Schlomey
01-25-2013, 12:27 PM
As defined by Websters, a gimmick is a trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or business.
In the world of professional wrestling, gimmicks have been used since it's inception to create a larger than life atmosphere and to build wrestlers from normal human beings into money making machines.
A good gimmick can drive a company to success and a bad gimmick will typically not only end up on a blooper reel but in a lot of instances create a stigma around that superstar and from there on will find it hard to create a successful career outside of that gimmick. I call this the "childhood actor" conundrum. While the use of gimmicks in today's wrestling atmosphere isn't as outlandish as it was in previous generations (i.e. The Goon/Duke The Dumpster/ Puke), gimmicks are still used today to help get positive and negative reactions from the crowd. Be it a dancer, a dentist, a sumo or something as simple as an intellectual giant, gimmicks take normal men and turn them in to superstars.
This thread is dedicated not to the unsuccessful but to the gimmicks that stand the test of time. The kind of gimmick that can be recycled throughout the generations and still pop the audience like it was the first time ever used.
To get the ball rolling, I submit the following:
Gimmick - I Am Beautiful!
Calling out to the heavens that I am more beautiful than anyone in this arena is easily one of the most popular and time tested gimmicks ever used. Some come to the ring spritzing the audience with perfume, others roll their hips in a sexual way while some even place paper bags over the faces of the crowd as to not "ugly the room" in his presence. The "I Am Beautiful" gimmick is timeless and almost always effective. Here are a few more examples:
1. Adorable Adrian Adonis - One of the first men to use this gimmick. He spent his entire career adoring his face with make up and staring at himself in awe before each match. The crowd hated him for this and he proves that even larger and unattractive men can successfully control this gimmick.
2. Rick "The Model" Martel - Rick would spray the audience (and sometimes his opponent) in the face with his perfume. He would strut into the ring with such an arrogance that he spent most of his career being booed for nothing more than insisting he was beautiful.
3. Rick Rude - Rude took this gimmick to a different level. Not only did he come out and seductively sway his hips and pucker his lips but he would get on the microphone and insist that all the ladies in the audience would leave their boyfriends and husbands for him in the drop of a hat. Instant heat that created a stigma around him that followed his entire in ring career.
4. Dashing Cody Rhodes - While short lived, Cody took this gimmick into the next generation by creating "self help" videos on how to make the audience less ugly and more DASHING! Then he took it to the next level by having men place paper bags over the faces of the audience. A true genius step. And while the gimmick didn't last long he was easily one of the highlights during this time. After he dropped the Dashing gimmick he created a new gimmick playing off of this one by trying to hide his face because he wasn't beautiful anymore. Equally as effective while it lasted and he was great at playing that part.
Ok TPWW you're up to bat. My hope is to compile a list of the best and most timeless gimmicks used throughout the history of professional wrestling.
In the world of professional wrestling, gimmicks have been used since it's inception to create a larger than life atmosphere and to build wrestlers from normal human beings into money making machines.
A good gimmick can drive a company to success and a bad gimmick will typically not only end up on a blooper reel but in a lot of instances create a stigma around that superstar and from there on will find it hard to create a successful career outside of that gimmick. I call this the "childhood actor" conundrum. While the use of gimmicks in today's wrestling atmosphere isn't as outlandish as it was in previous generations (i.e. The Goon/Duke The Dumpster/ Puke), gimmicks are still used today to help get positive and negative reactions from the crowd. Be it a dancer, a dentist, a sumo or something as simple as an intellectual giant, gimmicks take normal men and turn them in to superstars.
This thread is dedicated not to the unsuccessful but to the gimmicks that stand the test of time. The kind of gimmick that can be recycled throughout the generations and still pop the audience like it was the first time ever used.
To get the ball rolling, I submit the following:
Gimmick - I Am Beautiful!
Calling out to the heavens that I am more beautiful than anyone in this arena is easily one of the most popular and time tested gimmicks ever used. Some come to the ring spritzing the audience with perfume, others roll their hips in a sexual way while some even place paper bags over the faces of the crowd as to not "ugly the room" in his presence. The "I Am Beautiful" gimmick is timeless and almost always effective. Here are a few more examples:
1. Adorable Adrian Adonis - One of the first men to use this gimmick. He spent his entire career adoring his face with make up and staring at himself in awe before each match. The crowd hated him for this and he proves that even larger and unattractive men can successfully control this gimmick.
2. Rick "The Model" Martel - Rick would spray the audience (and sometimes his opponent) in the face with his perfume. He would strut into the ring with such an arrogance that he spent most of his career being booed for nothing more than insisting he was beautiful.
3. Rick Rude - Rude took this gimmick to a different level. Not only did he come out and seductively sway his hips and pucker his lips but he would get on the microphone and insist that all the ladies in the audience would leave their boyfriends and husbands for him in the drop of a hat. Instant heat that created a stigma around him that followed his entire in ring career.
4. Dashing Cody Rhodes - While short lived, Cody took this gimmick into the next generation by creating "self help" videos on how to make the audience less ugly and more DASHING! Then he took it to the next level by having men place paper bags over the faces of the audience. A true genius step. And while the gimmick didn't last long he was easily one of the highlights during this time. After he dropped the Dashing gimmick he created a new gimmick playing off of this one by trying to hide his face because he wasn't beautiful anymore. Equally as effective while it lasted and he was great at playing that part.
Ok TPWW you're up to bat. My hope is to compile a list of the best and most timeless gimmicks used throughout the history of professional wrestling.