Over the years, WWE has started giving more emphasis on Sports Entertainment than actual wrestling. Now a wrestler cannot survive on their in-ring skills alone. They need a compelling gimmick, which can help them to connect with the crowd and could leave an everlasting impact. A performer needs to come up with innovative ideas that could help them stand away from the others.
That's when catchphrases come into play. It is a simple sentence or word that a wrestler uses to define his character and people start recognizing them based on it. We have seen so many iconic catchphrases over the years that have elevated so many talents to the status of an icon.
However, all the catchphrases that get over are not always cool or innovative. Sometimes a catchphrase becomes popular because of the way wrestlers say it.
Look at Bray Wyatt's new catchphrase, "Yowie Wowie". It is something that toddlers used to say when they would see something interesting, but Bray with his talent and skits has elevated it a whole new level and now we see people chanting it in all the arenas. Let's look at other similar catchphrases that are really dumb but still got massively over among the fans.
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#4 "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
This catchphrase really caught up with the fans in 2014, when Daniel Bryan was going up against the authority to achieve his dream at Wrestlemania 30.
That story of beating all the odds and becoming the face of the company in the biggest wrestling stage just seems so satisfying and unreal. Daniel Bryan started using his chant "Yes! Yes! Yes!" to engage the crowd on his journey to redemption and it became the biggest storyline of this decade. It is just a word that is being repeated again and again, but Daniel Bryan gave a whole new meaning to it and now people use it to show their approval to anything that is going on in the ring.
The catchphrase would have never gotten over if anybody other that Bryan would have tried it. He is probably the most loved man in the wrestling and whatever he does, people are always going to follow him, even if it is chanting a word, again and again, to show him our support.
#3 "What?"
Stone Cold has invented many cool catchphrases in his career that has defined the attitude era like “Give me a Hell Yeah!” and “And that’s the bottom line cos’ Stone Cold said so!”. These were the most used catchphrase of that time and elicited the biggest response from the audience.
But, he is also responsible for inventing another catchphrase, "What?", which was okay at first but started to get really annoying and aggravating with each passing week.
During the latter part of his career when he turned heel, he would constantly use this phrase to interrupt his opponents. The crowd really enjoys this as they would constantly start chanting "What?" whenever someone is about to speak in mic, but it could get really annoying for people watching on television.
This is the thing about these WWE legends, they could even make a simple question an eternal wrestling chant. The fact that fans still chant this even after years of Stone Cold's retirement shows that however annoying it could be, he has given the wrestling world an everlasting catchphrase.
#2 "You Can't See Me"
John Cena has been using this catchphrase since his time in WWE. At first, it really suited his Doctor of Thuganomics character who was a heel and didn't care about anyone else, but ever since he turned babyface, this catchphrase didn't seem to fit with his character.
The catchphrase worked because Cena was a heel when he invented it, but he kept it even after turning face. If we go in the literal sense, it doesn't make any sense as his gimmick has nothing to do with being an invisible man, but it is one of the reasons why people recognize him and why we see so many kids doing the gesture in a WWE show.
The catchphrase has become stale now and people have started using to troll him in social media by making memes and videos, but Cena doesn't seem to mind it as he just embraces all those heat by doing more of it. Whatever people might think about it, it is massively over with fans. Add the hand across the face and you will get possibly the most popular gesture of the modern era.
#1 “If Ya Smell!... What the Rock...Is... Cookin’!”
There is no doubt that The Rock is the most electrifying and most charismatic man on earth alive. The energy that he puts in the crowd whenever he makes an appearance is incomparable. Throughout his career, he has invented many catchphrases, but the one that got massively over was "If ya Smell what the Rock is cooking!".
The way he uttered it is unexplainable but there was something in it which would pump the whole arena and would force every person out there to stand and repeat the catchphrase with him at the top of their voice.
If you will think about it, the phrase doesn't make any sense in the wrestling setting, but we are talking about a man who made 'The people's elbow' over as a finisher, so nothing is impossible for him. It cemented The Rock as the top babyface of WWE and eventually made him the People's Champ.