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Post by WalterF on May 25, 2009 17:55:26 GMT -5
Anyone notice the extreme level of Wrestlecrap-worthy gimmicks we've been getting lately? And the funny part is they are all virtually the same gimmick minus a few minute details.
For example, Dolph Ziggler and Zack Ryder. They bother feature wrestlers coming out and smiling like they had the smiles surgically placed on their faces ... just ultra-fake. They both really only say a few words and rely on a handful of really overexaggerated, overly cheesy motions and/or poses.
It's just SO bad. I never thought we'd be getting generic, awful to a suicidal point, gimmicks like this in freakin' 2009. i hate to rant and annoying, but I honestly feel bad for some of these guys. The way they are packaged seriously makes it IMPOSSIBLE for them to be taken seriously.
Even R-Truth ... he comes out and says NOTHING, NOTHING but "What's Up?" Is he a parrot or a puppet or what?
The sad part is, I think all of these guys are decent-to-good wrestlers, but the way they are packaged is so ill-advised and out-of-touch that I can't imagine what guy working for WWE would think this sh-t up.
For a babyface, Kofi is one of the worst, gimmick-wise. He really has NO personality. He comes out, like a puppet goes through his "boom boom boom" shtick as if they are the only words he knows how to speak and when he cuts a promo he says the most generic, white meat babyface, boring things I have ever heard. Again, I like him in the ring, but him and alot of these people I mention seeme more like robots with their mannerisms and promos than human beings. I don't know if it's because they are green or maybe WWE is actually instructing them to go out there and repeat 2 words over and over again and do it as mechanically and fakely as possible and hope they somehow get over that way.
I'm curious with some other opinions and I'm sure some disagree with me, but I think unless WWE gives some somewhat creative attitudes or gimmicks to these guys, they're hopeless, regardless of in-ring talent.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2009 17:57:26 GMT -5
Zack is a jock who's full of himself... When you know that 90% of wrestling fans are virgins in their mother's basement....
That's a good heat getting gimmick...
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Post by WalterF on May 25, 2009 18:00:22 GMT -5
Zack is a jock who's full of himself... When you know that 90% of wrestling fans are virgins in their mother's basement.... That's a good heat getting gimmick... I have no problem with being a jock who is into himself and I know it gets heat, but did you notice how BADLY he overdoes the smiley face/fixing his hair thing. Its extremely overdone. There is way to make a conceited jock be edgy, its just not done. |
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Post by DgenerationX092 on May 25, 2009 18:03:21 GMT -5
you got it all wrong. Your not nitpicking their gimmick, your nitpicking their characteristics.
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Post by sxexhxc on May 25, 2009 18:08:20 GMT -5
I always said Zack Ryder would be the next Shawn Michaels, when he was teaming with Curt Hawkins and NONE OF YOU BELIEVED ME!
Ryder: "If you wanna see me whip this guys ass, can I get a WOO WOO WOO?!"
Crowd: "YOU KNOW IT!!!"
And you say, he's got no potential... you guys are funny.
LOL at the people who think I'm serious XD
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Post by WalterF on May 25, 2009 18:09:04 GMT -5
you got it all wrong. Your not nitpicking their gimmick, your nitpicking their characteristics. I'm actually nitpicking both. The gimmicks themselves are bland and ontop of the gimmick, some of the particular characteristics are even more bland. Ryder's gimmick is a generic conceited jock. If his gimmick was to be a conceited jock w/ edge, his characteristics would be less cheesy and more edgy. A wrestler given his gimmick is going be instructed to perform certain acts or mannerisms related to his gimmick and 90% of the time that will be dictated by whatever agent or whoever has given the wrestler that gimmick. They both go hand in hand because most of the time a wrestler cant be given a gimmick and then go out there and act in a way that acts against or drifts too far from the gimmick or else they will problably have their asses handed to them backstage. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2009 18:12:18 GMT -5
Zack is a jock who's full of himself... When you know that 90% of wrestling fans are virgins in their mother's basement.... That's a good heat getting gimmick... I have no problem with being a jock who is into himself and I know it gets heat, but did you notice how BADLY he overdoes the smiley face/fixing his hair thing. Its extremely overdone. There is way to make a conceited jock be edgy, its just not done. He's not supposed to be edgy.. He's supposed to be an idiot, and that's what he is.. |
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Sami Hazard
Main Eventer
I don't answer to a higher power, I am a higher power.
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Post by Sami Hazard on May 25, 2009 18:12:34 GMT -5
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Post by WalterF on May 25, 2009 18:15:24 GMT -5
I have no problem with being a jock who is into himself and I know it gets heat, but did you notice how BADLY he overdoes the smiley face/fixing his hair thing. Its extremely overdone. There is way to make a conceited jock be edgy, its just not done. He's not supposed to be edgy.. He's supposed to be an idiot, and that's what he is.. Well if he's supposed to be an idiot, then I don't know how he'll ever get over. No one is going to take him seriously and he will continue to get no reaction until he's released unless the gimmick is tweaked. Unless fans see him as some sort of threat to a babyface, he won't get anywhere. He gets no reaction and his gimmick is outdated and bad, period. If they added a little bit of aggressiveness to him, at least fans could see him as someone to pose a threat to a face and then he can be ... reacted to by people. |
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2009 18:17:45 GMT -5
You don't have to be some badass to get over.. Look at Shawn Michaels, the dude wore a Village People outfit.. Was he a serious threat or a badass?
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Post by WalterF on May 25, 2009 18:20:34 GMT -5
You don't have to be some badass to get over.. Look at Shawn Michaels, the dude wore a Village People outfit.. Was he a serious threat or a badass? But when that gimmick took place he was for one thing allowed to cut real promos and secondly, he had huge heat regarding a dramatic turn. He was a popular face w/ Jannetty and did a particularly brutal turn for that era. That gave him huge heat ... the boy toy gimmick, first off though a little corny wasn't outdated for 1991 and second of all he was able to cut REAL promos on Jannetty. He didn't just repeat phrases over and over and never cut a promo. Ryder seems like a flat-out caricature, While HBK did have some over-the-topness to his gimmick, he was already recieving huge heat, had established himself with fans and had a feud to cut REAL promos on. There was a counterbalance of his "boy toy" gimmick. There are no wrestlers that have made it huge in a non-comedic way with a rediculious, goofy ass overly stupid and comedic gimmick. If you want to be "over" in the way Santino is "over" that works, but if you want to climb up the card and hope to have some longevity as a wrestler, a corny gimmick where you do nothing but repeat a corny phrase over and over will get you nowhere. |
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Post by marino13 on May 25, 2009 18:21:44 GMT -5
You do not speak ill of the Kofi. Not cool, dude.
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Post by Cassa Nova Kid on May 25, 2009 18:22:36 GMT -5
R-Truth Awesome
Doplph Ziggler Starting to like him.
Zack Ryder I have yet to see he sounds cool though
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2009 18:23:01 GMT -5
You don't have to be some badass to get over.. Look at Shawn Michaels, the dude wore a Village People outfit.. Was he a serious threat or a badass? But when that gimmick took place he was for one thing allowed to cut real promos and secondly, he had huge heat regarding a dramatic turn. He was a popular face w/ Jannetty and did a particularly brutal turn for that era. That gave him huge heat ... the boy toy gimmick, first off though a little corny wasn't outdated for 1991 and second of all he was able to cut REAL promos on Jannetty. He didn't just repeat phrases over and over and never cut a promo. Ryder seems like a flat-out caricature, While HBK did have some over-the-topness to his gimmick, he was already recieving huge heat, had established himself with fans and had a feud to cut REAL promos on. You do know that Zack probably has .1% of control on what he says on promos, right? |
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Post by sxexhxc on May 25, 2009 18:23:09 GMT -5
You do not speak ill of the Kofi. Not cool, dude. Agreed. Kofi is one of the most exciting, fresh and overall good stars of this era. |
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Post by WalterF on May 25, 2009 18:25:11 GMT -5
But when that gimmick took place he was for one thing allowed to cut real promos and secondly, he had huge heat regarding a dramatic turn. He was a popular face w/ Jannetty and did a particularly brutal turn for that era. That gave him huge heat ... the boy toy gimmick, first off though a little corny wasn't outdated for 1991 and second of all he was able to cut REAL promos on Jannetty. He didn't just repeat phrases over and over and never cut a promo. Ryder seems like a flat-out caricature, While HBK did have some over-the-topness to his gimmick, he was already recieving huge heat, had established himself with fans and had a feud to cut REAL promos on. You do know that Zack probably has .1% of control on what he says on promos, right? If you looked at my above post I specifically says the wrestler has almost no control over it. I am not criticizing the wrestlers ... alot of people are taking me wrong here. I don't dislike Kofi, Ryder or Ziggler. I enjoy their matches and their wrestling, but they are dealt with BAD hands, bad boring stereotypical gimmicks. That is what my whole post is about ... I am not bashing these guys as wrestlers. |
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Post by WalterF on May 25, 2009 18:28:22 GMT -5
You do not speak ill of the Kofi. Not cool, dude. Agreed. Kofi is one of the most exciting, fresh and overall good stars of this era. If you think Kofi's promos are good and that his character is "fresh" then there's something wrong. He has a great look, puts on excellent matches and does a lot of fresh things in the ring. His matches are enjoyable, but his promos and character are far from fresh. |
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Post by sxexhxc on May 25, 2009 18:34:05 GMT -5
Agreed. Kofi is one of the most exciting, fresh and overall good stars of this era. If you think Kofi's promos are good and that his character is "fresh" then there's something wrong. He has a great look, puts on excellent matches and does a lot of fresh things in the ring. His matches are enjoyable, but his promos and character are far from fresh. He doesn't have any promos, to be good at them... he doesn't have a character either, he's just a Jamaican, who is good in the ring... How is Dolph Ziggler's gimmick a stereotype? |
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Post by WalterF on May 25, 2009 18:40:33 GMT -5
If you think Kofi's promos are good and that his character is "fresh" then there's something wrong. He has a great look, puts on excellent matches and does a lot of fresh things in the ring. His matches are enjoyable, but his promos and character are far from fresh. He doesn't have any promos, to be good at them... he doesn't have a character either, he's just a Jamaican, who is good in the ring... How is Dolph Ziggler's gimmick a stereotype? Ziggler, in particular isn't stereotypical, his gimmick is just overly cheesy. Again, I enjoy him in the ring, but unless his character is allowed to develop nothing big will become of him. And you pretty much said about Kofi what my point is, he doesn't have any promo's to cut to be good at. Yes, he's good in the ring, but without being given a storyline or being able to cut promos you can only go so far with being good in the ring. No one has ever made it huge by just being good in the ring and having one corny catchphrase they repeat over and over and over and over again. There's needs to be more depth to the character or at least something really unique and attention-grabbing about their character. Kofi has only cut a handful of promos and all of them have been boring as hell. This is my point ... these wrestlers are given a catchphrase and a few poses to do to get over. They aren't given angles or promo's to cut or enough time to talk to get over. That is why WWE goes through so many lower carders being on TV for a few weeks or a few months and then never being seen again ... where does the audience become really interested in these guys? Unless you're like Evan Bourne and your in-ring style is extremely exciting, unique and eye-catching, you're not gonna start getting really over unless you can show more than a corny gesture and a few catchphrases. |
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Post by KeBen Owens on May 25, 2009 18:41:12 GMT -5
I also seem to remember this guy...he dressed like some reject out of a polo match...truly horrible gimmick...what's his name?  And then there this guy, who had so many horrible gimmicks, was a monster wrapped in tinsel, then the  ing Unabomber...  If you haven't gotten the point yet, you cannot base someone's character or gimmick on their own personal ways. It's usually Vince that gives them the gimmick to try to run with it, as a test to see if they can handle the rigors of the WWE's lifestyle. These men helped with the characters development. You also have to take into fact that the ways of the wrestling food chain have completely been altered since the days of Shawn Michaels. Most of the younger talent these days have too much help and are hand-fed their characters. Also, what many people tend to forget, is that the WWE is still under observation by Congress regarding the Wellness Policy, which forced the WWE to develop it's "PG" programming. Many up and coming guys, like Ryder, may have an edgier gimmick closer to their real life self, but simply cannot afford to push the envelope on TV. Not to reign on CM Punk's parade, but do you honestly think the guy got over just on his own skill? He's a poster boy for clean living(why the hell would WWE want to do a deal with Pepsi in the first place?) Bottom line: There's no reason to attack a wrestler because of the system he has to work in. You never know, our World Champion one day might have "WOO WOO WOO" as his battle cry. -BEN |
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