Charlie Haas recently looked back on the brief stretch of his WWE career when he had to impersonate other wrestlers as part of his gimmick. In hindsight, he recalled how he tried his best to make it work.
Haas had a memorable run with WWE; he spent nearly a decade with the promotion across two stints. As a three-time WWE Tag Team Champion, he enjoyed plenty of success. Near the end of his time with the company, he was repackaged as a gimmick impersonator; he parodied Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, among several others.
In a new interview with It’s My Wrestling Podcast, Haas discussed various aspects of his career. When asked about his comedic gimmick, he noted that that John Laurinaitis has always wanted to see him impersonate another wrestler. Haas also stated that while he didn’t know if he was being set up to fail, he "embraced" the character.
“John Laurinaitis always wanted to see it and I don't know if they were setting me up to fail or whatever, but I embraced it,” said Haas.
Haas continued by stating that he studied a lot and tried to gather all the information that was needed to successfully perform. He described how he tried to respectfully pay tribute to the legends instead of mocking them.
“I went out and I studied," Haas continued. "I got all the stuff and I tried to honor them, I didn’t want to make fun of them. I wanted to honor those heroes, [and] that's what I tried to do."
In 2008, Haas won the WWE Slammy Award for Best Impersonation when he dressed up as "The GlamaHaas", a parody of Beth Phoenix.
Charlie Haas enjoyed the process of impersonating other wrestlers
Charlie Haas went on to claim he was given full creative freedom with the gimmick because WWE wanted to see if he would "drop the ball" with it. The veteran made it clear that he enjoyed this chapter of his career, and he had fun with it.
During his time with WWE, Charlie Haas was mostly popular for being in a tag team with Shelton Benjamin. The duo was a part of Team Angle with Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, and together they captured the WWE Tag Team Championship on two occasions. Haas also won the titles with Rico at one point.
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