Gimmicks in kayfabe
 

As far as kayfabe is concerned, what do you think is the overall stance on gimmicks?
Are they actually the ridiculous characters they claim to be, or is it an act of showmanship or personality to get noticed (in kayfabe as well as reality)

For example, is The Goon really a crazed hockey goon who wandered into wrestling and somehow knows how to wrestle? Or is he a wrestler who is using a gimmick to be a showman?
Is Boogeyman actually a supernatural being, or is he "playing mind games" with his opponents?

I've heard things like these treated both ways on air.

Your thoughts...

i believe the boogymen was someone who audition for the last season of tough enough

The Boogeyman was someone who was supposed to play The Boogeyman for a new show on UPN, but something happened to him on set and he became "not right upstairs" so he was brought in to Smackdown.

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I think back in the day WWE wanted their audience to buy into the fact that Taker was possessed by the urn and was this dead zombie, but now, I think they have a more "realistic" approach (if that's possible). For example, WWE seems to emphasize that Taker plays mindgames with his opponents and has made a career out of it, and a lot of his opponents nowadays are keep bringing up the fact that Taker's a "common man" etc, while still playing the gimmick.

lol i forgot about that UPN producer guy

True. How about the undercard guys though?

Like Paul Burchill. Is he a pirate who found his way to the WWE? Or is he a WWE wrestler who thinks he's a pirate, or is doing it to get himself noticed?

I think Kayfabe is largly gone from WWE at least as so many of their wrestlers dont have larger than life Gimmicks with Taker being the last real example of that sort of thing,that being said I remember reading a while back that Eugine played up his "special" persona in public.Gangrels tm character was said to not be that far removed from his actual lifestyle.Warrior Lived/lives his gimmick.
On the Loose Cannon DVD it was said that Pillman kept up his character to the point where his co-workers were unsure when he was pretending.

Randy Orton had me wondering about him

I'm not sure about TNA except maybe James Storm he seems like he really might be a beer drinking badass in public

I believe Paul's story was that he was just a wrestler but found out his ancestor was a pirate and decided to become one himself or atleast I think that was Regal's explanation when his partner went bonkers been a long time since that storyline

Doink the Clown was just a cruel, sociopath who enjoyed dressing up as a clown and terrorizing the world of the WWF.

The most ridiculous one is easily Max Moon. At least clowns, hockey goons, pimps, pornstars, pirates, and wannabe vampires exist in real life.

Dr Issac Yankem had a lot of medical school loans to pay off after his dentistry practice failed unsurprisingly.

Lesson learned: Just because your last name is Yankem, don't assume you're going to be a successful dentist.

<font color=goldenrod>'98-'99 era Val Venis was definitely a porn star that would try to nail every diva in the locker room and would use his gyrations to get under his opponents' skin.</font>