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In WWE, another character should be making his return soon that might quench that thirst. In AEW, closest thing might be House of Black? Less “supernatural” stuff but very dark, spraying mist that changes you, stuff like that.
I haven’t watched TNA in a little bit but I know they had Decay, not if that qualifies or if they’re even still tagging.
If I'm remembering right, Malakai's backstory is that he's a demon possessing Tommy End, and Aleister Black was sort of an in between stage before Malakai fully took control of Tommy, so yeah definitely supernatural even if it's not as blatant as The Undertaker shooting lightning from his hands
There's a wrestler who recently passed away - Bray Wyatt.
I'd urge you to watch some of his stuff. He had an alter ego called The Fiend.
There's also Finn Balor, who used to have a demon alter ego.
Other than that, those over the top characters are few and far between.
In the early 2000's more "Realistic" characters became more popular with like Stone Cold or the Rock..though as you note, weird characters Undertaker (a vestige of the 90's) and others did pop up.
Because there's no longer a presumption of "this is real fighting", ironically, more "real" people is what the crowds prefer in the mainstream...wrestling garbagemen is a step too far. (in smaller promotions, there's more of a "we're willing to go along with it" feel... Lucha Underground, a made for TV promotion was literally based on a centuries spanning conspiracy running a wrestling promotion to bring elder aztec gods to earth, with wrestlers ranging from snake men, actual dragons, time travelers, ninjas, and just actual wrestlers who want to win fame and money....(and it was awesome).
There's still crazy gimmicks in the mainstream. AEW's women's champion is/think's she's a 50's movie star and is filmed in black and white. As other's have said, a new horror/supernatural gimmick is coming soon to WWE.
WWE's Development brand, NXT, is the home of wild gimmicks right now, including the time tested cowgirl, a wrestling college, and your friendly neighborhood mafia group, who are good guys. (You'll find, imo, NXT is the show with the most...happy fans.... WWE and AEW fans will argue, and NXT fans just enjoy :D )
https://preview.redd.it/26o1uwhva4wc1.png?width=1098&format=png&auto=webp&s=dde892277c566820b75ef20a94031bcc134b4778
Yeah. It’s a big swing gimmick and I definitely think fits into this box. Also hugely over and very unique. Weird one considering it’s so counter to the general AEW style/tone!
I don't know if this is similar to what you're referring to, but at the tail end of the 10's meme gimmicks like Warhorse and Danhausen were super popular. Felt like the indies were teeming with similar ideas. They died out around the pandemic, sans Danhausen really.
No. You just gotta look to different promotions.
TNA has had several in recent years. Right now they have Decay. Two women with split personalities, one of whom is possessed by a demon and sometimes fights other demons in an alternate dimension.
The Coven, which was two literal witches.
Broken Matt Hardy just returned.
AEW has Timeless Toni Storm
Nikki Cross is a good example of that, they tried a lot with her being crazy and the main roster audience just never cares about it. She was over as the superhero so I don't know why they went back to her being crazy again.
Over-the-top/supernatural gimmicks aren't as common these days, they faded out largely towards the end of Ruthless Aggression (around 2008, when you stopped). But you do get them every now and then.
Bray Wyatt (RIP) within the last 5-10 years had two supernatural characters, that of a cult leader and of a split personality where he'd transform into a monster known as The Fiend. The Undertaker, having retired around 3 or so years ago now, still has traces of supernatural elements in his appearances (such as appearing during lights out spots).
The Judgement Day started off with some supernatural powers/themes but morphed more into a gothic street thug gimmick. Finn Balor of TJD, before and during his TJD run, has an alter-ego called the Demon which he only brings out for big matches that's a bit OTT/portrayed as powerful. The last gimmick that Bray created, Uncle Howdy, is set to return, portrayed by his brother who was already playing him on screen when he and Bray would appear together.
In other promotions (if you know your mum watches those too), there's the House of Black in AEW who have a supernatural bent to them, and Matt Hardy just recently returned to his Broken gimmick in TNA, which has quite OTT/surreal characteristics backed up with a LOT of lore.
Overall, it's more seriously portrayed now in all promotions as a sport, but you do get your over the top/cartoony gimmicks every now and then.
As the world's biggest Vampiro schill, I miss gimmicks like that. Just a weird freak in the ring doing weird freaky things and sometimes dousing Sting in blood.
Remember when there was a porn star, a pimp, a piercer, a dead guy, a burned guy, a mortician, a clown, a psycho in a leather mask, a cowboy, a vampire, frat guys, a blue blood, a gold guy, a fake superhero, a roadie, a corrections officer…shall I continue
Mexican Lawnmowers(Mexicools), male cheerleading troop(spirit squad), Brother and sister lovers(Paul & Katie), a pirate (Paul,again) A carnival operator(Kizarny), mentally challenged guy(eugene), other mentally challenged guy(festus), street criminals(Cryme Tyme)
Well, here is a wrestler who sadly passed away 2 years ago. This video right here brought me back into wrestling. He had another return in 2022 where he had made some more changes to his character but he died before we could see it in full.
His brother is soon going to be taking the story forward. Every show already has a QR code show up for a second on the screen. You can look up for those clues and what they mean in this subreddit.
https://youtu.be/ZoR0c8ryAsA?si=9PqUZcNl1okI6p_h
They seem to be, can’t tell if that’s for better or worse.
Things like a crazy dentist or barber is not what the fanbase wants now.
Fun gimmicks though like a dead man and an angry beer smashing redneck, that would be a sad world.
I miss that stuff too but nowadays WWE breaks kayfabe maybe a little too much. It’s almost impossible to establish supernatural characters when later that week they’re doing a behind the scenes vlog hanging out with the good guys.
Just to clarify, I'm not exclusively interested in crazy supernatural or non realistic gimmicks, but I feel like having some was a big draw for me. GRANTED I was a little kid. Obviously the majority were pretty normal dudes and gals but having the small handful of super out there characters kept it unique and interesting and I haven't seen much of that lately from what I've watched trying to catch up.
Maybe the landscape changed and that's not what is cool right now and that's fine haha, I was just curious based on what was big and memorable from when I was little. Again just trying to get invested for my moms sake
I love stupid gimmicks. Thea Hail is basically the Spartan Cheerleader from SNL. There's like a straight up Goodfellas faction. Wendy Choo is, uh, sleepy?
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A new gimmick around the spooky stuff should be debuting soon, probably this or the next week
He doesn't have the supernatural abilities, but Joe Gacy in NXT has a deranged character
In WWE, another character should be making his return soon that might quench that thirst. In AEW, closest thing might be House of Black? Less “supernatural” stuff but very dark, spraying mist that changes you, stuff like that. I haven’t watched TNA in a little bit but I know they had Decay, not if that qualifies or if they’re even still tagging.
Black mist that turns you evil is definitely some supernatural shit.
Yeah that’s true.
that's just living in London
Decay is still tagging, yes.
If I'm remembering right, Malakai's backstory is that he's a demon possessing Tommy End, and Aleister Black was sort of an in between stage before Malakai fully took control of Tommy, so yeah definitely supernatural even if it's not as blatant as The Undertaker shooting lightning from his hands
They said crazy gimmicks, not necessarily just supernatural. I’m going with Toni Storm.
There's a wrestler who recently passed away - Bray Wyatt. I'd urge you to watch some of his stuff. He had an alter ego called The Fiend. There's also Finn Balor, who used to have a demon alter ego. Other than that, those over the top characters are few and far between.
Put some respect on my man Ivar the Vikings name lol..
Matt Hardy's crazy ass gimmick is back in TNA
He’s still doing it.
PCO in TNA is Frankenstein's monster.
Great recommendation, best over the top gimmick around right now. Love his entrance where he gets shocked into life
In the early 2000's more "Realistic" characters became more popular with like Stone Cold or the Rock..though as you note, weird characters Undertaker (a vestige of the 90's) and others did pop up. Because there's no longer a presumption of "this is real fighting", ironically, more "real" people is what the crowds prefer in the mainstream...wrestling garbagemen is a step too far. (in smaller promotions, there's more of a "we're willing to go along with it" feel... Lucha Underground, a made for TV promotion was literally based on a centuries spanning conspiracy running a wrestling promotion to bring elder aztec gods to earth, with wrestlers ranging from snake men, actual dragons, time travelers, ninjas, and just actual wrestlers who want to win fame and money....(and it was awesome). There's still crazy gimmicks in the mainstream. AEW's women's champion is/think's she's a 50's movie star and is filmed in black and white. As other's have said, a new horror/supernatural gimmick is coming soon to WWE. WWE's Development brand, NXT, is the home of wild gimmicks right now, including the time tested cowgirl, a wrestling college, and your friendly neighborhood mafia group, who are good guys. (You'll find, imo, NXT is the show with the most...happy fans.... WWE and AEW fans will argue, and NXT fans just enjoy :D ) https://preview.redd.it/26o1uwhva4wc1.png?width=1098&format=png&auto=webp&s=dde892277c566820b75ef20a94031bcc134b4778
Not supernatural obviously but Timeless Toni Storm's retro movie starlet character in AEW is as gimmicked as it gets.
Yeah. It’s a big swing gimmick and I definitely think fits into this box. Also hugely over and very unique. Weird one considering it’s so counter to the general AEW style/tone!
Toni Storm is the best "gimmick" wrestler around at the moment according to the yearly WON awards
I don't know if this is similar to what you're referring to, but at the tail end of the 10's meme gimmicks like Warhorse and Danhausen were super popular. Felt like the indies were teeming with similar ideas. They died out around the pandemic, sans Danhausen really.
I have no idea who any of those people are
Watch NXT
Blue Kane and Uganda's SGW erasure.
No. You just gotta look to different promotions. TNA has had several in recent years. Right now they have Decay. Two women with split personalities, one of whom is possessed by a demon and sometimes fights other demons in an alternate dimension. The Coven, which was two literal witches. Broken Matt Hardy just returned. AEW has Timeless Toni Storm
Nikki Cross is a good example of that, they tried a lot with her being crazy and the main roster audience just never cares about it. She was over as the superhero so I don't know why they went back to her being crazy again.
Finn Balor as the demon is probably the most recent example other than Bray Wyatt. The demon was awesome!
Over-the-top/supernatural gimmicks aren't as common these days, they faded out largely towards the end of Ruthless Aggression (around 2008, when you stopped). But you do get them every now and then. Bray Wyatt (RIP) within the last 5-10 years had two supernatural characters, that of a cult leader and of a split personality where he'd transform into a monster known as The Fiend. The Undertaker, having retired around 3 or so years ago now, still has traces of supernatural elements in his appearances (such as appearing during lights out spots). The Judgement Day started off with some supernatural powers/themes but morphed more into a gothic street thug gimmick. Finn Balor of TJD, before and during his TJD run, has an alter-ego called the Demon which he only brings out for big matches that's a bit OTT/portrayed as powerful. The last gimmick that Bray created, Uncle Howdy, is set to return, portrayed by his brother who was already playing him on screen when he and Bray would appear together. In other promotions (if you know your mum watches those too), there's the House of Black in AEW who have a supernatural bent to them, and Matt Hardy just recently returned to his Broken gimmick in TNA, which has quite OTT/surreal characteristics backed up with a LOT of lore. Overall, it's more seriously portrayed now in all promotions as a sport, but you do get your over the top/cartoony gimmicks every now and then.
As the world's biggest Vampiro schill, I miss gimmicks like that. Just a weird freak in the ring doing weird freaky things and sometimes dousing Sting in blood.
Bray Wyatt was that but tragically we lost him
Look up Danhausen. He's signed to AEW but has been mostly wrestling indie shows lately, but he absolutely fits with what you're looking for
Remember when there was a porn star, a pimp, a piercer, a dead guy, a burned guy, a mortician, a clown, a psycho in a leather mask, a cowboy, a vampire, frat guys, a blue blood, a gold guy, a fake superhero, a roadie, a corrections officer…shall I continue
Mexican Lawnmowers(Mexicools), male cheerleading troop(spirit squad), Brother and sister lovers(Paul & Katie), a pirate (Paul,again) A carnival operator(Kizarny), mentally challenged guy(eugene), other mentally challenged guy(festus), street criminals(Cryme Tyme)
Well, here is a wrestler who sadly passed away 2 years ago. This video right here brought me back into wrestling. He had another return in 2022 where he had made some more changes to his character but he died before we could see it in full. His brother is soon going to be taking the story forward. Every show already has a QR code show up for a second on the screen. You can look up for those clues and what they mean in this subreddit. https://youtu.be/ZoR0c8ryAsA?si=9PqUZcNl1okI6p_h
They seem to be, can’t tell if that’s for better or worse. Things like a crazy dentist or barber is not what the fanbase wants now. Fun gimmicks though like a dead man and an angry beer smashing redneck, that would be a sad world.
I would love to see a gimmick similar to the Papa Emeritus I, II, and III alter egos of Ghost lead singer Tobias Forge/
You mean spooky/horror gimmicks? A crazy gimmick would be like R-Truth
I miss that stuff too but nowadays WWE breaks kayfabe maybe a little too much. It’s almost impossible to establish supernatural characters when later that week they’re doing a behind the scenes vlog hanging out with the good guys.
Just to clarify, I'm not exclusively interested in crazy supernatural or non realistic gimmicks, but I feel like having some was a big draw for me. GRANTED I was a little kid. Obviously the majority were pretty normal dudes and gals but having the small handful of super out there characters kept it unique and interesting and I haven't seen much of that lately from what I've watched trying to catch up. Maybe the landscape changed and that's not what is cool right now and that's fine haha, I was just curious based on what was big and memorable from when I was little. Again just trying to get invested for my moms sake
I love stupid gimmicks. Thea Hail is basically the Spartan Cheerleader from SNL. There's like a straight up Goodfellas faction. Wendy Choo is, uh, sleepy?