10 Best WWE Gimmicks That Were Only Used Once
Hot Dogs and Leap Frogs.
Going to the well once too often is the type of saying you've surely only heard from wrestling commentary. You especially, visitor of a wrestling website and/or reader of this wrestling article. Along with cities and states, spending more time than you should thinking about woodsheds and if having a head on a swivel will eventually be part of the human evolutionary process.
It's traditionally saved for a babyface high spot gone wrong or a heel's attempt to cheat that one last time without getting caught, but wrestling's repetitious reputation in general lends itself quite well to the old adage. Derived from the 14th century when going down wells for water was deemed worth the risk to get the reward (wait a minute...), WWE in particular will revisit old ideas all the time in an effort to milk what might of remained of the first attempt.
In their long form chats with Conrad Thompson, both Bruce Prichard and Eric Bischoff have, when the narrative has suited them, noted that Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan would more than likely try what worked before than taking a risk on something new. Stone Cold Steve Austin went back to swigging beer at the end of 2001 when his heel turn's commercial revenue didn't match his critical acclaim. Ric Flair was, is, and will always be Ric Flair.
These one-and-dones were outliers. How? Why? And could they be given a second go?
10. Psychotic Wrestling Clown
It's important to distinguish the difference between most wrestling clowns and...well, Doink, mostly because WWE themselves never bothered to for fans that only found the show from the Attitude Era and beyond.
A product of the (mostly) post-Hulk Hogan/pre-New Generation 1992/1993 experimental period, Doink felt like a clap-back to critics that had long suggested that Vince McMahon's vision of pro wrestling had always been a circus. Sports Entertainment grew the industry through globalisation and licensing, not necessarily creative innovation. Territories and wrestlers still made money in the 1980s, but McMahon wanted all of it and the men he paid handsomely were happy enough with the renumeration and acclaim they'd receive to be part of his relentless travelling sideshow.
It'd be enough to send anybody apesh*t, which is ostensibly what happened to Doink at some point in his character's life. The performer behind the paint could wrestle - announcers always got this across - but had selected this specific persona to (badly) mask the psychotic urges and tendencies he indulged in between the ropes.
It'll almost never return, nor be given a fairer appraisal. That value range Money In The Bank cameo, in all its listless sadness, spoke to what the organisation actually think about it.