22 Days Of WrestleMania (Top 10 Worst Gimmicks)

Wrestling always seems to get bad publicity. Despite this fact, I still love it to this day(obviously). However, there have been some times where I just can't help but shake my head. Some of the characters Vince and his braintrust have come up with over the years have been absolutely horrible. You wonder how these ideas even came out of someone's mouth. With that being said, I am going to take a look at the 10 very worst gimmicks in WWE history.

10. Skinner
Known as the "Alligator Man", Skinner came from the everglades to take over the then-WWF. He came down to the ring with his filthy looking beard and tobacco juice oozing out of his mouth. His crowning achievement under this gimmick was somehow making the card at WrestleMania VIII against Owen Hart. Of course he lost.

9. Duke "The Dumpster" Droese
Vince must have been really trying hard to capitalize on a large part of his fanbase being blue collar. So what was his idea this time? How about a wrestling garbage man? He went on to sell millions of dollars in merchandise and star in his very own TV show. Just kidding. He did fight in the first ever Free-4-All before Royal Rumble 1996 defeating HHH, giving him the number 30 slot in the Rumble match. He also made a triumphant return in the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven.

8. The Repo Man
Barry Darsow (Smash of Demolition) was left without a partner, so they packaged him up as (you guessed it) a Repo Man. He wore tights that had tire tracks on it and wore a burglar mask straight out of a Warner Brothers cartoon. He is best known for taking part in the 8-man tag match at WrestleMania VIII. In Darsow's defense, he did play this character very well.

7. T.L. Hopper
What's even worse than a wrestling garbage man? An evil wrestling plumber, of course! T.L. Hopper dominated the Superstars circuit for about a month before disappearing from the WWE, but not from our hearts. Mr. Hopper never made a pay-per-view appearance.

6. Fake Razor Ramon and Diesel
Everyone knew that Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were on their way to WCW. Vince still owned the rights to the names "Diesel" and "Razor Ramon", so he planned out a brilliant scheme to capitalize on this fact. Let's have two wrestlers, Rick Bogner and Glen Jacobs (a.k.a. Kane) dress up as them! You can guess how successful this was. Actually it lasted longer than expected. They made a couple of pay-per-view appearances, most notably the 1996 Survivor Series. This was definitely one of the more embarassing failures for the WWE as a company.

5. The Goon
Years after the film Slap Shot was popular, Vince decided to take his own stab at hockey humor by getting Bill Irwin to be "The Goon". He was also quite the stud on Superstars and I think he even made an appearance on Raw. I will say that his wrestling boots (hockey skates minus the blades) are legendary.

4. The Red Rooster
Terry Taylor at one time was considered to be one of the top wrestling prospects. That was until he tackled the Red Rooster character. Coming down to the ring with his hair spiked up and spray painted red while pecking away, even 5 year olds laughed at the poor guy. How much influence does Vince have over these guys? He defeated Bobby Heenan at WrestleMania V (how this made the card, you've got me), but Taylor's career would never be the same again.

3. Beaver Cleavage
WWE thought it was time to get a little bit more risque. So what did they do? They came up with a naughty character by the name of Beaver Cleavage. They did several Leave It To Beaver-esque promos, but with a twist. Cleavage was a sexual take on the Beav. There were no highlights to mention of this character.

2. Isaac Yankem, D.D.S.
Jerry Lawler and Bret Hart had one of the longest running feuds of the 90s. Just when you thought it was about done, Lawler brought in his evil dentist, Isaac Yankem (Glen Jacobs a.k.a. Kane a.k.a. Fake Diesel) to take care of the Hitman. They actually had a decent match together at SummerSlam '95 before he was jobbed out and later turned into his current character, Kane.

1. Gobbledy Gooker
Now the gimmick of all gimmicks. This my friends is the worst character in the history of professional wrestling. For weeks leading to the 1990 Survivor Series, it had been hyped that there would be a surprise that would shake the wrestling world. We were shown a large egg that would shake every now and then. It was decided that the egg would hatch at the event. After the suspense nearly killed a large amount of fans, Gene Okerlund had the privledge to be there as the egg hatched. What came out? The ugliest looking turkey I have ever seen complete with golf balls for eyes. He took Gene out and danced with him and did some somersaults. What entertainment! The Gooker was played by none other than Hector Guerrero (Eddie's brother). I'm sure he'll never live this one down. The Gooker also made his triumphant return in the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven.


Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org (great website) through obsessedwithwrestling.com.