factum1

From the Gimmick that saved my career to the gimmick that destroyed it, or almost. Lets take a look at gimmicks that affected the careers of many wrestling stars.

Eugene character was good, but he was more of a joke than Santino Marella is now. He pulled off the retarted gimmick, but what then? Was he suppose to act retarted all his wwe career? What explanation would the WWE give he suddenly acted not retarted? It took kane years before the wwe decided to show his face and make him talk. If they had showned his face sooner everyone would have notice it was the fake diesel and not Undertaker's brother. And back then that would have been a big deal.

Red Rooster - Terry Taylor the guy had a good look, but acting like a rooster , not quite someone that would be ask to join the Four horseman after that gimmick.

The Hurricane - though it was a good entertaining gimmick he probally would have been better of as just Shane Helms like in his WCW career. He showed a good look in W.C.W. and came out looking in the ring more like Jeff Hardy. but instead of being someone more like JEff Hardy and Aj styles or even Evan Bourne he was turn to a comic bokk character. He was stuck to much time with the Superhero gimmick and now his career looks to have been cut short.

Stevie Richards - I remember Stevie wrestling in the WWF/E with his ECW attire (short jeans cut shirt). In the beginning of his WWF/E career, he put on some very entertaining matches, They were jobbers like Tracy Smothers, but boy was he getting over with the fans with his wrestling and antics.

But the WWE screw him and made him a joke. They made him cut off his long hair than he was put as the leader of the Right to Censor faction. Being leader is o.k ,but he wouldn't go over as a heel that way. It wasn't even anything close from being a cool faction. He showed his good mic skills with the group, but thats all that gimmick did for him, and his career. Since then his career went on a down hill spiral.

He had many things like Shawn Michaels- long hair, deep voice, good look, his finisher was even the same as Michaels the super kick. Yet with all those attributions he was put in silly roles.

Other bad gimmicks that killed or almost killed wrestlers careers, were:

Ron Simmons - Faroog, saved by the acolytes
Glacier - Sub-zero imitation from Mortal Kombat
Tugboat - saved by typhoon. Quote: at least he formed the Natural Disasters with(The late) EarthQuake.

Rosey - Bad Super hero gimmick
Rick the model Martel - Looked more like a beauty salon barber. Kind of like what billy Gunn is doing now with The Beutyful people.

Badd Ass Billy Gunn- he got several bad gimmicks, but coming to the ring to the theme song, I'm an ASS man didn't do him many favors to him.

They're are other bad gimmicks that killed wrestlers careers.(or almost did) No matter how fun they might be, Like Charlie Haas now-doing all sorts of characters. Eventually it will catch up to him. The WWE will release him and i don't think TNA will bother pay much for a guy that was out to be made as a joke.

Some times wrestlers do to many things to hang on to their jobs in the WWE. Example (Big Vito in a Dress) But this might affect their career for the long haul. Charlie Hass might never be able to get a opportunity to be a bigger star. And Charlie Haas is still a young man who's in great shape that can give much more to wrestling than laughter. He should Leave that to Santiono Marella.

Quote: Vito said he did every thing to keep his jop in the WWE, yet he was release and couldn't believe it. So doing bad gimmicks might help some wrestlers now, but destroyed them later.

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Tyler Durden

The only ones I'm particularly sad about there are Dinsmore and Taylor, both very fine workers, both truly ruined.

I would include Helms, however (a) he made shit loads of cash and had a good run as Hurricane and (b) he's screwing Velvet Sky so I have no truck with ever feeling sorry for him about anything.

God

What do you think Nick Dinsmore would rather? Being stuck in devlopment as Nick "Good Wrestler" Dinsmore, or being involved with some of the biggest names in the company & being one of the most popular wrestlers?

RTC destroyed Stevie Richards career? Are you freaking kidding me! It was probably the best gimmick he ever got, he was mega hated in that role, which was the idea. He would have been jobbing on Heat if it wasent for RTC.

Bad Ass Billy Gunn? That was the best gimmick he had. It got him more than he deserved. He went from being one half of a tag team nobody cared about to playing guitar with the Honky Tonk Man, to being in DX! If anything, it saved his career.

This thread seems to be more about gimmicks that ou dislike rather than gimmicks that killed careers.

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factum1

It depends how you look at it, and if you believe that was the best the wrestler could do.

As you feel that Stevie Richard and Billy Gunn and the gimmicks they had were the best they could do. None of the gimmicks mentioned make the wrestler nothing, but an entertainer.

I believe they could have helped them even more, giving them an opportunity to reach the highest goal a World Title or a several I.C. titles. Only billy Gunn for the list had one Intercontinental title to his credit. His gimmick served him no great purpose other than being looked as an entertainer and not a serious wrestling star.

You believe Shawn Michaels would have gone far if they cut his hair short and be the leader of the Right to Censor? No right. But you believe that Steveie Richard wasn't capable of being Shawn Michaels.
You believe in the history, how it was made out to be, instead of what i feel could have been with some help.

Some wrestlers need better guidance than other's just like Charlie Haas could receive now. I believe it's pretty much all in your mind. If the Wrestler is put in the position to be great and is continue to be made a winner he starts believing in himself and expanding his abilities.

Billy Gunn went from a Badd Ass to teaming up with Chuck as that gooofy Tag Team. So you agree that one killed his Career. I believe Billy needed more helped than Stevie to achieve greatness, but when it was time for him to be Intercontinental champion the WWE didn't give him the title.

Gregory Helms gimmick the Hurricane was good, but again what if , what if he stayed like Shane Helms could he have been more like a Jeff Hardy ? I believe so. It's all the way you percieve these things.

I believe if Steve Austin wouldn't have been fired by W.C.W. he would have been stuck as a mid carder and would have been satisfied with that position.

But being fired, drove a fire in to Steve Austin and that fired drove him to be where he is today.A Icon in the sport. Sometimes it's the just what lifes brings to you.

Another Example is Val Venis he had great abilty, but his gimmick wasn't one that could be looked at as a serious world title contender. Yet if you seen him wrestler before as Sean Morley you see more potential in him as world Champ.

Some wrestlers might turn out to be all they could have been, but their also some that for destiny, or how ever you want to call it, became greater and some not good at all.

Some examples could be Sean O' haire a for gotten wrestler, he looked like he could be a potential real SuperStar, but yet in the WWE his career went down hill as well as Shawn Stasiak.

Why did guys like Scott Stiener, Booker T. Goldberg, D.D.P.Buff Bagwell. didn't shine as much in the WWE. Was it them or the company. Imagine what the WWE could do to a young rising star from the WCW.

Buff Bagwell was said to be as arrogant as Shawn Michaels yet, because Michaels was a part of the WWE for many years he was kept, but Buff Bagwell was fired. People are assuming the WWE is fair when it's not. It's all in the mind of Vince McMahon, thats why RVD left and didn't have more World Titles to his credit.

I believe any thing is possible, even that Richards could have become a World Champ. As dumb as it might seem. Probally Charlie Haas could look in to his inner self and find greatness there.

I don't look at things how they were made to be, but what i believe i could have helped them to be. You believ in Vince, i believe in myself. We are all humans and are minds can be taught everything. You just got to believe yourself and make others beileve in themselves.

I wish Wild CAt Chris Harris gets in to the greatest shape of his life and be that star he could be. I wish their was some one to make him understand what is needed to get their. Instead of what the WWE did. They don't have time for him, but someone else might have.

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King Steventon

Eugene was a fucking idiot for picking that gimmick himself.

I don't see how Helms was ruined by the Hurricane or Richards by the RTC either, both of those gimmicks got those guys the biggest pushes of their careers.


The one that I'm surprised no one has mentioned is the incredible way the wwe turned DDP who was one of the most over guys in the US into a complete jobber in the space of like two months by making him out into some perverted sex freak. Needless to say, I died inside.

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factum1

The term destroy it's little strong for some of those wrestlers, but my point is those gimmick held them back.

I simply believe that Shane Helms looked great in his WCW gimmick. where he looked more like a Jeff Hardy. and how over is Jeff? Isn't Jeff Hardy going for a World Title run ? Yes right, So i mention before this is how i percieve things. I don't take what the WWE made some one out to be, but what i believe he could have been. Check Shane Helms look when he enter WCW, go really check it out.

Then look on the internet for Stevie Richards and a Match he had in the WWF/E vs Tracy Smothers, look at his gimmick and how over he was. Without having a gimmick that only got him that far as a joke. Not a badd ass wrestler not a great baby face. It was just a gimmick that served a purpose for a period of time, but in the long haul, all it did was set him back.

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King Steventon

Helms in WCW was never going to be anything more than a crsuierwight division wrestler. With the Hurricane gimmick he became a hugely over mid-carder and got some decent tag title reigns. Stevie and the RTC got omega-heat as a heel faction and I think the vast majority of people agree they were a great faction. The problem was that the wwe never really booked them to look strong at all. The gimmick wasn't the problem, it was stuff like booking them to constantly job over and over to the Dudleyz, and other things, that held them back.

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factum1

Exactly those gimmicks aren't to be taken seriouly, no matter how over you are at the time. Like Santino Marella, Val Venis, Charlie Haas, even Vito was getting over. With gimmicks like that your bound to be made a loser. And their looks(Stevie Rchards & Shane Helms) weren't better than the ones they had before in ECW and WCW.

I'll be downloading some pictures of them. (shane & Richards)

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Doctor Doom

Mike Awesome as that 70's guy. He was obviously using Disco Inferno's gimmick that ruined his career. The Black Reign gimmick pretty much fucked up Dustin Rhodes career.

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King Steventon

Again, the gimmick wasn't the problem, the booking was. The RTC could have last a hell of a lot longer and had a lot of sucess if the wwe had booked them seriously.

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