Bad Gimmicks Made Good/That You Enjoyed

[hb2k]

For this week's podcast, we're looking at examples in wrestling history of bad gimmicks made good, and are keen to get some feedback on cases that you always thought stood out to you in that vain. Couple of ways to look at this one, so feel free to give an example of either

1 - A bad gimmick that either the promotion or the wrestler worked hard at and made it work, and what you feel was the reason it did.

Or

2 - A bad gimmick that, for whatever reason, worked for you and you personally enjoyed despite the common opinion that it sucked, and why you got into it.

Of course the key question is why - the more detail the better. As always the best posts will be read on the show and you'll be credited accordingly, but looking forward to seeing which ones stand out to you guys.

EDIT - The podcast discussing Bad Gimmicks Made Good, or bad gimmicks you flat out just enjoyed, is now available at the following link: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/w32phd/SCGRadio38-BadGimmicksMadeGood.mp3

[Sixx]

Mike Rotunda as I.R.S. is the obvious choice here.

[CSL]

The Undertaker. The Undertaker. The Undertaker. The Undertaker.

[Stickman]

The Goon

[Dukelorange]

Damien Mizdow
Kane
Disco Inferno
Cody Rhodes demented gimmick

[Dukelorange]

And Lana will be pushed to the moon...

[dingdongyo]

King Booker.

[Theo Dious]

Anything Cody Rhodes has done.

[The Condor]

Sexual Chocolate

Positively Page

Right to Censor

[Bad News Gertner]

Lol I fucking loved Glacier. He was sub zero come to.life and as a 14 year old kid,.I thought ir was amazing. His whole entrance and theme music were pretty awesome too.

[loopydate]

Al Snow and Head.

Only one man could have made that work. Granted, Attitude Era crowds would have chanted "We want Head" anyway, but there was also genuine affection for Snow and a mannequin head that wouldn't have been there otherwise.

[loopydate]

The Undertaker. The Undertaker. The Undertaker. The Undertaker.

The gold standard of turning shit into gold. There is literally nothing about this gimmick that should have worked. No-selling, not speaking, supernatural powers, and a manager whose name was "Paul Bearer."

But Callaway and Moody made that garbage into one of the five greatest careers in the history of the business.

[Bad News Gertner]

Did a bunch of posts disappear from this thread?

[#1-norm-fan]

Surprised Doink hasn't been mentioned yet. Evil clown, in theory, is a pretty awful gimmick. They somehow made it less campy and more eerie than it should have been though. Partially by making a realistically twisted even within his silly clown pranks and partially because Matt Borne's mannerisms and acting were perfect. I remember being genuinely creeped out by him as a kid.

[loopydate]

The whole thread got merged into the backyard one. Parts of it were recovered. Some wound up in the Billy Corgan thread somehow, too. I just did a search for the posts that I knew I had made and pasted them back in here.

[#1-norm-fan]

Did a bunch of posts disappear from this thread?

Feel like there's been a lot of posts and threads randomly disappearing for seemingly no reason lately...

[Nicky Fives]

Val Venis

[KIRA]

The gold standard of turning shit into gold. There is literally nothing about this gimmick that should have worked. No-selling, not speaking, supernatural powers, and a manager whose name was "Paul Bearer."

But Callaway and Moody made that garbage into one of the five greatest careers in the history of the business.

They were so fucking good at it tho if you're good at something you can make it work

[loopydate]

Exactly. They took a terrible gimmick and made it amazing because they were just so good at it.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Pretty terrible but I enjoyed Lance Storm's party guy gimmick that lasted from Sept./Oct. 2003 - April 2004 when he quit/was quietly released.

[hb2k]

Just wanted to thank everybody in this thread for the awesome suggestions - the podcast discussing a great many of the Bad Gimmicks mentioned in this thread is now available to listen to at the following link:

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/w32phd/SCGRadio38-BadGimmicksMadeGood.mp3

This was a really fun trip down memory lane this week, talking about the dynamics of making bad gimmicks work, and discussing your suggestions such as The Undertaker, Heel Doink, Goldust, Umaga, Kane, Rusev, "The Model" Rick Martel, Akeem, Polka Dot Dusty Rhodes, Barry Darsow, Billy & Chuck and countless more - check it out and let me know what you think!

[DAMN iNATOR]

Billy & Chuck were actually an excellent tag gimmick, I thought, and it was sheer brilliance to have Rico as their manager.

[Shisen Kopf]

Yeah but they didn't make the world work.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

why was my excellent answer not moved into this new thread? :(

[DAMN iNATOR]

Yeah but they didn't make the world work.

"They"? Billy and Chuck cateforically stated at the commitment ceremony that while neither of them had anything against gays, they themselves were not gay, so I assume that by "they", you mean Rico.