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Originally Posted by Anybody Thrilla
I think that the lack of "gimmicks" started with Tough Enough. Not saying that the show itself had that powerful of an effect on everything, but the fact that they were showing wrestling from the INSIDE of the business and depicting the wrestlers as "people" as opposed to "wrestlers".
Wrestling has always been plagued with the label "FAKE" by casual viewers or people who don't view at all, and thusly, they lose a lot of 'credibility'. By presenting the characters on the show as more realistic and humanistic, as opposed to characters like Doink, Bastion Booger, Damien Demento and such, I think they're trying to counteract that.
Furthermore, I think that the demographic that the WWE was pushing to primarily back when it was at its apex is maturing, and you can't get Undertaker-like characters over as easily. The fact that the Undertaker is over in his gimmick today, I would imagine is driven largely by nostalgia. If Mark Calloway had never been debuted on WWE TV until recently, I don't think it would have worked (SEE: Moredecai).
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I disagree. At one point, Vince tried to bring us behind the scenes, and Kayfabe was broken. Tough Enough started well after they showed people what was really going on in wrestling. There haven't been a huge number of gimmicks over the last 5 or so years, and they were decreasing in number over the years before that.
It was, however, in a reaction to the "fake" stigmata.
And honestly, Mordecai didn't get over because he was boring. The gimmick was better than he was. Taker's driven by nostalgia and the name. The fact that there's someone that most everyone recognises makes him a success as well, but it doesn't preclude that someone in a good gimmick with some reason for us to give a shit might get over. Wrestling's about being larger than life, and some can do it and be very REAL. Shelton vs HBK, for example. Brilliant. But people dig charisma and entertainment, and a good gimmick can give an opportunity for both.