10 WWE Gimmicks That Worked For One Wrestler (But Not Another)

[@akshaykotian3063]

Thankfully WWE would learn from this and never do it again. Shows Cena and Reigns. "Yeah right!" LOLZ 😂

[@Thor-Orion]

Shawn Cena you say? Is he being brought in to team with Johnny Boy?

[@iamafriendsfan]

Atleast Cena's runs were good as a babyface 😂

[@YensecaTube]

Luna Vachon and Sherry Martel were the best at being crazy. I'm still afraid of those two

[@gregwalther3428]

Yup, Sherri Martel is the gold standard of "Crazy Chick"

[@timpowell4136]

Sandman on broken skull sessions. Could be interesting

[@kamarichristie4346]

I agree

[@kamarichristie4346]

Both men should have a beer bath

[@calumneeson20]

I feel like that would be the first one to genuinely end with some broken skulls

[@crazyhayn]

It would break a record for censored words

[@Gamamus]

I agree but I think it’s highly unlikely. I’d love to hear about him being ECW’s go-to guy for all their carpentry needs.

[@TheNaturalPatHarris]

Rob Conway did the best Buff Bagwell impression in WWE

[@thevoid99]

and was a better wrestler than buff.

[@rossclutterbuck1060]

@@thevoid99 my dead gran is a better wrestler than Buff.

[@rossclutterbuck1060]

True true, I always so Rob Conway more as a WWE Buff Bagwell than a Rick Rude. Same with Chris Masters was more Lex Luger's Narcissist gimmick (complete with cloak).

[@steveomac385]

@@thevoid99 Buff was more over thus the better wrestler.

[@tniwde1]

How about a list of gimmicks that didn't work the first time, but wwe still tried it again with a different wrestler. Off the top of my head there's the teacher gimmick (Shane Douglas and Matt Striker)

[@UltimateGamerCC]

thing is this list already has some, including Bray Wyatt, as the person who tried to do his gimmick was called Waylon Mercy, but the original couldnt pull off what Bray did.

[@edgymcedgelord5297]

@@UltimateGamerCC it could have worked, but was cut short due to injuries

[@UltimateGamerCC]

@@edgymcedgelord5297 i've seen Waylon Mercy in action, he was creepy, but Bray was 10x creepier, i think it helped that he had associates along for the ride.

[@tomseville1057]

And now three times with Andre Chase on NXT 2.0...

[@insignificantaftermathPROJECTS]

Emmelina, Carmella and Eva Marie.

[@Lord_Dranek]

i gotta say the HHH and HBK did a pretty good Vince and Shane. "Look dad. Look at me im dancing.................SHADDUP!"

[@TheLastOutlawSaulGoode]

Gets me Everytime. I laugh SOOOO hard

[@samclark379]

Shawn-O-Mac!

[@moneybenny2168]

Rob Conway lol. I never thought of Rob Conway & Rick Rude in comparison

[@herecomesdatrain]

I think more of val venis than conway

[@ellismartin260]

waylon mercy was one of my favorite gimmicks, and when bray came about, totally blew my mind

[@blaster5800]

Slam Master J's abs where impressive. He went from chubby to ripped in like 3 months. I still remember the scene where he showed his abs to John Morrison, and Morrison was impressed as well

[@daltonpinell6251]

I'm surprised "America Hating Foreign Heel" didn't make the list

[@andrewshandle]

That one still works though for the most part.

[@siegfriedc2332]

@@andrewshandle Yeah, it does. I remember how every one of Rusev's rivals during his heel run got huge reactions just for opposing him, no matter which babyface it was.

[@Rohml]

It's always works tbh. The only reason the talent who uses the gimmick fades away is that the gimmick has a limited shelf-life upon which the talents changes gimmicks and people lose interest in them.

[@gabrielledormuth4634]

Rick Rude also did so well is because he had Bobby the brain Heenan as his manager and that guy is a legend in that department

[@Kobra6510]

You forgot the MMA crossover athlete

[@zoopie_doop8957]

I think a gimmick is only good when the wrestler doing it cares. I think Shane Thorne’s new gimmick will be good because it is something he came up with and really seems to be enjoying

[@paullihat7561]

That's right. If you enjoy what you do then it'll work too.

[@TonyStark-ef8oz]

I loved when Swagger had the ankle lock. I felt bad he never stayed a main eventer. I was happy he cashed in. It was awesome. I always felt bad for Luger.

[@insignificantaftermathPROJECTS]

Swagger as a main eventer would have worked if he remained the cocky jock and that push up entrance and smile but they made him serious and it failed.

[@Dirkus17]

Why didn’t Man Mountain Rock work? Yeah, I don’t know either, dude.

[@jackcappadona7287]

Hey Simon! I'm the original writer of this article. I've always hoped you'd get around to one of my pieces!!! Just wanted to say thank you :)

[@fletchdavidson6079]

I appreciate you referring to the gimmick as the "White Boy Rapper".

[@ChristopherJames1993]

Or 'Em wannabe'.

[@kdayomi827]

I know one thing for sure Rob Conway's entrance theme did him absolutely no favors

[@loucifer_315]

I.R.S. in the classic Syracuse jacket is nostalgic

[@claymathewselevator8121]

College roommates with Gronk’s dad there too that’s part of how Mojo Rawley got to WWE

[@jonathanellis6097]

Really this is a list of gimmicks that could (and should) have worked twice or more, but didnt because of awful WWE booking. Its not rocket science.

[@BeautyBeatdown]

Where do you come up with these ideas lol love them

[@jackalope9354]

It takes a fair amount of cannabis.

[@jackalope9354]

@MR.CLAW1997 that plus people's comments and they never give them credit. Aka they did that to me with current people who wrestled for WWE in jail.

[@robertclark2253]

Max Cady was played by 2 actors Robert Mitchum in the original Cape Fear in the 1960's and Robert DeNiro in the 1990 remake .

[@jeffreymark475]

I would never say Rude and Conway had the same gimmick. They were completely different

[@BDCogar]

Daphne also did the “crazy woman” gimmick really well in her WCW days.

[@PrizeJ]

Hell Nikki Cross was perfect with it in NXT with Sanity. Her feud with Asuka was great. Psycho Nikki Cross against an unstoppable assassin Asuka.

[@titanhades4331]

@@PrizeJ we are forgetting Victoria.

[@tomseville1057]

True, but "crazy woman Daffney" doesn't sound so fun anymore...

[@PrizeJ]

@@titanhades4331 I thought Simon mentioned Victoria? Oh well, her too then.

[@jordantrix3331]

As did Nikki Cross in her NXT days

[@phayroent9742]

You could do another entire list of football player to wrestler, and then another list on boxers, and yet another list on the other major sports figures who became wrestlers.

[@DukesMusic84]

Man Mountain Rock was the inspiration for Rick Boogs. It's so WWE to do a trope that worked for 2 minutes in the 90s.

[@Podgorski37]

He's over, deal with it

[@JohnBoyAdvance]

I never really saw Dana as a Chyna analogue. Like Chyna was legit as big as some of the men and Dana is just a little bigger than the women she wrestles with. Poor Dana. Poor Chyna.

[@jeangentry6656]

If anyone was a Chyna analogue (at 1st at least) it was Victoria. They openly compared her look to Chyna all the time when she debuted. Plus, I think Chyna was the one who gave her the idea to become a pro wrestler.

[@korywilliamsO.G.1]

At #10, let's NOT for the Reflection of Perfection........Mark Jindrak with Teddy Long!!! 🤣🤣🤣

[@Thor-Orion]

Dana Brooke is so attractive to me. Mandy Rose is a little more so, you put the two of them in a tag team together and you have me glued to the tele.

[@nohandle227]

The guitarist.......you failed to mention Rick Boogs, The Honky Tonk man, or even Jeff Jarrett.

[@myhandlewastaken]

Maybe because those are times when it worked.

[@ChristopherJames1993]

Yeah and how over are all those guys. Elias sucks.

[@TJ52359]

Boogs is still new (ish) so it's too early to see how he does long term... HTM is more Elvis/Elvis Impersonator than 'Guitarist' and JJ was a 'singer' in so much as any other 'Occupational' Wrestler was something else... - WCW's Van Hammer comes to mind w/ the Guitarist Gimmick

[@IVIUT3D]

John Cena not only liked rap, he practiced often and it showed. He could spit a few lines, but as a hip hop head I was always left unimpressed. The rerun of Cena I took with offense to. When Jesse did it, it was offensive to hip-hop fans.

[@SodaSeezn]

Exactly.... He wasn't and still isn't a good rapper but he was definitely initiated and far from the worst... He felt natural as a white boy rapper with good parents.

[@jasonsabbath6996]

Waylon Mercy, ne Dangerous Dan Spivey, also teamed with the Undertaker in WCW as the Skyscrapers. Sid was also in that group too.

[@TJ52359]

wasn't it Sid & Spivey... w/ 'Mark' as the substitute, because Sid was injured... to be pedantic

[@jasonsabbath6996]

@@TJ52359 not pedantic at all! You might be 100% correct, now that I think about it. 🤔 👍

[@zacharyrodriguez4348]

How about the foreign heel?

[@ronaldsb3]

😂😂 Man Mountain Rock!!! 😂😂 Daphne and Crazy Nikki Cross were similar characters that worked

[@scottblanco5991]

That Ascension burial was just terrible. Thats when I got how bad the WWE was to their own people. I still don’t understand it. But it’s happened to NXT a lot since then.

[@GoramYako]

I only commend to remeber the Beautiful Alicia Fox Northern light suplex. Its perfect.

[@patrickhein6986]

Oh wait! Elias? Man, now I remember on his vignettes for his return. The last one was weeks ago. Seems WWE has dropped that thing even before it has started.

[@myhandlewastaken]

That's their pattern with those things. Show a few early, say nothing for about a month, air about 2 more, then debut. It's actually one of the things they're most consistent with.

[@Jr-hv2yn]

" the white boy rapper " freaking hilarious

[@PlatinumRoseLady]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:. When it came to Lex Lugar's second push - Wrapping someone up in the US flag doesn't automatically turn a guy into Captain America.

[@myhandlewastaken]

I was at the Intrepid when he slammed Yoko. People were into it. I think Luger wasn't into it.

[@PlatinumRoseLady]

@@myhandlewastaken That I can totally believe. Lugar looked like he wanted to be ANYWHERE else during that storyline. Some wrestlers are meant to be heels and that was Luger - the whole "I'm doing this all for MY BELOVED COUNTRY" routine just did not work.

[@Deadguy2322forreal]

A list like this is all the proof you need that Vince's idea of Sports Entertainment and having wrestlers be interchangeable and play the characters his writers come up with, is just plain moronic.

[@mdf3530]

Gimmicks that worked for one wrestler but not another: RAZOR RAMON

[@theroosterbooster1]

And Diesel of course!

[@imjusthere750]

This is a solid list which is nice to see. The last few list were very lackluster.

[@Deadguy2322forreal]

The "10 Insane Fats" one was embarrassing, as it was almost all common knowledge, or just not anything interesting, let alone mind-blowing.

[@imjusthere750]

@@Deadguy2322forreal the quality of videos on this channel has gone WAY down!!!!!!!!

[@Deadguy2322forreal]

@@imjusthere750 The fact that they put Phil Chambers in front of a camera and microphone is ample testament to them having no standards of quality to uphold anymore.

[@jeffreymark475]

Any list hosted by that Gareth dude I immediately turn it off

[@cjtuckerbpmc]

You forgot James Storm(beer swelling hero) he was literally in a tag team called Beer Money and would go to bars and pick random fights he was and is low key the best beer swiller of all time.

[@ChristopherJames1993]

That's not something DIDN'T work though div.

[@edgymcedgelord5297]

APA would be offended by this comment

[@Theyaintme_cb6]

Honorable Mentions: Kalisto copying Rey Mysterio - Brodus Clay copying Rikishi - And most recent fail Alexa Bliss trying to be the female Fiend

[@jessebunnell6442]

I WANT THE WWF GUITAR TOO SIMON!!!

[@tritrannhu7845]

Mordekai - Ministry of Darkness Undertaker Sin Cara - Mexican masked high flier Rey Mysterio Ryback - Bald bulky unstoppable Goldberg

[@mattnorton102]

The crazy woman gimmick worked for AJ Lee because she wasn't just a good wrestler, she was a good actor too.

[@NamelessKupal]

Max Caster (though he's not a WWE guy) now doing the Rap gimmick. He has bars but I dunno if he can be as over as Cena in overall.

[@danielsmith7084]

Good video.. but I'm slightly confused as itndidnwork for the Sandman.. whether it was on a grand stage or not his gimmick was still a success 🤔

[@gfear24]

Simon, you of all people should know that there is a huge difference between being a bodybuilder and a fitness athlete. Dana was a fitness athlete. They're built similar, but smaller, than bodybuilders, but also need to show off their fitness. Bodybuilders just stand and pose. Alexa Bliss was also a fitness athlete after her 2nd bout with Anorexia (which was 24 hours away from killing her at 18).

[@raytaylor6100]

The Road Warriors were the best tag team hands down

[@incitingariot9925]

Steve Williams learned to be Stone Cold in ecw. Never wrestled and just went off on promos

[@Brndn350Z]

Never forget K-Kwik and Road dogg are the original rapping wrestlers.

[@bubbak2403]

Whoa are we forgetting the rapping duo of Too Sexy 😂😂?

[@datboi9539]

The difference between Swagger and Angle is that Kurt had mic skills and charisma as well as wrestling skills...

[@mosquieto1]

When you were comparing Chyna I thought you would have done Nicole bass.

[@herecomesdatrain]

Me too mate but the asya one makes more sense if we want to use the monday night wars angle

[@PrizeJ]

You didn't even mention Nikki Cross under the crazy woman gimmick.

[@Deadguy2322forreal]

Nikki wasn't the same, really. She wasn't;t the standard crazy chick, she was dangerously disturbed and violent.

[@myhandlewastaken]

I'd describe Nikki more as hyper.

[@Deadguy2322forreal]

@@myhandlewastaken she had hyper moments and quiet ones, and usually they came at times where they were unsettlingly inappropriate.

[@PrizeJ]

@@myhandlewastaken You are thinking of her on the main roster, she was definitely Psychotic in NXT.

[@AkashYadavOriginal]

The masked Lucha Libre Wrestler. Since Rey Mysterio, WWE have tried many Masked High Flying Lucha Libre Wrestlers but no one got over.

[@kamarichristie4346]

I remember man mountain rock

[@deathmetal8259]

Surprised no one mentioned Chuck Palumbos' biker gimmick as a copy of Undertakers American Badass gimmick

[@marcespinoza6068]

Lex Luger was over as hell but Vince never pulled the trigger on giving him the title.

[@michaelmarino7391]

Vince did want to put the title on Luger. The locker room wanted Bret Hart.

[@christhornycroft3686]

@@michaelmarino7391 you know, a wrestler who could actually wrestle.

[@chloeirnes]

@@christhornycroft3686 I recently went on a Network binge and watched a lot of his matches. They weren't as bad as I remembered.

[@titanhades4331]

@@christhornycroft3686 Not to mention the reaction to Bret from the fans was greater then the one for Luger.

[@simsingh8492]

Luger gets a lot of hate but I think he was great in wcw.

[@toddtaylor6506]

Just the opposite ... the "Undertaker" gimmick (creepy, undead monster heel from parts unknown) worked for both Mark Callaway and Glenn Jacobs. I mean Callaway was actually billed as Kaine the Undertaker in very early appearances of the gimmick. They got two all-time great characters out of one gimmick essentially.

[@TheFlock83]

Big swing and a miss saying beer drinking didn’t work for Sandman

[@3p1kRhYmeZ]

Hey simon!! Can we get a top 10 of gimmicks that were bad, but should be tried again a slightly different way with the wrestler that should try it?

[@HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows9]

I can't believe you mentioned Mickie, AJ Lee but didn't mention the first crazy woman Victoria

[@dubdeuce1517]

John Cena can thank Mark Wahlberg for the swag in the beginning.

[@splitter7376]

Slam master J ohh boy was that one a low point 😆

[@timothygalvin3021]

Vampire worked out pretty well for Gangrel, Edge, and Christian. Not so much for Kevin Thorne

[@jeangentry6656]

To be fair, Cena wasn't the 1st to have the white boy rapper gimmick. Arguably, that started w/ Too Cool. It CAN be said that he was first to make it a serious gimmick, and not a comedy act (once his rhymes and promos improved).

[@fireheartgames]

Lex Lugar as the Narcists was a good gimmick. It was just the Total Package gimmick with a different name.

[@bradbogard4603]

I’m digging Josh Alexander, kind of a hybrid of Kurt Angle and the Steiner brothers… Bron Breakerrr hold my beer…

[@TheLastOutlawSaulGoode]

Josh Alexander is a monster!!! I’m

[@jesserice7777]

DAMNIT, I MISS FOXY!!!! 😢

[@shameyboismith3505]

Shameful they brought up crazy women and Nikki cross wasn't mentioned She is the best crazy lady, it's not even close

[@vanthdreadstar8039]

Putting job guys under masks. Brady Boone (Battle Kat), Al Snow (Avatar), Barry "O" (The Zodiac), Brad Armstrong (Arachnaman, Badstreet), Jose Luis Rivera, José Estrada Sr (The Conquistadors). Who did it work for? Owen Hart (Blue Blazer), Chris Kanyon (Mortis) and Shane Helms (The Hurricane).

[@blacklite911]

Hurricane kinda worked though… what’s up with that??

[@98nh3609]

I honestly think the narcissist muscle head at least had legs to stand on if not semi successful with Lex Luger and Chris Masters. Problem with Lex is Vince's boner for Hulk Hogan derailed his pretty much everything.

[@SinisterGreed19]

Simon is life

[@nathanheckelman302]

The Supernatural Monster, Undertaker and Kane did this so well that no one else could ever replicate their success in WWE. The Fiend Bray Wyatt and the Demon Finn Balor were close but Vince McMahon and WWE fucked those two up.

[@christopherdavis3424]

Chuck Plumbo trying and failing at Undertaker’s “American Badass” gimmick

[@TJ52359]

I know the 'fingerprints are there... but wasn't Palumbo 'supposed' to invoke Orange County Choppers/West Coast Choppers/American Chopper & Teutuls/Jesse James (and the like, who were Popular Reality Show subjects at the Time) more so than he was aiming for Biker Taker

[@johnavenger]

The racial stereotype gimmick.The guerreros did it well but then we had a knock off of it with the Mexicools,The Unamericans,etc.

[@Rohml]

Who is the brunette in the right-hand side @03:15? Is that Celeste Bonin (aka. Kaitlyn)?

[@SynysterReal]

New Video Idea. 10 Gimmicks that worked for one wrestler and another.

[@bryanthegoalie5692]

I must be the only Lex Luger fan. I knew him in WCW when he was side by side with (not andre) The Giant. I turned on Luger when he joined NWO

[@waynehiggins7950]

Thought that was matt lucas for a second in the thumb nail.

[@jeffharrisTXB]

The Big Black Lover was a weird trope WWE did twice. It worked for Mark Henry ... kind of. Everybody remembers his Sexual Chocolate gimmick. But when Viscera did his "World's Largest Love Machine" gimmick, it just seemed like a retread of that. Only without a pregnant octogenarian who gave birth to a hand at the end. Ah, the Attitude Era, folks. Seriously, the flub was that about?

[@TJ52359]

You could tweak it to "Not Conventionally Attractive Love Machine" and add Great Khali's time with the gimmick too...

[@TheRealDoffy]

The underdog masked wrestler gimmick aka Rey mysterio push. I remember they tried to do that with sin cara and well yk how that turned out and then they tried to do it with one member of the Lucha party and yea that went to crap.

[@mattnorton102]

Oh, I've got a good one. Gimmick: Fan favorite underdog held back by corporate and not allowed to succeed Worked for: CM Punk, Daniel Bryan Didn't work for: Roman Reigns

[@myhandlewastaken]

I don't remember when Roman faced off against the corporation. What year was that?

[@mattnorton102]

@@myhandlewastaken The one where he faced HHH at mania.

[@myhandlewastaken]

@@mattnorton102 That wasn't an underdog story, Roman won the triple threat match then got into a promo battle with Stephanie and HHH before Wrestlemania.

[@NathanHer0]

Why does it feel like Simon is carrying whatculture? You just can't help but love em. I'll give this video an up!! (I love all of you at wc I'm just taking the piss)

[@patrickhein6986]

Because Simon IS whatculture! ;-)

[@mosquieto1]

Do you think they will do the kurt angle gimmick for gable Stevenson?

[@TheLastOutlawSaulGoode]

That was my assumption. But I wouldn’t mind seeing him with Lashley and MVP

[@honestreviewer7788]

Best "amateur wrestler" gimmicks was the steiner bros and the varsity club

[@middleeastmusics6570]

You forgot about Alexa Blisses gimmick from the Fiend

[@achimsinn7782]

The masked Luchador in american wrestling. I mena yeah - there are many great Luchadors, but Rey Mysterio is the only one who stood in major american companies for a long time and others trying to copy him like Sin Cara or Kallisto failed to ever get even close to his success in the US.

[@baneto27]

Not at Mysterio Level, but I'd say things are working pretty good to Penta, Rey Fenix and Bandido

[@edmunda4128]

Alicia Fox is everything we need and more.

[@pucknorris3473]

I want to see you fight Simon Whistler... Do it to raise money for charity

[@korywilliamsO.G.1]

As for John Cena.......he was the 3rd white rapper gimmick but the 2nd to actually rap. 1st was PG-13 with the Nation of Domination (white rappers). 2nd was TOO Cool who didn't rap and 3rd was Cena!!!! But who's counting???

[@rodneycarson6964]

Never wanted to give YOU the "Finger", but I have to give YOU a "down", (was going to say "finger you", but I was keeping it PG-13 lol), saying Sandman's beer gimmick wasn't as good or Better than Stone Cold's??? A Pox on your house! Stone Cold ADMITTED he got it from Sandman!

[@niksin3231]

no mention of undertaker/mordecai or the one night only wcw's seven?

[@Theyaintme_cb6]

How could you mention the crazy woman gimmick and not mention Victoria? Smh 🤦🏾

[@wingedhussar1453]

Idk if that's so true and relative .most of these copy gimmicks were not meant to headline,etc

[@w.adamclarke7066]

Kurt Angle was, by far, not the first incarnation of the amateur superstar. The original incarnation of The Steiners did it long before, right down to Rick even still wearing the headgear.

[@TJ52359]

Maybe I'm Misremembering... But I thought Rick got some Early Mileage as a pretty boy/Ladies man... he then adopted the Head Gear after a legit Ear injury, and they based his 'Amateur Gimmick' in part around his use of the gear (and increased muscle mass acquired while out)

[@momictu]

Shawn Michaels (Boy Toy) and Shawn Stasiak (Meat)