially in wrestling).

[Guest Hass of Pain]

It gets tiring hearing people call John Cena's rapping thing a "gimmick" that WWE came up with for him. He's been involved in the hip-hop scene for the better part of a decade, recorded some stuff, appeared in a new video for some semi-underground stuff (which WWE has never even made mention of) and he's actually pretty good in the stuff that he's done that has nothing to do with WWE. It's not a "bad gimmick" and it's not PN News, it's Cena being Cena and most people seem to love it if you watch Smackdown.

 

There is no denying that a lot of the old stuff is being rehashed these days, but a lot of today's fans weren't around to see it the first time so it doesn't really matter that much. La Resistance are pretty much the exact same thing as the Reaugoe Brothers from the flag waving to the questionable sexuality. Chris Masters is a ripoff of Mark Jindrak who's a ripoff of Scott Steiner who's a ripoff of Lex Luger who's a ripoff of Paul Orndorf who's a ripoff of a thousand other heels who came before him. Arrogance and vanity isn't a gimmick so much as it is a characteristic, and it's common enough where vain heels are going to keep on popping up for years.

 

If you wan't to get technical, then Kurt Angle is a ripoff of Ken Patera and Ken Shamrock who used a lot of the same schtick. I don't think it's necessarily fair to call Heidenreich a ripoff of Psycho Sid because there are a ton of crazy people in this world and he plays it more like Nathan Jones than Sid. Simon Dean does the Skip gimmick, but he does it more like Buddy Rose did with his "Blowaway Diet" deal. People ripped on Eugene as crossing the line, but the NWA did pretty much the exact same thing with Rick Steiner in the late 80's. That's the point. Every characteristic in wrestling is going to be a play off of something that has already been done, so if it seems like a good idea why not go for it.

 

I think the bigger problem is not the characters that WWE debuts the new wrestlers with, but the fact that aside from Eugene, I can't think of a single wrestler WWE has debuted in the last year who came in as a face. It's pretty difficult to make fans dislike a wrestler before he even debuts which is why the gimmick is kind of a necessity. Gene Stitsky, Tyson Tomko, Sylvian Greinier, Rob Conway, Rene Dupree, Shelton Benjamin, Muhammed Hassan, Shaun Diavari, Batista, Carlito, Charlie Haas, Doug Basham, Danny Basham, Jesus, Kenzo, Chris Masters, Simon Dean, Luther Reigns...they all came in as heels in the last two years. WWE gave us Orlando Jordan, Eugene and John Cena as faces. They really could benefit from evening out the fold a little bit more when guys debut in order to keep things a little more fresh, and it's a big reason the over the top gimmicks are so prevalent in my opinion.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

If memory serves, Hass, they even flipped Cena after what, 3 or 4 months of being a generic face.

 

The problem with being a new guy face is that there's no compelling reason to like him. Being a new heel seems to me to be somewhat easier, as all you need to do is cheat like a mofo, insult the fans, and suck up to those higher up the food chain than you. A face needs a REASON to be a face (rebelling against an oppressive heel, chasing after a heel champ, etc.) otherwise he's kinda bland. If he's perceived as bland, no amount of talent is going to save him (see London, Paul). The only other thing I can see as an alternative is to give a guy a goofy gimmick and hope it sticks (Dinsmore and Brian Kendrick spring to mind).

 

Still though, I don't mind trying to recreate gimmicks as long as they try to update it for the current viewing crowd. Sometimes you just can't recreate it (SCSA, probably Rock), but recycling is okay by me. If it doesn't work, drop it and try something else.

[Guest Nater]

As Eugene is the revisit of Doink.

[razazteca 0]

Mark Jindrik-Reflection Of Perfection-Lex Luger called, he wants the Narcissist back.

Chris Masters.

 

Mohammed Hassan-Iraq>America-The Iron Shiek did this one proud...20 years ago!

La Resistence + Arabs = Russians + Shiek of the 80's WWF

 

They need to give Davari a megafone so he can be the next Jimmy Hart.

 

John Cena = PN News - 200 lbs

Roaddog = Yo Yo Yo I'm a suburban white boy and I wanna be black, MAN.

 

As Eugene is the revisit of Doink.

Perry Saturn and Goldust did the retard gimmick also.

[Guest sek69]

Eugene = Doink? I don't see it. If anything, Eugene is basically a more retarded version of Rick Steiner.

 

 

Hey, Jim Cornette set the rule saying the statue of limitations on stealing a gimmick is seven years so any 80s gimmick is primed for rehashing.

 

When it comes down to it, there's only a handful of gimmicks in wrestling that people just tweak here and there. On the heel side you have the smarmy heel, the evil foreginer, muscular hoss bad ass, and the calculating heel. Babyfaces are usually the teenybopper, the rah-rah america guy, or the boy scout.

 

I think the biggest problem WWE has with gimmicks is how they make their babyfaces so watered down and neutered it ends up doing harm to the person's gimmick. How many people have been damaged by mistimed face turns? Cena's act as a heel was starting to really click, but I find his face work so painfully dull I end up flipping channels.

[Guest JMA]

They need to bring back the Waylon Mercy gimmick and give it to someone. Batista would've been great for this role, but he seems to be catching on as a face, so it can't happen now. Come to think of it, they should've brought Batista in as a Waylon Mercy-esque character rather than the horrible "Deacon Batista."

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

They need to bring back the Waylon Mercy gimmick and give it to someone. Batista would've been great for this role, but he seems to be catching on as a face, so it can't happen now. Come to think of it, they should've brought Batista in as a Waylon Mercy-esque character rather than the horrible "Deacon Batista."

I thought they had that planned for Nathan Jones *shudder*.

 

Still though, it would be nice if they did something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, for some reason I don't remember much about Mercy. Wasn't it something like "acts like a face outside the ring, heel inside the ring", Cape Fear sorta gimmick?

[The Decemberists 0]

He was just really cool... y'know what I mean?

[Guest Loss]

Sek pretty much hit the nail on the head. Recycling gimmicks is part of pro wrestling and always has been. You could trace almost all of these guys back to Gorgeous George if you really wanted to do so.

 

I don't think it's a case so much of needing fresh ideas, although that never hurts. I think more than that, they need fresh *stars* in those roles and they need to change the way the story is told.

 

Jim Cornette once said wrestling is about presentation, not content, and he was absolutely right.

[Black Lushus 0]

why are people saying Hassan's character is a guy that thinks Iraq is better than America? His gimmick is a guy that hates the way non arab-americans treat arab-americans...he's said ad naseum he's all about being American and they even announce him as being from Detroit, Michigan...I actually thnk his role is a fresh take on the "evil arab" gimmick...

[natey2k4 0]

Now that they dropped "The Reflection of Perfection" with Jindrak... "The Masterpiece" Chris Masters is coming up soon, with apparently the same type of gimmick..

 

Heidenreich is fine by me (wish he could wrestle though)... he's more of a mix between a bunch of guys.. Sid, The Genius, and Ken Shamrock.

[Guest JMA]

They need to bring back the Waylon Mercy gimmick and give it to someone. Batista would've been great for this role, but he seems to be catching on as a face, so it can't happen now. Come to think of it, they should've brought Batista in as a Waylon Mercy-esque character rather than the horrible "Deacon Batista."

I thought they had that planned for Nathan Jones *shudder*.

 

Still though, it would be nice if they did something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, for some reason I don't remember much about Mercy. Wasn't it something like "acts like a face outside the ring, heel inside the ring", Cape Fear sorta gimmick?

Yeah, that was basically his gimmick. Batista could've easily pulled it off since he has all those tatoos (like Max Cady, the character Waylon Mercy was based on) and can go from soft-spoken to angry without any trouble.