Pretty much what the title says. Pro wrestling has a long history of horrendous gimmicks and bad ideas. As often as something works and gets over, an awful lot of the time things bomb big time and are just plain ridiculous. Sometimes things just don't make any sense. Believe it or not, some actually get a kick out of this stuff and I have to admit a lot of it is funny in retrospect and some is downright hilarious in its awfulness same as is many a bad movie. So go ahead and post a Youtube of a favourite. Stick to one per entry please.
From the AWA, there was Rocky Mountain Thunder! Can you believe Verne and them actually thought this guy would be popular and get over. He's just awful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxtoUKiw-QI
Ooohhh...I got lots of these. I frequent the WrestleCrap website and have their books.
Tomorrow I can post videos.
WrestleCrap....I've known about them for shoot right quite some time, been a member of their forum since 2005 and last year when there was a split between the Wrestlecrap site and the forum I stuck with the forum I joined
ah, memories
I have a soft spot for Arachno-Man and the Yeti that was really a mummy and possibly a ninja.
The late Giant Gonzales (formerly El Gigante in WCW), a former Argentinian basketball player. WWF put him in a ridiculous muscle suit with fur no less to try and make him look better. Well it didn't really work. Oh he had the size but was just so terrible in the ring.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGk1vJveEDI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JODV1xJNlrU
Months and months of buildup...all leading to....The Gobbledy Gooker?
Although, one rumor I've heard, and Mick Foley partially confirmed it to a degree, was that The Undertaker was gonna debut as "The EggMan"...thankfully they changed their minds.
Vince had to have come up with this last minute.
Who in the world thought Mantaur (obviously based on the Minotaur legend) was a good idea for the WWF?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGDwwExon6M
Who is one dumb character.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWr5oMBO95c
Who was played by Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Not sure who came up with it, but, it was supposedly a 'dig' on Hulk Hogan. Supposedly, it was based on the old Abbott and Costello "Who's On First?" routine.
Also, there was a tag team partner lined up for him, named "What." But, ultimately, they lined Neidhart up with the Harts again in a New Hart Foundation or some such.
Oz aka Nash in WCW not sure if this was before or after he was a Master Blaster or Vinnie Vegas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSH7fKcsOHE
I never saw Who before but I remember hearing it was pretty bad and that it was obvious it was Neidhart. Nash's gimmicks pre-Diesel were truly terrible indeed. Here we have two bad ideas in one match, veteran Bill Irwin saddled with a silly hockey gimmick as The Goon, supposedly too rough for hockey, and Barry Windham with the silly "Stalker" gimmick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD8Y1RyCpb0
Barry Darsow is great. I liked the Repo Man...but it was a pretty terrible gimmick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArFAswWa-1Q
Nailz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmXsVtwOlFU
Hard to believe Nailz was once "Mr. Magnificent" Kevin Kelly in the AWA?! Look him up as Mr. Magnificent and you'll see the difference I'm talking about. All he ever seemed to do as Nailz was choke, choke and choke some more. :bouncegiggle:
WWF wasn't alone in bad gimmicks by any means. WCW gave us fat boy white rapper P.N. News.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPuGqERQggE
"The Lava Lamp Lounge", starring Mike Awesome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz0ydKOK86o
So, WCW swipes Mike Awesome from a hot ECW run, and got him while he was still the ECW champ. Despite his great run in Japan and ECW, they broke him down into "That '70s Guy" Mike Awesome where he hosted this...as well as being "The Fat Chick Thriller" Mike Awesome. :buggedout:
Seven from WCW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7RLzLXDsAI
I like how he admitted the gimmick was crap
The Wrestling Mummy in Southwest Championship Wrestling :buggedout: :bouncegiggle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hiv3r4081vc
OK, all the other stuff above is crap, but how can you not like The Mummy? That was cool!
Aside from The Mummy, all of the above crap just confirms why I have not watched wrestling since the mid-80's.
Well you cannot deny this wresting mummy is bad! Although he was actually billed as The Yeti. Still he's kind of hilarious too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixb_w1AZI80
Yeah that was bad. Why in the world would they call him "The Yeti?"
I think the AWA had a couple guys in the '80s cashing in on a fad:
One guy competed as Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th. Another was Freddy Krueger from Elm Street.
Quote from: HappyGilmore on April 20, 2012, 01:18:49 PM
I think the AWA had a couple guys in the '80s cashing in on a fad:
One guy competed as Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th. Another was Freddy Krueger from Elm Street.
I'm curious enough to want to watch this.
Actually that was in Memphis wrestling and they had a Mummy too and a guy dressed up like Batman at one point who billed himself as Battman. Memphis Wrestling has a long history of absurd and crazy angles/characters. Japan too has an history of having wrestlers play movie characters leading to this incident in which two of the guys under the masks (Eddie and Doug Gilbert unmasked under their Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger get-ups). Leatherface was also a regular in Japan and the character as portrayed in FMW was particularly memorable. Sid Vicious early in his career played a version of Lord Humongous (from The Road Warrior) in Continental Wrestling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8KWzPH9_4Y
A Freddy (again it's Doug Gilber under the mask) music video from Memphis Wrestling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTN80G3q1FY
And here's Jason in Memphis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FSa1KtiD4o
And yep Leatherface (who I believe was played by the former Corporal Kirchner) too showed up in Memphis (as well as being a regular over in Japan)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlPcb0pf6P0
^That's it, Jase. I couldn't remember the promotions. I was a bit young then but remembered them being around. Thanks for helping.
I was reading that back in the '60s, Verne Gagne hired a guy, did up his appearance, gave him a mop-top and guitar, and called him 'The 5th Beatle', George Ringo.
Who could ever forget the wrestling plumber T.L. (Toilet Lid?) Hopper? Veteran independent star in Continental Wrestling and southern wrestling promotions "The Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony was cast in the role.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr0ATO4aFR4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e6orAzt9A0
Was actually gonna post Hopper, but just getting in from work and not trying to use the computer.
I'd also bear to mention Bastion Booger.
The Shockmaster --- even if he didn't literally fall on his face on his debut I doubt it would've worked in large part because of the Star Wars helmet covered in glitter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z0422hQmmk
The Shockmaster is the stuff of Wrestlecrap legend. Quite possibly the most hilarious unintentionally funny moment in pro wrestling history. :bouncegiggle:
Another strange character who was briefly in the WWF was Damien Demento (from "The Outer Reaches of Your Mind!" :buggedout: :bouncegiggle:). He actually had a cool look but I never quite understood what the heck was up with him...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGCSxYYZw-Y
Best part of The Shockmaster, is very lowly in the background you hear the British Bulldog say 'I can't believe he fell on his ass', or some such.
Before he was the Gobbledly Gooker in WWF, way back in 1987 Hector Guerrero was Lazor-Tron in the NWA playing a gimmick based on the game "Laser Tag".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIEPF8IJW8w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52av-DmeQYQ
The Ding Dongs.
I repeat...the Ding Dongs. :drink:
RoboCop. Yes you heard me right. It was a really bad cross promotion idea. Why on earth did anyone at WCW think this would work?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yc9FXJT8HE
Sting is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and has been in some of the all time greatest matches. However, as the above clip proves he has been part of some really bad gimmicks and ideas. Last year on Impact, he smeared his make up and started imitating The Joker. It was a successful angle, but I personally thought it was kind of unimaginative idea. But to his credit Sting owned it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZig4X71mUM&feature=related
Quotehe smeared his make up and started imitating The Joker.
I watched a few clips on youtube about this... I'm kinda embarrassed for him... and the sport.
He's my vote: The Yeti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRwuyrS8FqI
Imo that's why WCW fell off... just sayin'
Also. I'm a huge Undertaker fan... but the twin undertaker gimmick was lame...
(http://www.sbibookings.com/images/bearer&takers.jpg)
Brian Lee, Percy Pringle and Mark.
The Yeti was already mentioned but he and the Shockmaster, Gobbledly Gooker and a few others probably deserve more than one mention here. Speaking of twin Undertakers, anyone else remember twin Kanes (one would later become another silly gimmick- Festus)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26lJ14mJfec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjZvm4vcjjQ
Thinking terrible angles, they don't get much worse than Katie Vick... Warning: Video NSFW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcBOB_xGW5I
Quote from: JaseSF on June 15, 2012, 09:24:58 PM
The Yeti was already mentioned but he and the Shockmaster, Gobbledly Gooker and a few others probably deserve more than one mention here.
Whoops. Sorry about that. :wink:
yup I remember the twin Kanes lol... that was so lame. :thumbdown:
LOL oh yeah... I remember the katie vick rape thingy too... that was HYPER lame. :thumbdown:
I got another one... how about when the Japanese guys chopped off Val Venis's P-P? Raw is War 1998. :bouncegiggle: :thumbdown: