FUM Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 I was discussing this with a few mates last night and thought it could probably turn into an interesting discussion on here. Part of WWE's problem, in my opinion, is there is nowhere near enough the cartoon like fun there used to be. Every wrestler nowadays is just a normal guy with no real gimmick. There's no real visual basis to any character other than what the commentators tell us. At the moment, you have Undertaker, Bray, Matt, No Way Jose, Elias and maybe Bludgeon Brothers on the main roster who actually have a "cartoon like" gimmick. Finn's at his best as the Demon character too. Yes, you need your share of big guys and normal guys but in your opinion, is WWE severely lacking in fully fledged gimmicks? Even Stone Cold had the beer drinking fun, I don't just mean WWE needs characters like Mantaur but it's certainly missing the brightness or these sort of folk. There is no layers to the characters gimmicks and everything is "I have a better workrate than you and I'm a better wrestler". Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westlondonmist Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 The massive cartoon gimmicks have been gone for years now and I doubt they will ever come back in WWE. I think the silly use of them in the nineties kind of got rid of them but it was over the top ones like Papa Shango, Doink, The Mountie etc that made people not want to see them. That was a period where I stopped watching. You can't have too many cartoon characters otherwise it gets silly. However you can have cartoonesque without being so silly. If you look at LIJ in New Japan, they are very cartoony in ways but not over the top and you can take them seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted June 7, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2018 I always think that the less TV time you get, the more outlandish your gimmick should be - a main eventer gets big matches, highlight packages, and a promo or two every show, so they have all that time in which to get their character over, but if you're only showing up to job once every couple of weeks, and only be on-screen for five minutes, your character should be obvious enough that, in those five minutes, I get what you're all about. At a seminar a few years back, I was told that your gimmick - no matter how absurd - should be summed up in 2-3 words tops. "Wrestling barber", "American hero", "evil tax collector", "working class hero", and so on. If it takes any longer than that to explain who you are, you're in trouble. Try and apply that to most of the WWE roster - who is Roman Reigns? What's his deal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 Samoan ass kicker? or at least that’s what it should be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted June 7, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2018 3 minutes ago, BomberPat said: I always think that the less TV time you get, the more outlandish your gimmick should be - a main eventer gets big matches, highlight packages, and a promo or two every show, so they have all that time in which to get their character over, but if you're only showing up to job once every couple of weeks, and only be on-screen for five minutes, your character should be obvious enough that, in those five minutes, I get what you're all about. At a seminar a few years back, I was told that your gimmick - no matter how absurd - should be summed up in 2-3 words tops. "Wrestling barber", "American hero", "evil tax collector", "working class hero", and so on. If it takes any longer than that to explain who you are, you're in trouble. Try and apply that to most of the WWE roster - who is Roman Reigns? What's his deal? I remember us chatting about gimmicks before (I forget the thread, think it was the entrance theme one), and how that certainly needs to be the case when you're starting out, or if you work indies that don't have much in the way of TV viewership, because people need to know who you are and what you're about. That said, regular, well-watched TV affords the luxury of having evolved and more complex, textured gimmicks once the wrestler in question has been on screen long enough, and has (if they're good) managed to get over with the crowd. Triple H, for me, is the prime example: you couldn't sum him up in 2-3 words now, because he's got so much history that everyone's familiar with. He's the COO, but that's clearly not enough, because he still wrestles and is good enough to face the elites; he's not a degenerate, a snob, or a gang leader any more. Cerebral assassin? Yeah, but that's more a character trait now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted June 7, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2018 Just now, WyattSheepMask said: Samoan ass kicker? or at least that’s what it should be And from what I hear, Joe's better at it than Reigns is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 Touché Carbomb, touché Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members John Matrix Posted June 7, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2018 Weird you should start this thread on the same day I saw tweeted this absolute gem... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted June 7, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2018 43 minutes ago, BomberPat said: who is Roman Reigns? What's his deal? Wank pheasant. Two words, done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members garynysmon Posted June 7, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2018 2 hours ago, FUM said: There is no layers to the characters gimmicks and everything is "I have a better workrate than you and I'm a better wrestler". Thoughts? This is exactly why the fanbase right now is more hardcore in its nature and the spend per head is much higher, but their numbers will not grow sufficiently to have a boom period or anything like it. Even the names these days are fucking atrocious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheffbag Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 When seth rollins comes out with a hard hat on clutching some drawings and a clip board then i'll believe he's an architect. Either that or they change his entrance music to Body Groove Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 4 hours ago, Lorne Malvo said: Wank pheasant. Two words, done. He's not a pheasant wanker. He's a pheasant wanker's son. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosler28 Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 Unfortunately those days are long gone since the fans wanted more realism. The NWO kind of killed of the WWF cartoon characters generation which lead them to creating the Attitude era to compete. But if i had to choose id choose early 90s wrestling due to the characters and gimmicks. Matt Hardys broken/woken character is close to that cartoon type character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamura Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 6 hours ago, Sheffbag said: When seth rollins comes out with a hard hat on clutching some drawings and a clip board then i'll believe he's an architect. Be thankful Disco Inferno isn't on creative, he always had a plan for an evil architect character called Bill Ding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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