10 Abandoned Wrestling Gimmicks That Would Have Been Awesome
Hey, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know...
Every so often, the creative team at WWE throws a gimmick at its viewers that is so mind-bendingly terrible that we have to wonder if the writers completely loathe the guy they've decided to put into that centaur costume.
There's certainly no shortage of awful WWE gimmicks from over the years, and we can only assume there are even worse character ideas that were scrapped before they ever appeared on television (just imagine the level of atrocious those had to reach).
Yet, considering how bad Vince McMahon's track record has been with diagnosing the validity of any given persona, one might assume that he's probably passed on some pretty great ideas, too.
And you would be correct. It turns out the WWE's ineptness for developing gimmicks goes both ways, as they occasionally let a perfectly good character slip through the cracks without giving it the chance it deserves to shine and, you know, get over.
Some of these were very briefly tested in front of audiences, while others never actually moved beyond the brainstorming stage. But rest assured, each and every one of them is ten times better than Bastion Booger or Repo Man every were...
10. Dan Severn In The Ministry Of Darkness
"The Beast" Dan Severn had a short career in the WWE during a time when it was all the rage to bring in UFC fighters to make the product look more "realistic".
He and Ken Shamrock feuded for a while, with Owen Hart eventually being thrown into the mix. Severn's matches may not have been classics, but at least they were different enough to be interesting.
The main problem with Severn is that he didn't really have a distinct character. At a time when WWE was boiling over with attitude, Severn was presented as an ill-defined bad !*$%.
He didn't really cut promos, he didn't have a bold personality, and even his ring attire looks like it was designed specifically to be as boring as possible.
To fix this lack of characterization, WWE creative wanted to make him a member of Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness stable. According to Severn, they approached him with the idea of "tattooing" 666 - the mark of the beast - on his forehead and becoming a disciple of The Dead Man.
Imagine someone as forceful as Severn joining the ranks of The Ministry. Hell, he could have been the third Acolyte!
Apparently, this was too much for his small town mentality to take, and Severn refused to do the angle on account of locals possibly disowning him went he went back home.