The WWE and its previous incarnations have had a lot of spectacular athletes with brilliant storylines to go along with them. However, for every great thing they've done they have also made many mistakes when it comes to their gimmicks and that cannot be ignored. Yet, that is what makes the WWE have such a beautiful history. They have the ability to make beautiful and horrible elements work perfectly. Throughout my life, I have found myself hating a handful of WWE gimmicks, but also laughing at them because of how unoriginal and annoying they are. 

Throughout this article, we will be looking at fifteen horrendous wrestling gimmicks that went on too long. In fact, most of these should have never even been part of the WWE, but of course, it is too late to change that now. Expect to be reminded of some of the strangest parts of wrestling history that hopefully can give you a bit of nostalgia in the process. Personally, I hope that this article can at least help us cope with some of the worst parts of our childhood. At the end of the day, it is important to note that the WWE still has had some of the greatest wrestlers of all time and has provided us an immeasurable amount of memories. However, it is now time to display our hostility toward the bad ones. 

Let’s take a look at these fifteen horrendous gimmicks now.

15 15. Scotty 2 Hotty

via youtube.com

Scotty 2 Hotty was one of the strangest wrestlers in the WWE and totally encompassed the 1990s/2000s. He easily had one of the worst, yet most catchy, entrance songs. The “turn it up” chant is something that has never left my mind since I watched wrestling as a child. However, when looking at his career, his entrance song is the only part of it that has actually left an impact on my life.

Scotty 2 Hotty did not accomplish much in the WWE, but was very entertaining, even if it was in a bad way. His ridiculously stupid worm dance move was by far one of the goofiest parts of the WWE and I will always have a love/hate relationship for him. At the end of the day, it is clear that his career was extremely lacklustre. Not many young and future WWE fans will remember his legacy.

14 14. MVP

via twitter.com

MVP was one of the most annoying wrestlers in the business right from the start. This is because he was purposely given so much hype and failed to possess any skill for it. When he signed the “richest contract in the world” for Smackdown, I remember thinking he was going to be a superstar in the ring. I quickly recognized that this was not going to be the case.

MVP never did much as a wrestler besides irritate the heck out of fans and complain about the way he was treated in the ring. To be honest, he is a wrestler who I genuinely wish never entered the WWE. His arrogant persona was exaggerated too greatly by the writers and ultimately made the majority of fans dislike him. He can easily be classified as one of the biggest busts in WWE history.

13 13. The Goon

via wwe.com

During the 1990s, the WWE created The Goon character and to be honest it is one of the most bizzare concepts to me. Although I grew up watching hockey, I personally found this gimmick to be lazy as it was simply a stereotypical portrayal of hockey players. However, I did admire his choice of hockey stick and he wore a pretty cool jersey. 

The Goon’s backstory was that he was not allowed to play in any professional hockey league because he was too violent. Yet, for this character to have worked, they should have given him more success and actually gave him an identity that would him seem like more than just a typical hockey player. Hockey players during that era were extremely fierce and tough, but The Goon simply did not fit that criteria with his WWE career.

12 12. Mr. America

via huzlers.com

This gimmick was one of the absolute dumbest parts of professional wrestling history because it was just Hulk Hogan wearing an American flag mask. I understand that Patriotism is an important aspect of this country, but the idea of this character was simply unnecessary. I think for this character to have worked, they would have needed to change many aspects of him

The most irritating part of this was that, to this day, Hulk Hogan still denies that he portrayed the character and that is just stupid. Anyone who has functional eyesight can easily tell that Hulk Hogan was the man in the mask. At the end of the day, it is pretty ironic that Hulk Hogan was Mr. America due to all the scandals he has faced since leaving the WWE. I think today they would have used a different person.

11 11. Eugene

via youtube.com

Eugene was a very entertaining wrestler, but realistically the story behind him should have never been in the WWE. Eugene was introduced to the WWE back in the early 2000s as Eric Bishoff’s “special nephew” and was deemed "not very bright". However, this character easily could have been seen as offensive to people with special needs/learning disabilities. I am surprised he lasted for as long as he did. 

If the WWE tried to put a character like Eugene in the ring again it would absolutely be rejected. Although Eugene’s character did not receive much criticism, I highly doubt that the WWE would be able to pull this off again. The social justice movement has a much bigger presence in today's world and this easily would not be allowed, especially now that the WWE tragets so much of its marketing to children.

10 10. King Booker

via wwe.com

Back when Booker T was the King of the Ring, the WWE decided to make that his entire persona and changed his name to King Booker. Although King Booker had some hilarious moments during this stage of his career, the act began to get stale fairly quickly. Although Booker T was the prime candidate to play this role, the amount of arrogance he carried was just too strong.

The entrance with Sharmell screaming King Booker’s name began to be a bit excessive and ultimately is what ruined the character for me. I know I must not be the only person who felt this way because he did end up going back to Booker T. Booker T as a wrestler had one of the most promising careers, but the King Booker era just lasted a bit too long in my opinion.

9 9. The Great Khali

via dailymotion.com

What truly irked me about the Great Khali was that if a man that big were to actually fight these wrestlers, he would win every time. The Great Khali was a freak of nature when he wrestled in the WWE and with that, should have won far more than he actually did. The Great Khali was over seven feet tall and three hundred pounds, and should have won numerous championships.

Yet, the WWE continuously had its top wrestlers have these over dramatic uphill battles with the giant that ultimately led them to victory. This gimmick is one I could never enjoy simply because it was incredibly unrealistic most of the time. Although I personally did not like The Great Khali, it is fair to say that he should have far more success than what the writers gave him.

8 8. The Mexicools

via wcwworldwide.com

Well, this one should be obvious to anyone who has seen or heard of this former tag team group. The Mexicools were a group of WWE wrestlers who basically were forced to fulfill and display every stereotype that Mexican individuals are given. It still baffles me to this day that the WWE made this tagteam group and it was marked as acceptable just a decade ago. 

Considering the current political climate of the United States, this gimmick would receive swift and heavy backlash if it were introduced today and rightfully so. Racial stereotyping is something that would never be seen as entertaining. I am happy that the WWE decided to move away from this tag-team group because they would be in a lot of trouble today if it lasted much longer.

7 7. Gillberg

via wwe.com

The WWF created the wrestler Gillberg as a parody to a character of their rival company, the WCW. Gillberg was a clear cut mockery of WCW wrestling star Goldberg and literally would copy every move and gesture that he would make. Although the theory of the idea sounds hilarious, it ultimately was a failure and a disrespectful move by the WWF.

The idea of this character was the result of purely lazy writing and for all intents and purposes was an unnecessary shot at Goldberg. Goldberg was arguably the best wrestler during that era and should have been treated with far more respect from the rival company. Overall, this gimmick was a failure because of the animosity behind it, but also the stupidity. 

6 6. Hornswoggle

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When Hornswoggle first appeared in the WWE, it took me a second to actually believe it was real. The WWE thought that it was a smart idea to dress a person of short stature in a leprechaun outfit and have him hide underneath the ring for the Irish wrestler Finlay. Although Hornswoggle was a hilarious character to look at it, his act quickly became stale and overused. 

This again showed the lazy writing in the WWE and honestly was one of my least favorite elements of the promotion during my childhood. Yet, I think we all could have a laugh when Hornswaggle would distract the referee so Finlay could strike his opponents with his shillelagh. Hornswoggle would have worked better if he was not around as often as the WWE made him be. 

5 5. Giant Gonzalez

via wwe.com

The WWE has always had an affinity for dressing people up based on how tall or short they are. Giant Gonzalez had a short lived wrestling career and through the entirety of it, wore a gorilla suit in the ring. I personally hate the idea of this because it again shows the laziness of the WWE and their lack of creating original ideas. 

Giant Gonzalez, as the name implies, was incredibly tall and was billed in with a height of 8 feet. The reason why this gimmick was ridiculous was because the WWF clearly only used his height to their advantage for publicity. However, Giant Gonzalez did not dominate the wrestling scene even though he should have under realistic conditions. It is clear that not many wrestlers would have been able to actually beat up a man that was as huge as Giant Gonzalez.

4 4. Spirit Squad

via ringthedamnbell.com

The Spirit Squad was by far my least favorite tag team group growing up and realistically, how could one not hate them? They were dressed in cheerleader uniforms, carried around pompoms, and used to prance around the ring. Their chants were so agitating and at times I would actually turn off my television because of how annoying they were. 

Even while behaving this way, this group of five men were allowed to have the Tag Team Championship belt for a fairly long period of time. This irritated me immensely when I watched wrestling as a child because this annoying group should have never been written into the series in the first place. I am very happy that the WWE moved on from them eventually because they truly were one of the only negative parts I remember of the company from that time.

3 3. Battle Kat

via wwe.fr

Can you believe that professional wrestling once had a fighter who literally dressed up in a cat suit? Well, those dark days once were a reality and thankfully, that is no longer the case today. Besides having one of the worst gimmicks ever, Battle Kat also had a horrible career. I mean, how could one not ruin their career when they dressed up as a cat and purposely made their stance mock one?

Battle Kat was incredibly entertaining to watch, but everything about his character was lazy. Although he had one of the most humorous entrances due to his dance moves and theme, a man dressed up in a cat suit should have never seen the light of day in the wrestling world. In all fairness, the earlier days of wrestling were more prone to have wacky characters for comedic purposes. However Battle Kat was just a step too far. 

2 2. The Boogeyman

via wwe.com

The Boogeyman was by far one of the worst WWE gimmicks and luckily he did not go the distance in the company. The Boogeyman was mainly added to the show to be seen as a “monster” and to scare grown men. It just never seemed to click with me personally because I thought the idea of his character was far too dramatic and of course, extremely unoriginal.

However, the immense fear these wrestlers would have for this man was ridiculously stupid. All the Boogeyman ever did was come up to the ring in the dark and scream at the opponents. Oh, and he also ate “worms” so I guess that was supposed to be intimidating as well. I think what irritated me the most about this character was the way the commentators would talk up his apperance. The Boogeyman was never frightening and was just stupid.

1 1. The Gobbledy Gooker

via vimeo.com

Well, wrestling hit its lowest point when they introduced The Gobbledy Gooker at Survivor Series in 1990. Besides having the strangest name of all time, The Gobbledy Gooker literally came out of an egg. Yes, the Gobbledy Gooker came out of a giant egg. What was most annoying about the giant egg gimmick was that it was built up for months and fans were expecting something far greater. They were not happy to see that they were waiting for a big turkey.

Well, it did not stop there. Once introduced, wrestling fans were extremely riled up to see that the wrestler in the egg was dressed up in a turkey costume and that was what all the months of hype had led up to. The Gobbledy Gooker would fight in that costume and it was one of the strangest sites that I have personally ever seen. Ironically, the man who portrayed him was Hector Guerrero from the legendary Guerrero family. What a sad way to go down in history for Hector.