Birthdate: 06/30/1985 (age 29) Height: 6'1" Weight: 220 Ib He is the son of "The American Dream" Dusty Rho... Source
Even if you’ve only been a WWE fan for a few years, the amount of bad gimmicks hurled into your face is borderline horrendous. In recent memory alone we’ve had Fandango, Adam Rose… and Fandango again… only this time he’s Italian.
For every Bastion Booger, though, there’s a Santino Marella: both absurd characters but one finds a way to make it work.
In these exceptional circumstances an idea wins us all over, even when we don’t want it to, elevating such figures to a unique standing that, in many ways, is oddly enviable.
This band of performers may never be bonafide main eventers, but they remain in the fans’ minds far longer than most, a testament to the one-of-a-kind art that is professional-wrestling. But who are the standouts in this field?
Here’s 8 of the best...
8 - Gillberg
There’s no two ways about it: Gillberg is one of the most ludicrous, and quickly thought out, gimmicks in history. In an attempt to make a laughing stock of a still very competitive WCW, Vince McMahon decided the ultimate shot across their bow was to insult their hottest commodity.
It didn’t matter that everyone wanted - and was lead to believe that it was - Shawn Michaels. The laugh riot of a pint-sized Goldberg would appeal to even the most hardened fan. And yet when glorified jobber Dwayne Gill debuted at the 1998 Survivor Series and almost had a heart attack as his own entrance pyro went off, it was hard not to crack the smallest of smiles and warm to the concept, even if only a touch.
Clearly understanding of his place and, you’d assume, happy for the airtime, Gill, although playing it for laughs, threw himself into the role. If he was going to do it, he was going to do it right. Admittedly it quickly lost its spark and became almost a parody of itself, but it performed far better than it had any right to.
7 - Val Venis
It’s the Attitude Era. Characters are real and edgy. No one is pushing the envelope quite like the WWE(F). Enter a porn star. Even the mention of such a gimmick would instantly be shot down in the 2014, but Sean Morley had the unenviable task of pretending to be a sex trade employee and ‘finishing’ opponents off with a move called ‘The Money Shot’. Google that if you’re not at work...
Saying that Fandango is PG-era version of old Val isn’t too far of a stretch, but the difference between the two comes in how well Morley played the role, despite the sheer moronic nature of it all. Be it wearing a white towel to the ring or his deep, earth-shattering voice, he stood out.
It didn’t hurt that he delivered, more often than not, an awful sexual pun once a week, opening up more reasons to hang around in someone’s mind a little longer than he probably deserved to. Having to see his penis threatened by Kaientai may’ve been a step too far, but given that Venis’ name hasn’t been lost to history is reason enough to believe he earned his place as a memorable figure all those years ago.
6 - Doink The Clown (Matt Borne)
Some clarity: we’re not talking about the Doink The Clown that teamed up with Dink and embarrassed us all at WrestleMania X (and on plenty of other occasions too). Before the character was simply ‘a clown’, Matt Borne took the role in a very intriguing, and dark, direction.
Rather than juggle or goof around like an entertainer at a children’s party, Borne added an edge to Doink that was more than a little chilling. Be it a look to the camera, or the sudden ceasing of an already psychotic laugh, this was more akin to Stephen King’s IT than Coco.
Seeing a clown wrestle should is always going to be somewhat preposterous, but it was hard not buy into what Borne was doing when he was portraying it so well. The only real disappointment is that this version of Doink was so short-lived after Borne was let go due to repeated drug-related issues. He would never have graced the main event, but he may very well have continued to leave an impression.
5 - R-Truth and Little Jimmy
Ron ‘The Truth’ Killings has had many different guises across many different promotions, but there was a time, not so long ago, where WWE decided it would like its audience to buy into an insane world where a man who took advice from an invisible child.
This, of course, was Little Jimmy. Before reading any further, try to explain that to a friend who isn’t a WWE-fan. Their facial response will be as if you just insulted their mother and stole their wallet at the same time. It makes absolutely no sense.
And yet for an, admittedly, short period,...
