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When Vince McMahon decided to turn his father's regional outfit into a national product, he realised he was going to have to spin the boring regional wrestlers into larger than life characters. He necessitated characters that would captivate young audiences and cause parents to depart with their hard earned cash.
With his business plan firmly in order, he promoted his stars with gusto and reaped magnificent benefits. Characters like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper became mainstream entertainment fixtures. Of course, not all the character ideas were brilliant. In one instance, McMahon hired skilful wrestlers like Terry Taylor and Harley Race to portray a human rooster and a king.
However, there were some men that were able to find prosperity despite their faulty characters. Here is a list of 3 wrestlers who conquered their awful characters and 3 wrestler who couldn't.
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#6 Overcame: Brutus Beefcake
As Brutus Beefcake describes it, the "Barber" gimmick was given to him by WWE road agent Pat Patterson as a joke. It was at the height of the 80s boom, and Beefcake had just turned into a wrestling good guy. Patterson thought it would be comical to give Beefcake, who was already saddled with a tongue-in-cheek identity, a pair of giant hedge clippers and have him strut in front of the crowd.
But in true pro wrestling form, you can never tell which way the crowd will lean. One would have expected the masses to jeer Beefcake, but instead, they accepted him with open arms. His popularity soared so high that he was scheduled to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship in 1990 before a parasailing accident forced him into early retirement.
#5 Couldn't overcome: Lord Tensai
This had to be a Vince McMahon creation. If it isn’t his idea, I can almost guarantee that he backed it up and thought it was going to be huge.
They couldn’t tell you exactly what this gimmick was supposed to be. Other than someone knew that Matt Bloom did a stint in Japan so that automatically makes him a Samurai. I’m sensing a trend here. Making one race, a complete opposite race and hoping it works!
Matt Bloom returned to the ring as Lord Tensai in 2012 to a great start. He was undefeated for a while against the likes of John Cena and CM Punk. Eventually, even the WWE knew this wasn’t working. They reduced him to a comedy act at the end of 2012. Pairing him with Santino Marella, who would call him ‘Fat Albert’, before succeeding in a match and defeating Tensai. Yes. Even Santino holds a victory over Lord Tensai!
While Matt Bloom may have been a force to reckon with in Japan, his return in 2012 most definitely is a force of something else. The possible main eventer quickly flopped. Soon enough we would find him wearing women’s lingerie. Yes, that did happen when Tensai and another one of our horrible gimmicks were in a tag team together.
#4 Overcame: Honky Tonk Man
The Honky Tonk Man was handed one of the worst gimmicks of all time. He was to be an Elvis impersonator. How could anybody be expected to gain his own success and notoriety by emulating a music legend who died a decade earlier?
But Memphis mainstay Wayne Ferris grabbed the bull by his horns and stole the show with his hip swinging, rockabilly Honky Tonk Man character.
Initially a good guy personality, fans jeered Ferris and made him a heel. He was so commendable at being hated, the original Elvis rip-off made people overlook he was even an Elvis rip-off. Honky Tonk Man still tours, earning a living wage from independent wrestling bookings across the nation.
#3 Couldn't overcome: Pirate Paul
If you don't remember this gimmick, I’ll forgive you. You might remember Paul Burchill and his sister Katie Lee Burchill and that weird incest storyline. Paul Burchill aligned himself with William Regal, and soon after, Paul revealed he wanted to be a singles wrestler. He wanted to follow his family’s heritage! What is that heritage? He claimed to be descendant of the pirate Blackbeard.
Of course, WWE followed through with the "say no more" and Paul the Pirate was born. The following week he had dramatic entrance music and looked like a complete rip-off of The Pirates of the Caribbean. He would swing down the entrance ramp on the rope, and it was all fun and games for Paul. The pure comedy look doomed Paul’s career.
Thankful for him, he had sustained a knee injury that required surgery. Mark Henry demolished the pirate and Paul was written off the TV. That’s when the incest stuff started...which was equally as bad.
#2 Overcame: The Undertaker
The Undertaker is one of the most celebrated superstars in the history of wrestling. Standing at 6'10 and weighing close to 300 pounds, The Undertaker certainly stands out in a crowd. But on paper, his character is wretched.
In essence, the real-life Mark Calaway plays a wrestling zombie. His disposition is the walking dead. For most wrestlers, this gimmick would have capped their careers.
But The Phenom entered the company when the company was still largely marketed to kids, and children were able to take the dead man character as a serious contender to heroes like Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan.
#1 Couldn't overcome: Luke Gallows
Remember him? If anyone thought they had seen Luke Gallows on WWE TV before, you aren’t wrong! This is long before the days of the Bullet Club, or simply ‘The Club.’ Luke Gallows appeared on the Smackdown team as Festus. I’m still hoping he’ll give us a five-second pose with that face.
Festus was a mentally changed, unresponsive southern boy. His tag team partner Jesse hyped up Festus to be an unstoppable and emotionally driven giant. Even though he kind of just stood there…with his mouth open.
I don’t even need to explain why this is just all around offensive. That’s not what makes this a failure. What makes this a failure is a fact that at any point in time his opponent could ring the bell and return him to his docile self.
