10 Masterminds Behind Modern Smash Success WWE Gimmicks
One more Spear, one more tale spun by a shunned genius.
There's something sadly oxymoronic about that title.
WWE doesn't do smash success gimmicks in this Network Era. Mostly, the company transplants ready-made acts to the main roster indistinguishable from those the performers behind them perfected elsewhere (Asuka, Finn Bálor). Then, WWE creates antagonists predicated on ripping apart those creations as minor league stuff (Carmella, Constable Corbin).
It's sometimes difficult to praise excellent WWE creations in a vacuum, given the crippling, all-encompassing malaise. WWE, bluntly, f*cks a lot of stuff up. A lot.
WWE has contrived to make nobody care about Brock Lesnar. Asuka, the woman who masterminded a genuinely great undefeated winning streak on NXT, has sh*t for brains on SmackDown. Bobby Lashley, reportedly re-signed to battle 'The Beast' in a money pay-per-view encounter, lost a contendership battle to, of f*cking course, Roman Reigns. On the subject of Roman Reigns, he still hasn't been accepted as The Guy, and he's still The Guy. With such a brain-melting shotgun blast of nihilism aimed by Vince McMahon over the last four years, there is but one answer to the why-so-negative? complaints:
Why wouldn't we be?
But, through a dogged and surely unnecessary perseverance, a begrudging nod to a marginalised master, and the expert guidance of those actually paid to provide expert guidance, WWE's modern canon inspires, in at least one case, literal Positivity.
If there is one (infuriating) constant throughout, and one lesson to be learned, it is to afford WWE's independent contractors independence...
10. Elias
The vast majority of WWE performers walk hand in shackled hand with the writer's room, which explains why every babyface mocks heels for their dress sense. Chris Jericho's scarf delighted Dean Ambrose. His sparkly tights popped Seth Rollins. Finn Bálor sent youths flying across the TV screen with their hands over the faces when comparing Constable Corbin's new ring attire to that of a TGI Fridays employee.
But Elias, per his February 2018 appearance on Edge and Christian's Pod of Awesomeness, walks with Elias.
Afforded rare creative license - we knew his wonderful deadpan bit was too good to be truly a Creative Team endeavour - Elias confirmed to Edge and Christian that "people in charge have given me a great deal of freedom when it comes to being out there". Elias has used this freedom to fashion a genuinely hilarious act in which he insults the audience with the same ease with which he strums the most basic of chord progressions. Being an arrogant, withering ar*ehole just comes naturally to him. He renders an on-paper New Gen-style gimmick a believable extension of himself.
His EP is blinding stuff, too. His opening gambit on The Ballad Of Every Town I've Ever Been To - "Hello I am Elias, and you're gonna remember this forever" is prime braggadocios heel boasting so pop-tastic it makes masochists of all.