Do gimmicks like Fandango and the Wyatt Family have a place in modern day WWE?

I have previously written about how gimmicks are essentially what drew me to the world of pro-wrestling, and how at times it seems missing from the current scene. As a small kid, gigantic men with huge muscles and face paint kept me engaged, and in a way loyal to the WWE, whereas the competition, WCW, never seemed to have that same allure. Having said that, even the little mind of mine would every once in a while find some gimmicks very silly and preposterous, especially around the mid-90s.

On the one hand, you had charismatic superstars such as Shawn Michaels & Bret Hart leading the show while enduring gimmicks such as the Undertaker and the Road Warriors were still relevant. But you also were left scratching your heads with lame gimmicks such as Isaac Yankeem, Repo Man among others.

Obviously, our favourite era, the Attitude era, did away with all of that and characters such as the Patriot, got booed for being…..well, patriotic! Since then, it has been more or less the same with very few gimmicks that passed by, such as Boogeyman, but nothing really stuck. But, of late, we seem to be witnessing a sort of comeback of the gimmicks, with Fandango & Bray Wyatt having been introduced. The response to them too has been very encouraging and has left me surprised, which begs the questions: Is it good to have such gimmicks? Will these sort of gimmicks last or fizzle out?

Apart from these 2 mentioned, we also await the matadors, who were earlier known as Primo & Epico. So, the WWE sure seems to be going heavy on the gimmick front now, with the product being kid- friendly.

Personally, I feel that gimmicks will always be a part of the WWE as that’s what makes it unique from the other wrestling promotions around the world. If done right, and not in an over-the-top fashion like the 90s’, good gimmicks will work in the current climate too. After all, WWE needs characters as much as good wrestlers too, right?

Look at Fandango, for example. He being the NXT season 4 winner, was languishing in oblivion and getting squashed by Mark Henry among other things, before “Faaaandaaaaanngooooo” happened. And all of a sudden, he’s a household name and people are going crazy over his entrance music and his gimmick. It’s clear that he always had the ability and the looks, but did the gimmick help? Hell yes!

Bray Wyatt was pushed as a part of the new Nexus, with his lineage being prominently highlighted. But did it mean anything till he became Bray Wyatt? Now, the Wyatt family is a huge draw and generates the most buzz on the active roster. Even though not top guys, these guys along with other gimmicks (maybe a bit more subtle!) such as Damien Sandow (pompous scholar), The Shield (mob justice) bring so much to the show and their colourful characters help the show from being boring & predictable like it had become around 2007-08.

Alright, the top guys may not be gimmicky but every one of them started out as a character and morphed into themselves, albeit just an amplified version. Cena was a rapper, RVD was a stoner and Punk started out as the straight-edge rebel. Even Orton has the viper gimmick and slithers and stings his way out of situations, which makes him unique to the untrained eye.

The most enduring gimmick of all time, the Dead Man, in its truest essence, is just a funeral worker. Having been repackaged that many times over the years, he’s still ‘The Undertaker’ when people talk about him and the crowd goes nuts during his entrance. If any further proof was needed for the impact of gimmicks in today’s product, that should do it. But, gimmicks, like marriages, need to be handled correctly and sensitively or we may have too many dancing 400-pound guys on the roster, with no shot at being taken seriously.