Match These Wrestlers To Their Bad 90s Gimmicks!
Ahh…wrestling in the nineties. What a time to be a fan!
Hulkamania was still running wild, Warrior Wildness was snarling about, the little Stingers were bowling at the moon, and guys like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Steve Austin were chomping at the bit to make their own mark, while guy like Triple H and the Undertaker were just getting started. And there was still a Flair wooing in the ring
The territories were still around - Jim Cornette, aka - the Paul Heyman of the South had Smokey Mountain; Paul Heyman, aka - the Jim Cornette of the North had ECW; and even though he was working for WWE, Jerry Lawler and “huh” himself, Jerry “Chicken Salad” Jarret himself still were running shows in Memphis. WCW was rising from the ashes of the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions, and of course eventually take over from WWE for a few years there as the premiere wrestling organization.
And gimmicks were completely ridiculous! Plumbers, sanitation workers, magicians, turtles, baseball players, hockey players, barbers, hog farmers, voodoo priests, and (even though we all love him), dead guys were running around everywhere! Then almost overnight in a flash a Ringmaster from Victoria, Texas declared “Austin 3:16 Says I just whipped your ass!” and the game was changed - the Attitude Era had arrived.
It wouldn't much longer before the silliest gimmicks dissipated in favor of some more realistic characters, but die-hard fans still hold a lot of these gimmicks in their so-bad-they-were good hearts. This quiz is for the stars and their own bad gimmicks – Match these wrestlers to their 90s gimmicks.
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
For a guy who has trained so many guys and has helped a lot of legends like Stone Cold get back into ring shape, boy oh boy was Al Snow saddled with a whole heap of bad gimmicks before he headed to ECW, grabbed a mannequin head and started talking to it to finally gain some notoriety besides being the butt of a lot of Mick Foley’s jokes. This gimmick might have been his worst – he’d head to the ring, THEN put on his mask to wrestler as this Luchador inspired wrestler.
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
As Diesel, he was the longest-reigning champion of the nineties. As Vinnie Vegas, he worked a decent-enough style in WCW to get him noticed by Shawn Michaels, who asked for and got him hired by WWE to become big Diesel. When he came back to WCW, he returned a mega-star and along with Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan formed the nWo and changed wrestling forever. But what paltry gimmick forced him to wander through airports carrying the whole costume in a giant rolling crate?
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
How did Jim Neidhart get the nickname “The Anvil?” For real, the former Oakland Raider held the world record for anvil tossing, or at least that's the working reason. As a shoot, “the big rhino (say it in your best Stu voice)” hurled the thing 11 feet, still an impressive fete that you can't do. Of course, he'd have his biggest success teaming with his brother-in-law as the Hart Foundation. But he'd be under a mask for this nonsensical character -
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
Barry Darsow has the distinction of being at both ends of the spectrum of great gimmicks for both WWE and Crockett and then having a pair of cruddy gimmicks across both WWE and WCW. In Crockett, he was Krusher Krushev, a Russian sympathizer. Of course, his most popular gimmick was as one half and then one third of Demolition, as Smash. But which of the bad gimmicks are we talking about here (hint-it's not the one that got him fired from WCW)?
What was Brutus Beefcake's gimmick in the 90s?
#BTFBB has had a small resurgence in infamy thanks to Something To Wrestle With… podcast host, Conrad Thompson continual usage of the hashtag when referring to some of the more questionable booking choices regarding Hulk Hogan’s little buddy. As far as gimmicks go, Ed Leslie probably holds some sort of record for terrible gimmicks. It's Lon Chaney in reverse. Any fan can probably rattle off at least four gimmicks off the top of their head when it comes to the Barber. Which astrologically-inspired gimmick earns a spot on this quiz?
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
For over twenty years, the Big Red Machine has run amok and dominated the entire industry as one of the best big men of the modern era. He started as the Undertaker's little brother and therefore shared a lot of moves with the Deadman and of course their convoluted back story. But the man under the mask, Glen Jacobs was able to make you believe in this character, because he has that intangible “it” factor. Actually, that it factor helped the possible future mayor of Knox County, TN make all his characters work, including the first one he played in WWE
What was Ron Simmons gimmick in the 90s?
Prior to wrestling, Ron Simmons was a legend at Florida State, a two-time All-American and inducted into the 2008 class of the College Football Hall of Fame. In the ring, he was trained by Hiro Matsuda and defeated Vader to become the first ever African-American world champion. Then he headed up north to become Farooq, the leader of the Nation, an Acolyte for the Deadman, a beer-guzzling bodyguard-for-hire, but what was Farooq when Simmons got started?
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
One of the heirs of the family empire through marriage, Triple H is also ensuring that future currently, thanks to all of the work he does with NXT. He has endured criticism of Dirt Sheet writers that he refuses to put people over. He's endured being jobbed out countless times as a direct result of the infamous Curtain Call. But one of the earliest indignations the Game had to endure was being branded with a ridiculous name, made even worse by by his teacher, Killer Kowalski when HHH asked for a first and a last name?
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
Shane Douglas has always been one of the most outspoken people in the business. As an EW stalwart, he became their Franchise and lambasted the big two companies and their aging stars and arrogant ones. While he might have been rallying the troops and the ECW faithful, he was coming from a place of experience. He had worked for both companies prior to his first run in ECW. When he returned to the WWE, he had a huge political minefield to deal with backstage that did him in. That, and this gimmick, which Vince envisioned for him.
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
In the early-mid nineties, second generation wrestler, Matt Bourne had one of the hottest gimmicks in the business. As the original Doink the Clown, he perfected the evil clown gimmick and none of the handful of people who played the role afterwards, be it as a face or a heel couldn't hold a candle to Bourne’s portrayal of the role. As a second-gen star, he worked all over the world and even wrestled at the first WrestleMania. But in WCW, he was given this silly mountain man gimmick.
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
If you've ever heard of a wrestler being referred to as a “heck of a hand,” then you'll know a guy like Paul Diamond. As one half of a very underrated tag team with Pat Tanaka (first as Badd Company in the AWA, then working under a hood as Kato in the Orient Express for WWE), Diamond worked with a whole heap of guys, helping to fine tune them as they honed their craft. Names like Owen Hart and even Shawn Michaels come to mind. In fact, which space-centric character (that was originally intended for Konnan) did Diamond play as he challenged HBK for the IC title on an early episode of Raw?
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
To be fair, Norman the Lunatic is a fairly bad gimmick too, but down south the whole gimmick got over because of how good of a big man “Makhan Singh,” Mike Shaw really was. As Norman, he was led to the ring by future WWE Hall Of Famer Teddy Long, who used to threaten to send him back to the looney bin. He headed up north and became the Mad Monk, Friar Ferguson, a character Vince McMahon was hoping would work. When it didn't, it was supposedly Bruce Prichard who rechristened him as this slovenly character -
What was Mosh's gimmick in the 90s?
The Headbangers were a pretty cool gimmick for their time. Certainly a product of 90s Heavy Metal culture, Mosh and Thrasher took their one note gimmick and got themselves over, winning several championships during their run in the Attitude Era. But in mid-99, Thrasher went down with a knee injury, and Mosh was repackaged as this character - a riff on and old school TV show, which also saw his real-life girlfriend take part in incestuous and then downright insipid fake harassment angle.
What was Marc Mero's gimmick in the 90s?
Thanks to the advent of podcasts, namely The Ross Report and Something To Wrestle With…, fans have learned that the with the hiring of Marc(o) Mero came two thoughts - 1. They hired the wrong Mero (in reference to Marc’s then-wife, Sable) and 2. Vince hired him based on his WCW character, Johnny B. Badd, which unfortunately for Vince, Mero didn't own. This left the WWE to come up with a character for the guy, who they also realized couldn't work as well as they thought he could. Which gimmick did they bestow on the future Marvelous One?
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
In real life, Fred Ottman is by marriage, the uncle of both Dustin and Cody Runnels. In the wres-tling world, he is best known for playing Hulk Hogan’s best buddy, Tugboat, who asked the fans to write letters and well-wishes urging Hulk to return after getting taken out by Earthquake. Lat-er on, he'd become Typhoon and join ‘Quake to become the Natural Disasters. Sadly, for Ottman none of those gimmicks, or any proposed ones would hold a candle to this ridiculous gimmick that was D.O.A. when he arrived in WCW.
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
As a Hall of Famer, The Godfather is a very deserving. Skill wise, no one will be comparing him with Shawn Michaels or A.J. Styles anytime soon. But the Godfather was not only a decent working big guy, he was entertaining. No matter what gimmick he was given. First, he debuted as Voodoo priest, Papa Shango, who some fans think was corny, but it was old-school wrestling corny, which puts it in the memorable so-bad-it's-good area. Do we really need to discuss the how and why The Godfather as Ho Train got over?!?! But in between those two characters was a pretty paltry gimmick that might have gotten over if the guy was actually a UFC fighter…what gimmick was this?
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
Debuting for the WWE in November 1990, the Undertaker took what was actually a pretty silly gimmick on paper and parlayed it into the greatest gimmick of all time. He is a bridge between the ridiculous characters of the late eighties and the early nineties. As a guy who lasted for so long, he had to able to reinvent himself time and time again. He did so during the mid-nineties after having orbital bone broken. He returned with a mask, same Deadman gimmick, only now he looked like this ridiculous character
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
“From Montreal to Memphis / Parlez vous Francais? Tell all the girls / The Rougeaus are on their way.” Now that you've got the amazing old school theme of the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers running through your head, despite what Kevin Owens might say, Jacques Rougeau wasn't half bad as a wrestler as his former pupil Owens has alluded to in interviews. After his brother, Raymond re-tired, Jacques kept going, and created this gimmick - complete with its own laughingly bad but catchy entry music.
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
During the mid to late eighties, if you hear wrestlers tell it (or fans who knew what to look for), Barry Windham was one of the smoothest, if not best workers in the sport. From Stone Cold Steve Austin to even Windham’s former Horseman teammate, Ric Flair has agreed he might be one of, if not THE most underrated big man in the sport. So when it was time to return to the WWE, certainly he was going to be given a big time push with the big time machine behind him, but Windham was instead given this terrible gimmick, at least according to Bruce Prichard, Windham likes it.
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
Steven Regal is one of the biggest team players in the sport. Starting out in America as an aristo-crat, which he pretty much played during his entire WCW run. At the other end of the wrestling pond, the WWE, he was immediately thrust into the Deadly Game tournament from the 1998 Survivor Series. He has also been a commissioner, a king, an Un-American, and now serves as a coach and general manager for NXT. For some strange reason though (maybe a rib), when Regal originally came on board, Vince envisioned this gimmick for him?
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
In the weird and wild world of the New Generation-era WWE, seemingly every one of the underneath guys had to have a job-related gimmick. There were garbage truck drivers, plumbers, and even baseball players (they needed somewhere to work after the 94 strike). Some fans might not realize that supposed backstage bully and old-school tough guy, Bob “Hardcore” Holly also had a side-job in addition to being a WWE superstar. What was Hol-ly’s original gimmick, that Vince envisioned would help them make a lot of money utilizing the gimmick?
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
Jim Ross used to say it all of the time. Billy Gunn was the best pure athlete of his time. There really wasn't anything Mr. Ass couldn't do, except wrestle a full-blown singles match, due to the poor guy’s asthma which haunted his singles push right dead in his tracks. But prior to beginning his wrestling career, the tag-team specialist was a real life rodeo bull-rider, much more than plenty of his coworkers. In-between being a Smoking Gunn and a Degenerate, the WWE tried to package him as what?
What gimmick did Earthquake have in the late 90s?
Everyone loves the fabled Attitude Era still knows there was still a hefty dose of characters that couldn't get over if their life depended on it, regardless of who had the book. So it goes with big John Tenta. The guy was one of the few gaijins to be a successful Sumo in Japan. But during the early nineties, there was no one who could stop Tenta as the mighty Earthquake. Fast forward a few years and now the poor guy was placed under a hood for this silly gimmick.
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
Being one of the Undertaker’s friends certainly has its perks. You'll seemingly always have at least a foot in the door. So it went with Phineas I. Godwin. Debuting down south as Tex Slazenger, the rough and rugged wrestler would eventually make his way up north, joining his old partner, Shanghai Pierce, then known as Henry O. Godwin. Once that whole bit had run its course, Phineas (Dennis Knight) would be the first sacrifice to the Undertaker’s Ministry. He also eventually became which insulting character?
What was this wrestler's gimmick in the 90s?
The Land of Extreme, ECW was for a long time the proving ground for stars before they got the call to go to WWE or WCW. Naysayers still to this day will try to knock the company for its Bingo Hall roots, but if the naysayers were right, then why was Eric Bischoff signing away talent and Vince was having not-so-secret dealings with Paul Heyman. One of the prime examples of what ECW did for a person’s career was Justin Credible, who became one of the company’s top stars in their last few years. But in WWE, he was given this cruddy gimmick?