In mainstream pro wrestling, just being talented is viewed as “not enough.” Everyone on a given roster has to have a unique gimmick, be it a job, viewpoint, style, or nationality. Sometimes, in the name of giving everyone a specific persona, a wrestling promotion will come up with a completely ridiculous idea that’s perfect fodder for lists like these. WWE, NXT, WCW, and even New Japan Pro Wrestling have all done it – some of which were obvious jokes, while others were just baffling.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at 10 instances of wacky gimmicks that The Powers That Be (for the most part) quickly decided to pull the plug on. Some of these you won’t believe were signed off on, to begin with!
10 Paul Burchill as a Pirate
Paul Burchill is one of those many, many wrestlers who showed up in WWE’s Ruthless Aggression era, spent half a decade employed, and disappeared, never to be seen in a video package ever again.
In early 2006, his character found out he was a descendent of the pirate Blackbeard, so he adopted a pirate gimmick, dressing like Captain Jack Sparrow, swinging on a rope and everything. Apparently it was popular with crowds, but Vince McMahon killed it without realizing that Pirates of the Caribbean existed and was the biggest thing happening in pop culture at the time.
9 Masked Horse
Ryusuke Taguchi is one of the only non-embarrassing comedic characters in mainstream wrestling, probably because he’s reasonably silly but never presented as worthless.
For NJPW’s Road to Tokyo Dome Tour in late 2017, he decided to adopt a new persona, Masked Horse, a man who was abandoned by his family and raised by horses; then, when the horses abandoned him, he was raised by a pro wrestler. He only had two matches – both multi-man tag bouts – before moving on to doing something else silly. Masked Horse still makes the odd appearance, though.
8 Xanta Klaus
Xanta Klaus sounds like the name of a holiday mixtape by Lil Uzi Vert, but it was actually a real pro wrestling gimmick employed by the WWF in 1995. Introduced by Ted DiBiase at the PPV In Your House 5: Seasons Beatings, Xanta Klaus was like a DC Comics anti-matter universe version of Old Saint Nick. You see, he’s from the South Pole and steals presents!
Xanta Klaus only had one televised match before leaving WWF for more extreme pastures and growing up to be the “chair swingin’ freak” known as Balls Mahoney.
7 Seven
In 1999, Dustin Rhodes jumped ship to WCW and was hyped up as a new character – a mystical being called Seven that was partially inspired by the Strangers from the cult sci-fi film Dark City. Rumor has it TNT was afraid that the vignettes made him seem like a child molester, so when Seven finally made his debut, he immediately broke character, trashing overblown wrestling gimmicks before abandoning the persona.
Did we mention this was firmly in the Vince Russo era of WCW? That’s why it is difficult to tell whether Seven was ever meant to be a real gimmick or if Russo just decided to rely on his favorite trick, the “worked shoot.”
6 Pancake Patterson
He’s called “Pancake” because he flattens fools. We’re not sure why Titus O'Neil adopted the persona of his own (and Darren Young’s) uncle Rufus “Pancake” Patterson on a random 2013 Raw to set up a match between John Cena and Young, but it was a fun bit of stupid absurdity while it lasted.
The best part is Darren Young mocking John Cena’s “You can’t see me” taunt and pretending to throw up about it. Obviously “Pancake” Patterson was just supposed to be a one-off gimmick, but at one point fans did get to revisit Patterson and his brother, Leon “Bonecrusher” Baker.
5 Oz
Kevin Nash never really caught a break until Diesel. Before his WWF run, he endured a handful of gimmicks in WCW, the most ridiculous of which was Oz, a literal Wizard of Oz gimmick where Nash would come out wearing a cape and a rubber wizard mask, accompanied by Kevin Sullivan wearing a different rubber wizard mask.
Oz’s debut at SuperBrawl I is truly something to behold. Rumor has it that the gimmick was a Turner Broadcasting idea as Ted Turner had recently bought the rights to the 1939 classic; regardless, it definitely seems like something wrestling fans would boo out of the building.
4 Abe “Knuckleball” Schwartz
Journeyman wrestler Steve Lombardi has had many personas over the years, including The Brooklyn Brawler, Kim Chee, and being one of several men to portray Doink the Clown. In 1994, WWF decided to dust off his MVP persona – a stickball themed wrestler who looked like a Baseball Fury from The Warriors – and capitalize on the 1994 MLB strike with a topical character called Abe “Knuckleball” Schwartz.
The main thrust of the character was browbeating fans for attending WWF shows instead of baseball games, but otherwise, he was still a jobber. Ultimately, the baseball strike would last longer than the character, as “Knuckleball” would revert back to the Brooklyn Brawler later in 1994.
3 Phantasio
One of the most curious gimmicks in wrestling is the most short-lived (not counting Seven). A magician in a mime mask, Phantasio debuted on a 1995 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge, used stage magic to win his match, and was never seen again.
According to Phantasio himself, a.ka. Harry Del Rios, his opportunity got killed because The Undertaker thought the Phantasio gimmick was too similar to his own. Whatever happened, the idea of a fully-fleshed out gimmick character showing up only once is kind of amazing.
2 Becky Lynch as a Riverdancer
Before she was “The Man,” Becky Lynch was a steampunk. But before that, she was into Riverdance. Formerly known as Rebecca Knox on the indie scene, Becky Lynch made her NXT debut in mid-2014, and straight-up did an Irish traditional dance in the Michael Flatley style on her way to the ring, only pausing to strike a Notre Dame Fighting Irish pose.
It’s clear that developmental wrestlers are taught to incorporate their personal identity into their gimmicks to separate themselves from the rest of the pack, but thankfully Lynch quickly tweaked her shtick into something closer to what she is today.
1 Kerwin White
For about four months in 2005, Chavo Guerrero Jr. renounced his Mexican heritage and adopted the persona of Kerwin White, a golf-obsessed WASP with a whole lot of racial prejudices and a young Dolph Ziggler as his caddy. Seems like in good hands this could be a pretty funny satire, but considering Guerrero attributes it to Vince McMahon, it was anything but.
Controversial as it was, this gimmick was cut short by the real-life death of his uncle, Eddie Guerrero. Many fans probably weren’t mourning the loss of Kerwin White, but we’d be curious to know how much longer it would have gone on if it weren’t for the circumstances.