The life of a wrestler can be difficult when it comes to getting over with the right gimmick. A combination of a great wrestler and a great gimmick will typically lead to huge success. Steve Austin playing the anti-authority rebel is the perfect example of a talented wrestler playing the right character at the right time for fans to buy into him as the face of the company. Most wrestlers will fail to get such a perfect situation that works out. The Undertaker proved that a good wrestler adapting to a gimmick can be perfect for him as no other performer could have made that character work. It is an interesting form of the art that needs to be accomplished for success.
Unfortunately, there are more stories of a performer lacking in one of the two major areas. Many of the great workers to deliver great matches have been given horrible gimmicks that hurt their overall careers. These poor characters took away from their success. On the other hand, there are terrible wrestlers that somehow received the luck of having a great gimmick. Some wrestlers could rely on the gimmicks to carry them while others ruined their great opportunity to find success on a major stage. We will look at both stories when it comes to bad wrestlers meeting great gimmicks or vice versa. These are fifteen great wrestling gimmicks given to bad wrestlers along with ten bad wrestling gimmicks given to great wrestlers.
25 Great gimmick: Constable Corbin
A current example of a bad wrestler getting a chance to shine with a great gimmick is Baron Corbin. Following a mediocre run on the main roster over the past few years, Corbin received the break of his career when moving to Raw in the superstar shakeup.
The gimmick of Constable Corbin has him working under Stephanie McMahon while feuding with Kurt Angle for power over Raw. Corbin gets speaking roles in major segments with the likes of Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns these days. A more capable wrestler like Kevin Owens or even Jason Jordan would lead to better results.
24 Great gimmick: Ultimate Warrior
The Ultimate Warrior found incredible luck by becoming one of the most memorable characters in WWE history. A highly intense character with the unique face paint and incredible entrance helped him get over instantly.
WWE committed to the gimmick by having Warrior destroy opponents with complete ease. Future generations would realize Warrior was a horrible wrestler in the ring that would get exposed in matches that required work. Warrior was able to become a legend thanks to the protection of a gimmick that connected to fans of the 80s.
23 Bad gimmick: Lord Tensai
Matt Bloom is currently the head trainer of the Performance Center. Despite being trusted today to teach future stars, WWE didn’t trust him to portray great characters. This was shown during his return to the promotion following a great run in New Japan.
The character of Lord Tensai saw him play a terrible portrayal of a villain from Japan that fans didn’t buy into. Not even a feud with John Cena could save Tensai from flopping. WWE turned him into a dancing face called Sweet T before he luckily retired to get a better role in the company.
22 Great gimmick: David Flair
Ric Flair is a tremendous example of a great wrestler with a great gimmick. His son David Flair unfortunately can’t say the same. Following a terrible introduction to WCW playing up to the relationship to Ric, he completely changed his character.
David became a crazed lunatic hellbent on making life miserable for everyone on the roster after the pressure caused him to breakdown. It could have been a cool gimmick for the time, especially with his use of the crowbar weapon, but his skills didn’t allow for success.
21 Great gimmick: Mabel
The King of the Ring used to be as big as the Royal Rumble when it came to elevate a star to the main event scene. This crown truly showed that WWE believed a wrestler could become a top name to build around.
Mabel winning the King of the Ring in 1995 was a huge surprise. The new gimmick of King Mabel saw him get a WWE Championship match against Diesel at SummerSlam leading to a massive disappointment. This gimmick would have worked for many wrestlers, but Mabel sadly was not one of them.
20 Bad gimmick: Isaac Yankem
The success of the Kane character is a great success story for WWE. However, Glen Jacobs received a few terrible ideas in his earlier WWE run. The company liked his skills leading to him getting called whenever they had a gimmick for a larger wrestler.
Jacobs was forced to play the atrocious Isaac Yankem gimmick as the dentist of Jerry Lawler. An evil dentist didn’t intimidate fans despite working against the likes of Bret Hart. Luckily, Jacobs would prove his greatness when getting to work as Kane.
19 Great gimmick: James Ellsworth
A recent example of WWE giving a lesser talented wrestler a chance to shine with a great gimmick is James Ellsworth. The goofy underdog gimmick of Ellsworth allowed him to get over with the fans despite not being a capable wrestler compared to his peers.
Many undersized wrestlers all over the world would have traded anything for Ellsworth’s spot when joining the promotion. They likely would have been able to at least deliver better matches. Ellsworth struggled to continue his momentum and would get released from WWE twice in his run.
18 Bad gimmick: Spirit Squad
WWE called up five of their most talented young wrestlers in developmental when coming up with the Spirit Squad. Dolph Ziggler, Mike Mondo and Ken Doane were the three top prospects of the five to play the male cheerleader group.
The Spirit Squad worked with major names like Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Big Show and Kane within their first few months on the main roster. Unfortunately, the gimmick hurt their momentum leading to them breaking up and being sent back down to developmental faster than expected.
17 Great gimmick: Eva Marie
The WWE career of Eva Marie was met with a lot of controversy. Many fans despised Eva for the company pushing her hard despite having almost no in-ring skills. Eva was sent back down to NXT and returned following the brand split with a new great gimmick.
The character she portrayed was always too important to show up for her match. One of the rare times Eva did make her way to the ring ended with the match being canceled due to a wardrobe malfunction. It was an entertaining gimmick with great heel potential that ended early due to a wellness policy violation.
16 Bad gimmick: Natalya
Natalya has always been one of the most respected women’s wrestlers for WWE, but she spent many years being used poorly. Before the women’s revolution made the division relevant, many talented wrestlers like Natalya were treated as jokes by the creative team.
It was rock bottom for Natalya when she received a comedic gimmick aligned with The Great Khali. While it was bad enough being paired with the worst wrestler on the roster, Natalya’s new character was someone that passed gas quite often. Thankfully, the change for the women’s division allowed Natalya to save her career from moments like this.
15 Great gimmick: The Great Khali
Any wrestler to get introduced to WWE as a dominant heel destroying The Undertaker should become a success story. The Great Khali unfortunately was a terrible wrestler with the inability to step up to the role required of him.
WWE pushed Khali to the moon due to his massive size as one of the tallest performers in wrestling history. The lack of skills forced management to change their approach as fans refused to accept him as a credible top performer. Khali’s character eventually changed to a face that loved dancing and having fun with a lower ceiling.
14 Great gimmick: Papa Shango
Charles Wright is remembered for the Godfather character that found him success in the Attitude Era. However, there were quite a few different gimmicks given to him as WWE loved the person behind the performer.
One of the more interesting characters portrayed by Wright was Papa Shango. It was a character meant to opposite Ultimate Warrior with voodoo spells and other supernatural elements that impressed fans of the time. This combination just didn’t work out and WWE started moving forward with other gimmicks for him.
13 Bad gimmick: Paul Burchill
There was a lot of hype for Paul Burchill in developmental due to his great matches. Many pundits expected Burchill to become a relevant mid-carder thanks to his work rate being more than capable to deliver the goods.
WWE could only find horrible gimmicks for Burchill that would sink his career. Burchill is most remembered for his time playing a pirate. The hope was that he would find relevance like Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, but fans just viewed it as a huge joke.
12 Great gimmick: Lex Luger
WWE tried a few different gimmicks to make Lex Luger a huge star for them. Luger had already achieved great success in NWA/WCW leading to Vince McMahon stealing him away and trying to make him a top name.
The Narcissist was the first major gimmick for Luger in WWE as an arrogant heel bragging about his physique. Another gimmick of a patriotic face saw him try to imitate Hulk Hogan’s character. Both gimmicks were great on paper, but Luger’s lack of skills hurt him.
11 Great gimmick: Ted DiBiase Jr.
The hope for WWE was Ted DiBiase Jr. becoming a top-level star to follow in the footsteps of his father. DiBiase receive a spot in the Legacy faction along with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton for a great start to his career.
A gimmick change saw DiBiase receive the Million Dollar Man character to replicate his dad’s gimmick. WWE planned to make him a main event star, but DiBiase failed to prove he could get over. He just wasn’t good enough to thrive in the role leading to his career ending faster than expected.
10 Bad gimmick: Kerwin White
The legendary Guerrero family introduced the wrestling world to quite a few talents and Chavo Guerrero is one of them. Between his time in WCW and WWE, Chavo had a few classic matches to create his own legacy despite his uncle Eddie being an icon.
WWE however would give Chavo one of the worst gimmicks in wrestling history. The character of Kerwin White saw Chavo decide to quit on his Latino gimmick while pretending to be a white person. It was either offensive or idiotic to everyone watching.
9 Great gimmick: Gangrel
Gangrel had one of the best potential spots to find long-term success in WWE. A trio of Gangrel, Edge and Christian portrayed the faction known as The Brood. All three guys played their best version of vampires.
The Brood was considered a cool idea with an amazing entrance and two future legends. Gangrel just wasn’t at the talent level of Edge and Christian. WWE noticed this and split them up relatively quickly. Edge and Christian went on to become massive stars for the company while Gangrel was released.
8 Great gimmick: Heidenreich
WWE wanted Heidenreich to become a fixture of their future due to his size and overall look as an intimidating presence. The first gimmick given to him that had potential featured him playing an unhinged soul taking his frustrations out on opponents like The Undertaker.
Following the first character flopping, Heidenreich received another great gimmick of being the newest member of the Legion of Doom teaming with the legendary Road Warrior Animal replacing the late Hawk. The team flopped as fans didn’t view Heidenreich as worthy of the spot. Animal claimed Heidenreich was too lazy for the role.
7 Bad gimmick: Lance Storm
The technical wrestling ability of Lance Storm would have been enough to give him a spot in the WWE mid-card scene today. Those skills were less valued in the early 2000s when Storm tried to make the jump from ECW and WCW to WWE.
Vince McMahon wanted Storm to improve in his personality skills by giving him a horrible gimmick of a party animal/ladies man. Storm would hang out with Val Venis while dancing and making out with ladies in between his matches. It obviously did not work out in his favor.
6 Great gimmick: Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan was the greatest example of a wrestler being the right person at the right time. Vince McMahon loved the look and star presence of Hogan enough to give him a tremendous gimmick.
Hogan played the patriotic fan favorite hero that connected with the audience in a major way. Fans loved that Hogan was the ultimate good guy and a role model meant to speak to both adults and kids watching the product. Hogan never had any special skills in the ring, but his gimmick allowed him to become the business had ever seen at the time.