From the Bowery: WWE Countdown: Most Infamous Gimmicks

From the Bowery: WWE Countdown: Most Infamous Gimmicks

-Some point I will do a proper review of Mania, but for now it was pretty fantastic. Everything was perfect in regards to Bryan’s ascension to the Title as everyone played their role perfectly. The other big news is the streak ending and again I will go in more detail later, but I will state that while I was beyond shocked, I wasn’t angered like most people I know. Overall a very good show with some great visuals, and production that was well worth the money I paid for the Network though I would have been ok paying the PPV price.

-The talking heads discuss the idea of gimmicks and how there are home run gimmicks and crappy ones. Miz brings up how in the 80s everyone seemed to be associated with an animal for a period of time. Much like the countdown a few weeks ago with biggest blunders this should be pretty fun!

10: The Mountie

-Really? I never had any problem with this one though part of that is because of the greatness of the theme song. Natalya puts over how good in the ring Jacques was, and Striker says the gimmick didn’t work because if you weren’t from Canada it was hard to understand. What was so hard to understand? Thankfully they discuss the song and even include the words on the screen and it is still amazing. Talk then turns to the jailhouse match with Boss Man at SummerSlam and Cesaro mentions how he flipped off the cops when he was finger printed. They actually show it which kinds of shocks me. Bret and Duggan don’t bury the gimmick and put over how good Jacques was with it. I agree!

9: Dynamic Dudes

-Now this is more like it! Of course CM Punk starts out the discussion and he crushes Johnny L. Hayes says that he thought the gimmick might work and now laughs about it. Big John himself discusses the origin of the gimmick and how it was Jim Herd’s idea. Heyman next and you can tell he feels embarrassed for all involved. Natalya says everyone makes fun of Johnny to this day and Road Dogg says that back in the day it may have cool, but key words being “back in the day.” Most of the attention of this piece is focused on Johnny with just a passing mention to Shane’s career.

8: Akeem

-They took the One Man Gang and turned him into a whit man that found his African roots. They include the debut package where Okerlund met Slick in an alley and we get the first glimpse of the transformation. Natalya mentions that she thinks it was a shot at Dusty Rhodes and yeah, I can totally see that. CM Punk and Rollins basically say the same thing and not shockingly Dusty had a brief run with Akeem when he came to the WWF. Everyone thinks that looking back the gimmick was kind of entertaining.

7: Glacier

-Blood Runs Cold! Daniel Bryan says he was looking forward to it because of all the hype and video packages. Then he debuted and everyone buries the costume, and the entrance. They put the blame on Bischoff as it was his brain child. Jericho mentions that costume cost $100,000. Wow! Oh crap, they actually break out Mortal Kombat footage of Sub-Zero. Greatest countdown ever! They discuss Mortis and Wrath next and while Glacier sucked, I had no problem with those two. Cody mentions that Ray Lloyd was a legit martial arts guy and Hugh Morrus says he was a great guy who only did what was asked of him. Fair point!

6: Disco Inferno

-When the Miz buries you and takes shots at you then your gimmick must really suck. Dusty can only say “holy shit” when talking about the gimmick. Regal says that Glen brought the gimmick with him from the Independent scene which was kind of rare as you were usually repackaged. Hugh says Glenn was hated more behind the scenes and we actually get Disco giving his side of the story. Nice! I kind of feel bad for the guy as they bury him and thankfully Hugh sticks up for him a bit as he says he was on TV more than most people on the roster because he embraced his goofiness. Regal mentions thinks ended up working for him because fans just had fun with his goofiness. The point brought up is him getting over The Disco Duck that was eventually killed by Scott Steiner. They all say he embraced the gimmick 100% and that is what helped get the gimmick over in the end.

-Recap as we reach the halfway point.

5: Red Rooster

-Poor Terry Taylor! The talking heads all flip over a card and see the Rooster in all his glory. Bret calls it the curse of all bad gimmicks. Taylor, to his credit, has fun talking about the gimmick now. Bryan calls Taylor an incredibly underrated wrestler that got stuck with a stupid gimmick. Taylor says he didn’t get the gimmick, but Vince was way into it and did he best to sell him on the idea. He calls the gimmick cool though when he got into the character and got behind it. Miz brings up how his hair was similar when he came to the WWE and JBL always buried him on TV for it. AJ Lee blushes as she admits she loved the gimmick and thought it worked. So there you go…AJ loves …nah, too easy and I like AJ too much to take a shot like that.

4: Giant Gonzales

-AJ apparently loves Gonzales as well and Bryan gets the best comment of the show as he calls Gonzales genderless because they put fur around his junk. Mick discusses wrestling him in WCW and how it was pretty tough. They paired him with Harvey because it made him look even bigger. As a feather in his cap I will mention that before Brock this past Sunday, he is the only man not to get pinned by Taker at Mania. They discuss the feud with Taker and how it was crazy seeing Taker being dwarfed by a man that large. Harvey also brings up that Taker didn’t pin him at Mania. The dude was also ahead of his time with the air brushed abs as he would fit in great with the 300 crew.

-We take a break from the countdown and discuss the Gimmick Battle Royal from WrestleMania X-Seven. Awesome! I want that brought back at WrestleMania 34 so we can get some of the worst gimmicks of the last 17 years. They mention the best part was having Heenan and Okerlund back in the WWF and hearing them at WrestleMania again. Damn straight! They discuss Heenan’s great one liners and how he will go down as greatest color commentator ever. Of course The Iron Sheik wins the match because he couldn’t take a bump over the ropes to the floor. JBL wishes they would have given Sheik a live mic after the match to let him talk for fifteen minutes.

3: The Gobbledy Gooker

-I had this pegged for #1, but maybe some of the fans that voted are too young to remember this fiasco. The WWE promoted a giant turkey egg in the build to Survivor Series and what was inside it. Gene says he thought it may have be one of the Divas at the time. Crickets are heard when the Gooker pops out and Cena actually drops an F bomb in expressing his disappointment. The Gooker actually shows up and gets subtitles to ask what he did to everyone to deserve this. Piper talks about being on commentary with Gorilla, and how Monsoon went silent because he hated it so much. He then says he went overboard trying to get the thing over that he actually hurt his back carrying it. They discuss Gene tripping while dancing with the thing and how he cracked three ribs. Cena still feels cheated to this day and JBL calls it the worst idea ever. The Gooker then goes off on a curse filled rant that is rather hilarious. Good stuff here!

2: Doink the Clown

-Sorry, but Evil Doink was tremendous! Piper thinks turning a clown evil is wrong. Wow, I can’t believe he said that. The Joker says hello! Bret calls it one of his favorite gimmicks as he got what they were trying to do. Jericho apparently didn’t get it as he thought it was stupid. I tend to think the talking heads will be split on this one. Tyson Kidd mentions that he was shocked when you found out that he could wrestle in the ring. Then he discusses the double vision episode at Mania IX. AJ lets us know that she is terrified of clowns and Dink was even more terrifying. Foley puts over how well the original evil Doink worked and that it was ahead of its time.

-One more recap before getting to the top spot!

1: The Boogey Man

-I was actually kind of interested by this gimmick at first and the entrance was fantastic, but turning him face sucked all of the coolness out of it for me. Foley actually take up for him a bit as he says the guys that seem a bit off are usually the most captivating. AJ talks about her favorite moment when he bit the mole off Jillian’s face. Striker was one of the ones that had worms spit back in his face and yeah, it sucked. The gimmick hit home for Mick as he ate a worm as a kid. AJ admits she may have eaten them as well as she continues to show her freaky side in this thing. She then burns Daniel Bryan by mentioning that she kissed him so she would do anything. Wow! JBL mentions that he may have been bad in the ring, but the character was good enough that he didn’t have to be great. Again, I was ok with the character when he was a scary ass heel that played mind games with people. I mean some of the crazy crap he said is kind of similar to what we get from Wyatt today.
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Note: As I finished watching this episode and typing it at 1:00 AM, I got online and saw the news that The Ultimate Warrior had passed. I was born in 1981 and have watched wrestling since I could watch TV according to my parents. I have been a die hard Hogan fan as a kid, but I was obviously also a fan of the Warrior except the day he beat Hogan for the Title. I remember running home from my friend’s house when Hogan got pinned and I cried the rest of the night. I actually missed Hogan handing over the title and the proverbial passing of the torch. When I saw that days later, I was still upset, but I figured it was going to be ok as Warrior had Hulk’s blessing. Through the comebacks and returns I was always excited to see the Warrior and his match with Savage at WrestleMania VII is one of my favorite matches of all time,

When he made peace with the WWE I was thrilled to see that he was being inducted in the Hall of Fame, I watched the speech on Saturday night and I felt bad for the guy. The part that brought most emotion out of me was when he discussed the Self Destruction DVD and you could tell that it broke his heart, and I wanted to applaud when he said “I am a good guy.”

My heart goes out to his 2 daughters as you could also tell in his speech that he has a deep love for them. I am thrilled he got these 3 days to make peace with the business he helped in many ways, and make peace with those he made money for and made money with inside the ring. You will be missed Warrior and though it doesn’t mean much, the 9 year old inside of me forgives you for bearing my hero in the Sky Dome!

The 411: Another fun countdown as usual and again some choices seemed out of place, but what you get with fan voted results. The young guys continue to bring the goods as the talking heads, and just keep bringing these on a weekly basis and I will watch!
Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]