My question to you is, as the title suggests, who made who?

 

Which wrestler, despite a bad gimmick or whatever, shone through? This does not have to be talent wise, but character etc.

 

On the other hand, which wrestler “survived” only because of a gimmick?

 

My choices are:

 

The wrestler that made himself:

The Undertaker. Given that he had 99.9% freedom to develop his character, I think it is fair to say that ‘Taker has evolved the Undertaker gimmick excellently. Think about it, the Undertaker gimmick could have so easily been an inductee into WrestleCrap. Just when the goofy and cartoon-ish were being eradicated in wrestling, ‘Taker stepped-up a gear in the evolution of his character. In my opinion, the Ministry era was the gimmick at its best.

 

The gimmick that made the wrestler:

To be fair, I immediately can’t think of anyone. Perhaps your opinions will enlighten me?

 

Who Made Who For You?

Originally posted by Cactus Jack

The gimmick that made the wrestler:

To be fair, I immediately can’t think of anyone. Perhaps your opinions will enlighten me?

 

 

Hulk Hogan springs to mind

This is a really interestin topic actually...

 

Made the gimmick:

I think Mick Foley really did change the Mankind one to be honest, I mean lets not even try and imagine what Vince originally wanted. Foley managed, just as Cactus pointed out Taker did, to evolve the gimmick in my opinion.

 

Another example for me would be Ted Dibiase, who I think did a great job of pulling off the Million Dollar Man gimmick. Sorry but I just loved it, and he was so hatable. I just couldn't picture anyone else pulling off the gimmick as well.

 

Gimmick made them:

I'm trying really hard to think of anyone who's a crap worker but made it with a good gimmick... Can't think of anyone right now though! Maybe the Big Boss Man? Although there are a lot of guys who are up there purely because of their gimmick though... so it is a tough question. Guys like Kane and say Hurricane... without their gimmick they'd probably still be jobbing around.

 

You know it'd probably be easier to say who was destroyed by a gimmick rather than helped :P

Edited June 12, 200321 yr by Simon

Re: Re: Who Made Who?

 

Originally posted by Seabass

Hulk Hogan springs to mind

 

I was thinking about him, but decided against. I mean what, gimmick wise, was different between Hogan & Hacksaw Jim Duggan? They both had similiar gimmicks, yet only one shone.

Re: Re: Re: Who Made Who?

 

Originally posted by Cactus Jack

I was thinking about him, but decided against. I mean what, gimmick wise, was different between Hogan & Hacksaw Jim Duggan? They both had similiar gimmicks, yet only one shone.

 

Hogan was chasmatic and was a decent worker, but the gimmick helped people take notice of him more and without it, he proabably wouldn't be here where he is today...it could have been someone else

not saying hogan wouldn't have been popular. But without the gimmick, would he be this popular?

the self made man has to be the rock, but like hogan he's good but the one liner 'rockisms' make him just that bit more popular and he came up with them himself or borrowed them from his pals and brought "Jabroni" out the locker room and into the public concsiousness.

Foley again is one who his own gimmicks (Dude love and Cactus Jack and his persona as commisioner) were great but when he got the mankind gimmick he altered it and made it his own too

 

 

survivors only on gimmick i don't know.

Hogan was a decent work?!...I must've been that phase of career. He WAS charismatic however, that's what got him over. I would say Taker, but he was pushed to Mars as soon as he jumped from WCW in 1990.

 

Foley wasn't given a gimmick as such, as he carved one for himself whilst working Indies and Japan. Mankind was just a toned-down version of Cactus Jack.

 

Satoru Sayama made the Tiger Mask gimmick work, because before he worked a match under the hood, it seemed to have "dud" written all over it. He got some help from a British Bulldog as well mind.

 

Have to agree with Ted DiBiase, before that guise, he was a hugely over face down in the Mid-South. The laugh was a genius idea that added so much.

okay, maybe saying he was a decent worker was maybe an exagrration. but he was a good worker at the most (and when i say that- i meant early on on his carrer...prehaps pre-hulkmania)

Hogan copied/barrowed his whole speil from Billy Graham though, so it was easy to sit and watch Graham, then go out and repeat it. At least Flair tweaked what Buddy Rogers did and evolved.

I have to say Goldust made that gimmick work as some of the stuff he did with Razor Ramon and Ahemed Johnson were hillarious not to mention some of the funniest skits ever with Booker T last year

Originally posted by Craig Van Dam

I have to say Goldust made that gimmick work as some of the stuff he did with Razor Ramon and Ahemed Johnson were hillarious not to mention some of the funniest skits ever with Booker T last year

 

Absolutly!

His "promo" on Beyond The Mat was quite funny :lol