10 WWE Gimmicks That Are Broken
Some of WWE's characters are in less than peak CONDISHTION.
Back to wearing their old ring attire, talking normally, and not constantly throwing things in lakes, it seems that the once Broken Hardy Boyz are now 'fixed'. Elements of the gimmick might have remained intact, but it seems clear that Vince McMahon isn’t willing (or is legally unable) to greenlight a Broken revolution within WWE.
That’s a shame, but it’s also indicative of the company’s endless struggle to lift their more ‘out there’ gimmicks off the ground.
Since The Undertaker and Kane perfected the art of the ‘spooky wrestler’, Vince and co. have fought tooth and nail to create similar characters, but often fall at the first hurdle. These gimmicks are either conceptually fraught or just too silly for fans to be able to suspend their disbelief for. In an era when almost everyone is ‘smart’ to the business to some extent, it’s just not feasible that audiences will buy into some of WWE’s wackier ideas, which often leave otherwise strong workers picking up creative scraps.
From Donald Trump parodies to post-apocalyptic raiders, not only are these characters broken, some of them were never even fully built to begin with.
10. Curt Hawkins - 'Face The Facts'
Maybe there would have been something to a character whose sole purpose is to reference decade old Chuck Norris jokes - if WWE had ran the gimmick back in 2006. Chuck Norris ‘facts’ (i.e. made up factoids about the Walker Texas Ranger Guy) were funny for all of a minute back in the mid-2000s, but they’re hardly fodder for a worthwhile angle in 2017.
Fair enough, Curt Hawkins is supposed to be a joke. He’s always telling people to “Face the Facts”, and begging them to accept that he can perform hyperbolic and impossible tasks, but is regularly beaten in a single move by better opponents. But jokes are supposed to be funny, and Curt Hawkins is anything but. Like Emmalina (oh don’t worry, she would have been here) and The Shining Stars, Hawkins was hyped for too long before debuting, and his already one-note shtick got tired before he’d even debuted.
Comedy gimmicks can go far, but first they actually have to achieve the thing they set out to do: be funny.