10 Wrestlers With 1 Great And 1 Terrible Gimmick

[@Icemann383]

You could throw in Corporate Kane into the group of bad Kane gimmicks. Especially since it foreshadowed him becoming Mayor Kane.

[@raydiabolico]

if Heath Slater ever wins the Universal Title then they will be just like The Shield cause all 3 members of 3MB became champions

[@claymathewselevator8121]

HE’S GOT KIDS

[@dennisrodcock7402]

Imagine a world 😂

[@OH_MY_DOGGG]

@@claymathewselevator8121 They could be his minions that help him win matches.

[@siegfriedc2332]

Xavier Woods might beat him to it first.

[@RolfWrenWalsh]

Greatest stable of all-time.

[@HArdyFanZE]

The thing with Okada just shows how inept TNA really was. That's crazy

[@DecadentDeviant13]

It destroyed their partnership with Japan for a good number of years.

[@chromedonut2441]

They had Nakamura and Tanahashi at the the same time as Okaka, and wasted all 3.

[@danwojcik8306]

There are a number of wrestlers who could have ended up on this list. Here are five. Super Olympia turned into Arn Anderson. Flex Kavana became the Rock. Sterling Golden became Hulk Hogan. Blade Runner Rock became the Ultimate Warrior. Scotty Flamingo eventually became Raven.

[@pyrusane]

And don't forget that Blade Runner Flash became Sting

[@mychaeljones7526]

I don't remember Scotty Flamingo

[@pyrusane]

He was Scotty Flamingo for like a year or two in WCW in the early 90s, before he went to WWF as Johnny Polo.

[@keithhightower646]

You mentioned Dustin Rhodes and didn't include "Black Rain" as his terrible gimmick? Guess we really don't talk about that one anymore, do we?🤣

[@richardhunt6310]

About a week ago he blocked like 4 trolls for bringing up that preticualr character

[@sasogorelick]

I liked the music

[@r3tr0gam3r89]

Don't forget "The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust" either. That one was really odd

[@killercroc99]

Seeing as how he was struggling with serious personal demons at the time that was created, I think it's for the best NOBODY brings it up. Dude's doing well. Let him have his fun without being reminded of hitting rock bottom

[@knightshousegames]

It's just interesting to imagine the bizarro world where Cody and Dustin can have that incredible match with The Shield at Battlegrounds and instead of thinking "Maybe Dustin should drop the gimmick and have Cody and Dustin continue doing these great matches" the idea they ended up landing on instead was "lets dress Cody up like Golddust too!" It's ironic, WWE could use a panda bear as it's mascot, because it continues to live despite it's own best efforts to make itself extinct

[@fabioorlando8787]

Lovely (unintended?) pun! Panda bear, WWE, WWF... quality comment. Plus i would love to see that bizarro world scenario

[@SAJL1VE]

This comment needs more love 😂

[@A_Random_IRS_B0T_]

Jesus, you just slaughter them.

[@ericdemby4644]

I liked goldust makeup during his tag team with cody

[@L_HD]

You really wanted Dustin to drop his iconic Goldust gimmick? Stardust was logical, but it was done poorly

[@DJCloroxx]

Broken Dreams is an all-timer theme for me.

[@DeepSubmerge]

It’s my generic ringtone for most callers so I listen to it a lot as I don’t answer the phone

[@achimsinn6189]

a Dentist Gimmick wouldn't get over Britt Baker: HOLD MY TOOTHBRUSH!

[@killercroc99]

Britt actually IS a dentist tho. Glenn is an economics nerd better suited to run for mayor in a college town.

[@matija9540]

Drew at 1:13 looks like Matt and Nick Jackson’s long lost brother

[@HarleyQuinnSoldier]

I was thinking that

[@JJRegal4]

I miss Sanity Nikki Cross. And her theme was a banger.

[@Callmecorlee]

So it’s just me that liked the gimmick? Maybe Cody is just that good to me. He made every gimmick work imo. Dashing (my favorite), Broken (with the mask), and Stardust.

[@Straw_Hat_11]

Stardust was cringy to me tbh, I agree with dashing and broken being successful cause of Cody’s charisma but stardust was as weird as golddust if not weirder😂🤣

[@thebigbop5866]

It was a good gimmick and he was great in it but after just a few weeks he was left with nothing to do and it stayed that way.

[@brianbenoit6883]

When I saw the thumbnail, my reaction was that the American Nightmare isn't THAT terrible, a little pedestrian maybe, but not horrible.

[@ROMANTIKILLER2]

He hates that gimmick, but honestly he committed so much to it that it kinda made it work as a midcard act.

[@killercroc99]

It was fun for a bit, but it grew old, everyone knew it was awful, and eventually we were just waiting for something to happen.

[@y2shuproblem]

Not gonna lie, Drew at times looked like the long lost 3rd Young Buck in some of the 3MB shots.

[@CH-ju8zt]

How could you not make Se7en number 7... I mean, it was right there.

[@robertsmithii6947]

I was thinking the same thing

[@giorgioperuzzotti9827]

@@robertsmithii6947 me too

[@MGBillionaire]

please bring back crazy Nikki Cross

[@chuckwolf9869]

ironic since an evil dentist is considered one of the best female gimmicks in wrestling right now

[@abadenoughdude300]

Very ironic, considering how everyone scoffs at the 90's WWF job-based gimmicks yet now we have dentists, librarians and whatnot and it's suddenly awesome and creative. Does the community even actually know what it wants?

[@mychaeljones7526]

@@abadenoughdude300 well tbf the dentist is a legit dentist 🦷

[@mychaeljones7526]

@@abadenoughdude300 jury still out on Leva Bates as a librarian

[@killercroc99]

Except the dentist part isn't a gimmick, the evil part is.

[@jackmetrro]

But she's actually a dentist.....

[@GenesisXTRM]

Soon as I saw Chavo's name I was like" oh no.....Kerwin...."

[@yungalmonds3990]

Honestly I liked 3MB, their theme was fire

[@Dave0G]

Their booking, however, was not. Still good boy stable fodder, until 2/3 ended up champions of course.

[@360entertainment2]

At the time I thought they were ridiculous but man were they fun!

[@Cr1ngedClient]

Never knew Okada was in TNA, that is insane to me.

[@DecadentDeviant13]

It destroyed their partnership with Japan for a good number of years.

[@mattwilkinson5858]

Same here, how they managed to let him slip by is criminal

@@DecadentDeviant13 not japan, just NJPW. they kept working with Wrestle-1

[@98nh3609]

If absolutely nothing else, 3mb held two future world champs and is reponsible for the claymore. Not bad

[@TheButTickler]

People didnt care.about Dentist Kane. People HATED the Corporate Kane.

[@theroosterbooster1]

I'm surprised Ed Leslie wasnt on the list, he had one good gimmick in Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, and just about any of his other incarnations were pretty poor!

[@noyce.]

An opposite one would be Hurricane (GREAT GIMMICK), Gregory Helms (Notso much)

[@nudelfriedhof612]

For Simon Miller i have to mention Repo Man and Smash were great Gimmiks but The Blacktop Bully was terrible. Damien Sandow was great as Stuntdouble but terrible as Macho Mandow. Becky Lynch is awesome as "The Man" and Big Time Becks but here NXT-Debüt as a dancing irisch Women was terrible. Bray Wyatt was awesome as Cultureleader and as The Fiends but the Husky Harris Gimmick was terrible. Rikishi was great but his former Gimmiks as The Sultan and "Make a Difference" were terrible.

[@jamondross8717]

NXT Becky was dope

[@stephencarruthers3134]

I’d say dustins black reign in tna was his worst

[@killercroc99]

Yeah, but considering the shape he was in mentally and physically, it's best we don't talk about it and instead talk about how well he's doing now.

[@DATGASPAQ]

As soon as I heard Goldust, my brain said, “ Black Reign theme oh no! “

[@DecadentDeviant13]

Vince was trying to get Henry to quit with the original contract he gave him. Hence the horrible gimmicks.

[@SeasideDetective2]

I wish I knew exactly what made a gimmick good or bad. I think many wrestling fans think that if children would enjoy a gimmick, then that gimmick is automatically bad. Do we have to be so cynical?

[@derrickhaggard]

I try to forget that the Kerwin White gimmick was a actual thing

[@robertsmithii6947]

Chavo Guerrero wishes everyone would forget Kerwin White

[@psyniac]

Aren't we all.

[@TjayN2o]

3MB was Great

[@AnthonyMackONE]

Oh, Dustin Rhodes had more than 1 terrible gimmick. He has a collection of them!

[@TimMendeesVideo]

Surprised you missed Raven Raven was an awesome character while his earlier Johnny Polo really wasn't

[@chrisochman4495]

Love hearing Psy again!!!❤

[@FINETUNEDGAMING]

It’s honestly a Christmas miracle that NJPW does business at all with Impact after that Okada foolishness. Impact owes AEW their lives.

[@DecadentDeviant13]

It destroyed their partnership with Japan for a good number of years.

[@mychaeljones7526]

She's also turning more villain now

[@cripplermaximus]

The Kerwin White thing is cringey, buuuuuut it’s also hilarious. I’m Mexican American, from El Paso actually, and us Mexicans know plenty of brown people that want to act white. It’s kinda brilliant. Hahaha.

[@KB-qk1ic]

I think a lot of people got it, but there was only so much you could do with that gimmick. I found him hilarious, but I'm black and hated cryme tyme and still not a fan of R-Truth.

[@DarthMalaks_Missing_Lower_Jaw]

@@KB-qk1ic Holy Jeebus, there was a stable called Cryme Tyme and, let me guess, it had black people in it?

[@cripplermaximus]

@@KB-qk1ic Fair. I always try to check myself when they have a person of color acting in a messed up way. But then it’s also like, acting, and characters. I can only speak to the Latino stuff, but, I gotta say the depictions of Black folk are much more stereotypical and make me uncomfortable.

[@ROMANTIKILLER2]

"an evil dentist has no place in the evolving state of wrestling" Dr. Britt Baker DMD would like to object. ;-)

[@dariusswift1228]

Corporate Kane is arguably worse than Issac Yankem 🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️

[@claymathewselevator8121]

I want Brooks Jensen and John Cena to a segment or match together since he’s Bull Buchanan’s son

[@mattlawton11]

Psy becoming one of my favorite presenters

[@LanceJade]

Let’s not forget that Bull was also a member of the Kurgan vehicle The Truth Commisson. I believe he was called Sniper for that mess.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

I enjoyed the Stardust vs Stephen Amell feud

[@haywardhummus8777]

Kerwin White was actually fire watch his promos, he spoke so sarcastically and nobody could have done it but Chavo.

[@Hawkeye26]

Kevin Nash, Billy Gunn, Triple H...lots of other choices.

[@JBWYT]

It’s funny how an evil dentist didn’t work then but totally works now 🤣

[@killercroc99]

Only because Britt's an actual dentist who's good at playing an elitist shrew.

[@nosrepsuomynona7192]

a shame that Seven isn't number 7 on this list

[@everyonesidol9731]

How did TNA screw up Okada of all people

[@nervoussips2622]

Because Americans don't care about the foreign wrestlers.

[@Surprise301]

Its TNA that's why

[@nervoussips2622]

@@Surprise301 it has nothing to do with tna foreign wrestlers do proform well in the USA.

[@KB-qk1ic]

Japanese wrestlers usually do excursions where they'll leave whatever promotion they trained at, go overseas ideally and learn something different. I think TNA just looked at it as a waste of resources to spend more time, and energy on a guy bound to leave anyway.

[@TheJuliet316]

"Wrestling fans everywhere are now suspicious of salmon colored suits" 🤣

[@lordofpain3476]

Kerwin White was so bad that it killed his uncle Eddie . Damn you Vince .

[@logansproule8187]

Sexual Chocolate was f’n GOLD

[@petebreadwards8737]

I disagree on Henry. Sexual chocolate was very attitude era, it was absurd and fun.

[@siegfriedc2332]

Though I agree with your statement, it did make it harder to take Mark Henry seriously when he was suddenly pushed as a main eventer against Batista.

[@petebreadwards8737]

@@siegfriedc2332 Batista started as a lackey for Brother D-von. Gotta have a short memory with wrestling.

[@siegfriedc2332]

@@petebreadwards8737 An enforcer role doesn't hurt a wrestler's credibility imo. Batista never had any weird storylines like Mark did (the Mae Young stuff, the overall sex addiction aspect of the gimmick, etc). Furthermore, Batista was carefully built up before being pushed to the main event, whereas Mark Henry suddenly becoming a title challenger came out of nowhere.

[@TerryBollea1]

Finally!!!!!! Someone admitting that 7 WASNT killed by Dustin and that that promo was a work to get him out of it.

[@killercroc99]

To be fair, in the case of a certain DMD, the dentist part is NOT a gimmick, the evil part is.

[@pauldesigncomics2625]

Terry Taylor/Red Rooster, Hunter Hurst Hensley/Triple H

[@garyhen2028]

Funny thing with Kane! Knowing gallows played fake Kane, but that was worse than anything glen did lol

[@barryparker4733]

Brilliant gimmicks for Bray Wyatt: Wyatt Family and The Fiend Worst for Bray: Husky Harris

[@claymathewselevator8121]

I remember when they’d refer to Husky Harris as The Army Tank With A Ferrari Engine on NXT

[@herecomesdatrain]

@@claymathewselevator8121 that was so cool when I heard it

[@siegfriedc2332]

@@herecomesdatrain Same, until u realise that tanks have stronger engines already.

the worst one is Fiend

[@SinisterGreed19]

The Good guy Roman - Bad Gimmick Tribal Chief Roman - Good Gimmick

[@derpmang5539]

The only annoying thing about RTC was their entrance but, I thought they were a pretty good heel group. I mean, they got you to not like them, which is what heels do. So, yeah, I thought they were good.

[@MagicMike-rd8mz]

You had fogot about Smash form Domletion to the Repo Man !!! Also Nova from Ecw Wcw to Simon Dean WWE and Decon Baptisha to just Baptisha

[@martinrubio5416]

The seven gimmick was bad bad

[@ExtremeEgg80]

The irony of the Emma one is that on her instagram she is the Emmalina gimmick in real life.

[@crypto101podcast]

Taichi is simultaneously a great and terrible gimmick. A failed pop star/vampire(?) who is beyond lazy and angry that others are more successful than him. Yet he owns it so well, it just works. He built serious go-home heat for 15 years in NJPW before trying his best for the first time (vs Ishii). It was such an amazing turn, that one match now got him over, regardless of if he tries hard or not. When he finally moved up to heavyweight and won a title, he stepped on the title because it was beneath him. He's proof any gimmick can be successful if you really lean into it.

[@ethanderoche9253]

To this day I still love Drew McIntyre's old theme.

[@pyrusane]

Kerwin White was Chavo's idea, he created the whole thing himself, so no one "gave" him that character at all

[@seandomanski9779]

Dustin Rhodes had 2 terrible gimmicks including Black Reign

[@jasonpiche84]

Ill never understand the dislike of Stardust... I feel like that was Cody's best promo work and character.

[@pelago_]

Didn’t New Japan get the shits at how TNA were treating Okada so they pulled him and cut ties with TNA?

[@PaulJN566]

B2 was awesome.

[@ShadowArcherRaccoonPD]

Bull Buchanan was also Recon from The Truth Commission

[@claymathewselevator8121]

And Brooks Jensen’s dad

[@jamondross8717]

Nice video WhatCulture

[@bubbajoshproductions3990]

Honorable Mention: Dolph Ziggler. Best Gimmick-when he teamed with AJ Lee and Big E. Worse Gommick-male cheerleader Nicky

[@Wilmeiser]

For Dustin Rhodes, I would have chosen Black Reign in TNA instead of Seven in WCW. Black Reign was Dustin at his worst, and it was bizarre to see for all of the wrong reasons. I get why Seven was on here, but Black Reign literally won worst gimmick from Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Goldust did win it twice, but Black Reign earned it.

[@MongoJoe7863]

*Looks at chapter titles* "Ball Buchanan" Hell nah 😂😂😂😂

[@chrisbuttonshaw2088]

Stardust was TWO YEARS??!! damn

[@charlesorlando794]

Terrible gimmicks: The Booty Man The man with no name Brother Bruti The Butcher The disciple Ed Boulder Ed Hogan The zodiac And on and on and on Good gimmicks: Standing there while Marty Janetty dove through the window to escape Shawn Michaels.

[@Dawn_Of_Justice]

What about Mei Ying & Wendy Choo. Terrible Gimmick.

[@TheLoserface45]

The New Day as literally just the same Gimmick but good as heels and bad as faces

[@ogre_enterprises9398]

Alexa Bliss isn't on this list...you're telling me that Sexual Chocolate was worse than a "Female Reboot" of The Fiend? DAFUQ OUTTA HERE YOU BLYMIE BLOKE!!!

[@schmidington]

RTC is legendary!!

[@bigwobs8040]

Repo Man's music was cool though 😎

[@UchuKejiMovan]

He wasn't Okada back then. He was a young boy and young boys usually get awful gimmicks during their excursion

[@KB-qk1ic]

True. In impacts defense I believe they looked at it more as a "why invest in this kid that will jump back to njpw anyway?". Very shortsighted but also logical.

[@UchuKejiMovan]

@@KB-qk1ic exactly! He wasn't there to be a future main eventer or even mid carder. He was there to get international experience and then go back to NJPW and do whatever they ask him to do

[@artirony410]

@@KB-qk1ic yeah they did the same with Naito when he was there

[@abadenoughdude300]

I mean, it's easy to look back with 20/20 hindsight and call it a wasted opportunity but it's all part of evolution and growing as a character. If TNA gave Okada a better gimmick then maybe he would've settled with it and we wouldn't get Rainmaker down the road.

[@artirony410]

@@abadenoughdude300 yeah Okada has credited his time in TNA with being what caused him to develop the Rainmaker gimmick

[@wolvie667]

Sorry but what I hate about Nikki cross her superhero gimmick is that it is heel now. How can you have a superhero as a heel?

[@casey-j-neercjn7856]

To this day Right To Censor is my all time favorite Heel Faction....... soooooooooooooooooo good Also stop making me Remember Kerwin White

[@ericdemby4644]

You can't count the seven gimmick since it was never even pushed at all.

[@rajithfernando6200]

You had one job...put SEVEN as number 7 💁

[@regg97]

Hey sexual chocolate was one of the best gimmiks

[@princebloodgrave8097]

:( Aww, but Stardust was my favorite version of him.

[@kevinwallace4646]

Dustin as black reign was way worse

[@nintoollica955]

Leave it to WhatCulture to never having a sense of humor when it comes to wrestling gimmicks. Kerwin White was so hilarious!

[@Shin-Blade]

Uh, wasn't Okada's TNA character based on The Green Hornet's BRUCE LEE instead of the trash movie? 🤣

[@pyrusane]

Lol you're giving TNA a lot of credit there...

[@richardpierre7533]

TNA was definitely mirroring the movie as the character Kato is Japanese.Bruce of course was Chinese-American.Which means Bruces crappy tv gimmick was Kato and his movie gimmick, "himself" was legendary.

[@longshot_lark]

When did Cody play tribute to Metal Gear Solid?

[@thechefmike]

Aj Styles being turned into Ric Flair on TNA that failed to make him heel and felt too much unlike him

[@tazdivil6527]

To be totally honest, I think Nikki A.S.H. Is pretty damn good

[@tazdivil6527]

Also right to censor was one of my favourite heel stables in the attitude era

[@mychaeljones7526]

You forgot that Nikki ASH won the RAW Women's championship

[@warlock12uk]

I'm guessing that Psy only read about The Green Hornet & Cato in the research for this vid, rather than actually watching the film (or the 60's TV show, or reading the comics. or...) otherwise he would know the name is pronounced Kay-toh, not Kah-toh. I know it sounds closer to Okada; no clue how his TNA name was pronounced - never even knew he spent any time there.

[@dariusswift1228]

I enjoyed Stardust 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@kingkrome2037]

Wait none of Kev Nash previous bad gimmicks is on here?

[@prodfkamakesmusic]

I will take no sexual chocolate disrespect 😂🍫

[@satadrubanerjee6228]

An evil dentist has no place in pro-wrestling??? Dudeeeeee we literally have a DMD!!

[@damaged2810]

3MB was better than firing them. They actually had good matches. Make Nikki great again

[@Brando-Lee3725]

If Stardust had a freakier haircut or dye job to match the paint wouldve helped vaguely ! Its funny that , THAT was my gripe !back then LOL !!! If youre gonna do it , go all the way !!! Im glad hes WAY passed that now !!!

[@Biscuit1968]

I really miss Nikki Cross’ old gimmick. That super hero gimmick is god awful