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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2019 7:32:40 GMT -5
There is no imagination in wrestling anymore. Gone are the days of silly gimmicks and bright colored attires. Everyone is just ”a guy” now and most of them wrestle in black. Their main character traits are “I am a good wrestler”... and that’s it.
This is one of the biggest problems in WWE today. They’re too “real” but it makes no sense because we all know it’s fake. So why wouldn’t we just watch real fights then? I don’t know about anybody else but I fell in love with wrestling because of the characters and “circus” feel.
Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate the hell of a Sami Zayn vs Johnny Gargano match. I can get invested in this just as easily. But I can’t lie... I wish Sami Zayn was El Generico instead of just a normal guy.
When I began wrestling training a few years ago, I always said to myself that I would have a gimmick that stood out and get me noticed. I’ll probaby never be great in the ring but I could always do something nobody’s done before. For example I was gonna do a Children’s TV presenter gimmick. Basically I’d come to the ring with a doll and “make it talk” like a ventriloquist. I’d wear a brightly colored suit and do these vignettes on YouTube which are set like it’s actually a Daytime Children’s TV show.
Okay, it’s not the best idea for a gimmick but it would have been funny. You get my point. Why do no wrestlers do this stuff anymore? Why have we not got wrestling magicians, wrestling bin men, wrestling porn stars and wrestling gladiators? Mason Ryan was employed a few years ago and he was actually on the show “Gladiators”... so why was he not a Gladiator? It would have been 100 times more eye catching and intriguing than “Hoss in the New Nexus that wears black trunks”...
Okay. Rant over. I miss this silliness and creativity in wrestling.
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Post by Citizen Snips on Mar 16, 2019 8:05:14 GMT -5
That's probably in the top 3 reasons I've lost my passion for it. It's just Joe McRegularname against SingleName in a battle to see who has the advantage in next week's rematch.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2019 8:26:52 GMT -5
That's probably in the top 3 reasons I've lost my passion for it. It's just Joe McRegularname against SingleName in a battle to see who has the advantage in next week's rematch. And where’s all the vignettes? Long ago we used to get hyped about a wrestler debuting. Now we’re just expected to know them. I miss when you had stuff like Waylon Mercy in a park being creepy as shit. Sparky Plugg on the race track. Mr. Perfect doing stuff “perfectly” and Kizarny at the Carnival. These hype packages added so much to the gimmicks. It showed us what they were all about and what to expect. Imagine having the gimmick of let’s just say... a teacher. And there was no vignettes of you at a school. What SAYS you’re a teacher? Your ring gear? You need these promos.
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Pushed to the Moon
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Tony Schiavone in Disguise
Working myself into a shoot
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Post by Pushed to the Moon on Mar 16, 2019 8:48:11 GMT -5
If you really wanna make it as a wrestler you should grow your hair and a beard and maybe throw on a leather jacket. If you did that then you could probably walk around backstage without anyone realising you weren't actually signed.
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Post by Prince Petty on Mar 16, 2019 9:00:24 GMT -5
I get what you're saying, but most vivid gimmicks get shat on by fans, and the WWE often contributes to that by hammering the gimmick into the ground -
Adam Rose, the Vaudevillains, the Ascension, Tyler Breeze, Fandango and Elias all came onto the main roster with clearly defined gimmicks, which made them stand out from the regular guys. And none of them succeeded with those gimmicks. Even Elias is treated like a joke, and only gets on TV to do heat segments and then get beaten up.
To make gimmicks work, the wrestler and the company have to commit to giving it time to breathe, to take it seriously and not just focus on one aspect of it, which then becomes the entirety of the gimmick. I don't think 'wrestling plumber' style gimmicks will ever work again, but there's a lot of room for more than just Regularname McSeriousfighter.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2019 9:07:53 GMT -5
I wish Kevin Owens was a boat captain or Sami Zayn worked part-time as customer service for verizon.Imagine Braun Strowman is a bass fisherman or Apollo Crews as a mythbuster or Lacey Evans being lactose intolerant.
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Post by Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃 on Mar 16, 2019 9:22:34 GMT -5
As a kid, the characters are what got me hooked as a fan, and with the lack of characters nowadays, it makes it hard to get my kids hooked onto wrestling like me and my parents are.
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agent817
Fry's dog Seymour
Doesn't Know Whose Ring It Is
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Post by agent817 on Mar 16, 2019 9:36:19 GMT -5
What's weird about all of this is that when I watch old episodes of Superstars or Wrestling Challenge on YouTube, I get more enjoyment out of that than I do the current product (Except for maybe the women, that actually has some good programs).
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Post by thegame415 on Mar 16, 2019 9:39:51 GMT -5
But workrate...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2019 10:04:51 GMT -5
I wish Kevin Owens was a boat captain or Sami Zayn worked part-time as customer service for verizon.Imagine Braun Strowman is a bass fisherman or Apollo Crews as a mythbuster or Lacey Evans being lactose intolerant. Mythbuster Apollo Crews would be a sick gimmick. Oh you thought there was two Ultimate Warriors? MYTH BUSTED!
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Mar 16, 2019 11:20:32 GMT -5
I get what you're saying, but most vivid gimmicks get shat on by fans, and the WWE often contributes to that by hammering the gimmick into the ground - Adam Rose, the Vaudevillains, the Ascension, Tyler Breeze, Fandango and Elias all came onto the main roster with clearly defined gimmicks, which made them stand out from the regular guys. And none of them succeeded with those gimmicks. Even Elias is treated like a joke, and only gets on TV to do heat segments and then get beaten up. To make gimmicks work, the wrestler and the company have to commit to giving it time to breathe, to take it seriously and not just focus on on aspect of it, which then becomes the entirety of the gimmick. I don't think 'wrestling plumber' style gimmicks will ever work again, but there's a lot of room for more than just Regularname McSeriousfighter. I think fans are absolutely willing to accept a gimmick if the company fully commits to it. Look at the guys you named one by one Adam Rose: Barely lasted in NXT with the gimmick, was brought in and hardly did a thing, got overshadowed by a bunny who we never found out who it was, they just kept feuding for some reason. Vaudevillains: Came in with no real establishing story about who they were and what they represented except "We come out to black and white, that's cool, right?" Are they time travelers? Hipsters? Silent Movie lovers? Nobody knows if you didn't watch NXT. Ascention: Came in slagging off tag teams for zero reason. Got the crap kicked out of them all the time because of it...so why should people care? Tyler Breeze: Was called up in the middle of the f***ing stupid post Summer Rae/Rusev/Lana/Ziggler BS that killed him from the offset because he was just a new boy toy for Summer Rae. Fandango: He beat Jericho, sure, but two things 1) Jericho kicked out of his finisher at WrestleMania, which was dumb and 2) They did NOTHING with him afterwards. Elias: He had an interesting start of walking around as a drifter and then did nothing with him and then flip flopped on whether he was heel or face so much, why should anyone care? Creative obviously don't have a plan for him. Look, let's be frank. Having occupation gimmicks was one of the things that lead to the WWF almost dying because the fans didn't buy in that anymore post Hogan era. If you look at any indie promotion, any in the world, you'll find a gimmick that's gotten hot and connects with the crowd and the company themselves give at least a prominant position such as the Session Moth Martina or most of CHIKARA and such. At this point, let's also be frank, why do they need to? They're making money from bigger fish so the consumer's barely needed anymore.
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segaz
Samurai Cop
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Post by segaz on Mar 16, 2019 11:57:03 GMT -5
I get what you're saying, but most vivid gimmicks get shat on by fans, and the WWE often contributes to that by hammering the gimmick into the ground - Adam Rose, the Vaudevillains, the Ascension, Tyler Breeze, Fandango and Elias all came onto the main roster with clearly defined gimmicks, which made them stand out from the regular guys. And none of them succeeded with those gimmicks. Even Elias is treated like a joke, and only gets on TV to do heat segments and then get beaten up. To make gimmicks work, the wrestler and the company have to commit to giving it time to breathe, to take it seriously and not just focus on on aspect of it, which then becomes the entirety of the gimmick. I don't think 'wrestling plumber' style gimmicks will ever work again, but there's a lot of room for more than just Regularname McSeriousfighter. I think fans are absolutely willing to accept a gimmick if the company fully commits to it. Look at the guys you named one by one Adam Rose: Barely lasted in NXT with the gimmick, was brought in and hardly did a thing, got overshadowed by a bunny who we never found out who it was, they just kept feuding for some reason. Vaudevillains: Came in with no real establishing story about who they were and what they represented except "We come out to black and white, that's cool, right?" Are they time travelers? Hipsters? Silent Movie lovers? Nobody knows if you didn't watch NXT. Ascention: Came in slagging off tag teams for zero reason. Got the crap kicked out of them all the time because of it...so why should people care? Tyler Breeze: Was called up in the middle of the f***ing stupid post Summer Rae/Rusev/Lana/Ziggler BS that killed him from the offset because he was just a new boy toy for Summer Rae. Fandango: He beat Jericho, sure, but two things 1) Jericho kicked out of his finisher at WrestleMania, which was dumb and 2) They did NOTHING with him afterwards. Elias: He had an interesting start of walking around as a drifter and then did nothing with him and then flip flopped on whether he was heel or face so much, why should anyone care? Creative obviously don't have a plan for him. Look, let's be frank. Having occupation gimmicks was one of the things that lead to the WWF almost dying because the fans didn't buy in that anymore post Hogan era. If you look at any indie promotion, any in the world, you'll find a gimmick that's gotten hot and connects with the crowd and the company themselves give at least a prominant position such as the Session Moth Martina or most of CHIKARA and such. At this point, let's also be frank, why do they need to? They're making money from bigger fish so the consumer's barely needed anymore. An interesting wrestler can have gimmicks without being corny. Look at Jack Swagger. You're right though in the sense that just giving some one a 'evil hockey player' gimmick with no character at all is what creates apathy. Gotta be character IN gimmick, rather than gimmick alone. Doink wasn't just a clown, he was a twisted evil clown with a nasty side. .....im struggling to think of many non heel examples. People like DDP or Sting, or Texas Tornado or the Hardys all had kinda basic gimmicks but interesting characters whereas heels got both. Rock, Angle, even HHH (ehhhh to a point lol) all started as interesting heels Why is it that IRS was kinda over and Ascension wasn't, when technically they have a more cooler gimmick? The characters and the storylines. No matter how much of a jobber IRS was, he still got wins and even storylines here and there
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Mar 16, 2019 13:25:03 GMT -5
BUT THE BEST WRESTLING CHARACTERS ARE YOURSELF TURNED UP TO ELEVEN
That worked for the Rock, right? And it totally makes sense to think that if something worked for literally the most charismatic person who's ever been alive, it can work for everyone!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2019 13:31:01 GMT -5
I'm actually okay with them being more along the lines of professional fighters than cartoon characters. The problem is that WWE doesn't write good stories for them.
The early days of ROH had very few gimmicks but great storytelling to go along with the workrate. That's what I want out of wrestling.
Either that or go completely balls out into making it just a tv show like Lucha Underground. But this half ass shit WWE puts out tries to appeal to everyone, and in doing so appeals to no one.
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Post by Natural Born Farmer on Mar 16, 2019 13:54:07 GMT -5
I can only speak for myself, but personally I prefer wrestlers to just be guys who are good at fighting. I get that it’s inherently different than real sports, but the NFL, UFC, NBA, etc. have no shortage of big, recognizable personalities without adding a layer of “and also he’s a prison guard/ vaudeville performer/ zombie in his spare time!”
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2019 14:04:27 GMT -5
At least gimmicks are far more of a thing now than they were around 2010ish. I definitely wish they were more present than they are, but guys like Velveteen Dream and Elias still have way more character than like an Ezekiel Jackson.
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Post by romanstylesiii on Mar 16, 2019 14:10:04 GMT -5
As a kid, the characters are what got me hooked as a fan, and with the lack of characters nowadays, it makes it hard to get my kids hooked onto wrestling like me and my parents are. Who needs a character when you can just be angry and serious all the time!
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Post by booman on Mar 16, 2019 15:48:25 GMT -5
I wish Kevin Owens was a boat captain or Sami Zayn worked part-time as customer service for verizon.Imagine Braun Strowman is a bass fisherman or Apollo Crews as a mythbuster or Lacey Evans being lactose intolerant. Mythbuster Apollo Crews would be a sick gimmick. Oh you thought there was two Ultimate Warriors? MYTH BUSTED! Yall just created gold
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Post by xCompackx on Mar 16, 2019 16:00:48 GMT -5
It’s a big problem with WWE, unfortunately; they see something that’s popular and want to do it all the time with everything. Even in the Attitude Era, we had Stone Cold and The Rock, but we also had Kane, The Undertaker, and The Godfather. Nothing in wrestling has to be all one thing, but because WWE sucks at writing, we get “I wrestle good” characters who are just dudes.
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Post by Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃 on Mar 16, 2019 16:41:54 GMT -5
As a kid, the characters are what got me hooked as a fan, and with the lack of characters nowadays, it makes it hard to get my kids hooked onto wrestling like me and my parents are. Who needs a character when you can just be angry and serious all the time! Lio looks like he wants to pick his nose, and Bobby looks like he's about ready to blow up....
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