10 Main Event Wrestling Gimmicks That NOBODY Liked

10. Psycho Heel Bob Backlund

Bob Backlund returning to the WWF in the early '90s was the most surreal thing.

Despite appearing ageless, his era was so antiquated in contrast to Vince Jr.'s glossy national production that it might as well have been George Hackenschmidt turning up on Prime Time Wrestling. The WWF fans of 1992 wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. Backlund literally scanned as a time traveller. It was the most interesting thing about him.

Sensing that it was old hat, Vince turned him heel in 1994. As part of his unhinged persona, Backlund "snapped" in his matches, refused to release the chicken wing submission hold, and then appeared to reemerge from a psychological fugue state by staring in despair at his own hands, in shock at the violence they had wrought. Think Johnny Gargano in late 2018.

It was a weird thing to plagiarise all those years later, because the psychotic Backlund character was a dud. His two key matches with Bret Hart were interminable bores - the Survivor Series '94 WWF Title bout in particular felt like it lasted four hours - and he was promptly relegated after WrestleMania XI.