WNS Fans View: Are Gimmicks A Thing Of The Past?

By Josh Bennett.

My question this week is one I can’t seem to answer myself, a figurative one at that but can anyone see why there is a lack of gimmick heavy talent on the main WWE roster at the moment. Is this a trait that is long gone from wrestling today?

Some can remember the days when pretty much everyone in the federation era had some crazy self-defining gimmick. Now looking at the main roster at this current moment there is a severe lack of this component to any superstar’s persona, I would consider Fandango and the Wyatt’s to be the only real flag bearers of adding this to not only the promo’s but also their in ring moves also. For me that is what a gimmick should be about, not just a type of attitude or behaviour expressed through words and emotions, but they should really get on board with the gimmick and express it in the ring too.

Now why am I bringing up this issue, well if you watch NXT right now, you will see the amount of young and upcoming talent flourishing on that show. It seriously is one of the best wrestling products on TV right now, and the thing that gets me so excited is down to so many of the roster really going with that old school influence on wrestling by having a gimmick heavy persona and incorporating this into not only promos but in ring performance.

 The shining bright example rightnow is Tyler Breeze, here we have a self-obsessed fashion lover who doesn’t like to get hit in the face. It’s ludicrous, unique and fresh. Breeze’s gimmick is thoroughly entertaining and is something that could really work, imagine putting him in a tag team with Fandango, with Breeze like he has before tagging out as soon as the opponent laying a finger on him.

NXT is home to many more examples of this; look at the Ascension, their entrance alone brings back fond memories of the Brood or Ministry of Darkness. Kruger is essentially Kraven the Hunter and he brings that wild prowess to his move set. CJ Parker is something WWE hasn’t seen since Brian Kendrick with the peace and love toting hippy and lastly how could I now mention Aiden English. This is a gimmick that I see either drawing a lot of heat from the WWE crowds or just bombing completely, it’s something that the WWE universe is certainly not used to. A wrestler bursting out in show tunes before a match is completely unthinkable off yet does this not make someone like Aiden English more memorable than say Travis Tyler.

Now of course this can easily be argued against, there is always the chance of things being too gimmicky therefore hindering any major chance of success and popularity, like no one would possibly quite conceive the idea of giving the bogeyman a world title reign back in the day. Also ifyou look at one example from NXT, probably the talent on the roster with the most anticipation and potential to go far is Sami Zayn.

Many people knew him as the Luchador ole chanting El Generico,however WWE have decided against him using this gimmick, why dispose of an already popular gimmick some might ask but I think It will do wonders for his WWE career. People will fall in love with Sami Zayn regardless of his gimmick and that’s due to him as a person and his wrestling skills.But not all are equipped with this pedigree and I feel that it’s a testament to the old days of wrestling yet as exampled there are many ways to keep gimmicks new, fresh and best for business.