10 Greatest WWE Character Vignettes Ever

Pre-taped character vignettes are something of a lost art in professional wrestling. In earlier eras when gimmicks were more outlandish, viewers could count on at least three to four weeks of short films introducing a character, and maybe even a few after his official debut. The Ascension got a couple of good ones as part of their LOD revival, but they were immediately emasculated for reasons that remain unexplained. Before that, the last major spate of vignettes was 2005-2006, when WWE introduced guys like Carlito, Kofi Kingston, and the Highlanders, but that's hardly august company.

No, the real golden age was the 1990's, and most of the vignettes that populate this list hail from that decade. Yes, there are a few outliers from the late 1980's, but by and large the 1990's were the golden age for this kind of thing. It's likely because that decade had so many different eras, the only common thread between them being their lack of subtlety. You had the tail end of Hulkamania blending into the New Generation, and that evolving into the equally cheesy attitude era. All three were populated by ridiculous cartoons that couldn't simply be put on television with no context or explanation. 

In these cases, that introductory explanation is worth the price of admission all by itself.

Bray Wyatt is one of the hottest acts in today's WWE, but he is not without his progenitors. Longtime wrestling fans don't need to be told that the former Husky Harris has borrowed from Mick Foley, Raven, and Jake Roberts here and there. But his biggest influence has to be Max Cady from the film "Cape Fear", apparently a favorite of Vince McMahon, and Vince has been trying to get a faux-Cady into his rings for nearly two decades. 

His first attempt was Waylon Mercy, AKA Dan Spivey outfitted with a Hawaiian shirt, a thousand-yard stare, and roughly four quarts of hair oil. In this glorious vignette, Mr. Mercy mills around a public park in a manner most creepy, managing to solidify himself as a terrifying heel merely by listing things you might eat or do at a picnic. That's talent.

If Bray Wyatt spent less time gasping and more time discussing potato salad, he'd be WWE champion right now.