The End of Gimmicks?

Over the years there have been many wrestlers with outrageous gimmicks but with the careers of Kane and the Undertaker coming to an end have we seen the last of the true gimmick wrestlers in WWE? Looking over the male roster of both Raw and SmackDown (53) besides the aging Kane, Undertaker and Goldust there are no real gimmick wrestlers. 40 of the current roster are just generic first name last name, with the few excepts including JTG, The Miz, Sin Cara and The Big Show.

My question is, if characters such as Undertaker, Mankind and Gangrel had never been seen before and they turned up on Raw tonight claiming they were dead, crazy or a vampire would they get laughed out of the building?

In my opinion they would, I think it's more the fact that it's not believable anymore as people are wiser and don't suspend their disbelief as much as in the past. The closest WWE has had to come to a true gimmick in the last few years is the Boogeyman and as entertaining as he was he never made it. I think The Undertaker is one of a kind to be so successful as a gimmick wrestler and I believe once he hangs his boots up there will never be another successful gimmick wrestler.

dwindow wrote:

Over the years there have been many wrestlers with outrageous gimmicks but with the careers of Kane and the Undertaker coming to an end have we seen the last of the true gimmick wrestlers in WWE? Looking over the male roster of both Raw and SmackDown (53) besides the aging Kane, Undertaker and Goldust there are no real gimmick wrestlers. 40 of the current roster are just generic first name last name, with the few excepts including JTG, The Miz, Sin Cara and The Big Show.

My question is, if characters such as Undertaker, Mankind and Gangrel had never been seen before and they turned up on Raw tonight claiming they were dead, crazy or a vampire would they get laughed out of the building?

In my opinion they would, I think it's more the fact that it's not believable anymore as people are wiser and don't suspend their disbelief as much as in the past. The closest WWE has had to come to a true gimmick in the last few years is the Boogeyman and as entertaining as he was he never made it. I think The Undertaker is one of a kind to be so successful as a gimmick wrestler and I believe once he hangs his boots up there will never be another successful gimmick wrestler.

If the booking's good (which it really isn't these days), over time, I don't see why they couldn't get over (with the kiddies and women at least). But I agree with you, things like the Internet makes it harder to suspend people's disbelief. Nowadays, a person would probably post a picture of Taker on Twitter in Tesco saying that real deadmen don't have to eat or something in order to show that they are not a "sheep" or a "mark" or whatever.

I don't think gimmicks are dead, they've just evolved. I don't think the entire audience will ever truly accept a supernatural character again (the likes of Taker and Gangrel). Just look at another form of entertainment, horror films. People are no longer interested in Dracula and Frankenstein, they want gore caused by real life killers like in SAW.

Right now, if people just see an interesting side to your personality/character, they will latch onto it. Orton with his anger problems, Miz with his typical reality show contestant arrogance, Del Rio with his rich kid background etc.

I agree and I don't, if that makes any sense!

I think there are still gimmicks, they've just been 'humanised' and a lot less cartoonish than they once were. Even the Undertaker has toned down an awful lot of the supernatural stuff he used to do (the eyes rolling up, PAul Bearer and the urn, all that stuff) and he's now more based on an MMA fighter.

Of recent years, Umaga has been the most successful gimmick I can think of, and again, over time, he became more human than when he debuted. I remember I was stunned when he suddenly started talking...

if you look at today's crop, Cena's a wannabe street-thug (possibly), Sin Cara and Rey are luchadors, Del Rio is playing the same gimmick that JBL did, Punk was straight-edge with a religious bent and is now the voice of the male adult WWE audience... with the rise of UFC and other mixed-martial-arts groups, I'd say that's had the effect of making the gimmicks much more believable.

As to whether an OTT gimmick would be successful today? I'd be stunned if Vince McMahon decided there was a gaping hole on the roster that could only be plugged by an FCW rookie repackaging himself as Chuckles The Clown, Doink's long-lost brother...