10 Wrestling Jobbers So BIZARRE They Feel Made Up
Creative hell wasn't deep enough for these wacky creations in WWE, WCW, TNA etc.
Never underestimate the necessity of the wrestling job guy. WWE leaned on this hard throughout the 1980s and 90s. Tune into any episode of Superstars, Wrestling Challenge or Raw (certainly in its infancy) and you'd be met with dudes wearing some of the most uninspiring singlets ever. One quick introductory arm raise later, which would be the only time they'd do that, and they were staring at the lights for top names within seconds/minutes.
WWE aren't the only company to enlist enhancement workers, of course. Others featured here include WCW and TNA ideas. Hell, Vince McMahon's erm...vision for what ECW could be comes along to the party too. It's a party most wrestling fans will want pooped ASAP, because McMahon took Paul Heyman's cult-like hardcore outfit and repurposed it into a laughing stock with one single gimmick.
Gimmickry isn't something every jobber focuses on though. Some just go by "real names" to try and present them as humble bums who wandered in off the street to take a kicking from Mr. Perfect, The Ultimate Warrior, the Legion Of Doom and other stars promoters actually cared about.
All of them are bizarre to revisit for one reason or another. Maybe they ripped off pop culture phenomenons in the most shameless way imaginable, or perhaps they simply flew right under the radar due to status on some of wrestling's most skippable programming. Who was really watching WCW Worldwide (or WorldWide if you're kool) in the year 2000, y'know?!
Say hello to the sad guys - they're wrestling's strangest Battle Royal!
10. TL Hopper
Consider ol' TL here an entry level weirdo to get us started.
He was drafted into the WWF during a pretty funky time for the promotion in 1996. Basically, Vince McMahon needed 'some solid hands' who could work well enough to put others over. However, rather than letting Tony Anthony here just be himself, creative services came up with a plumber gimmick for the guy.
It was hardly The Undertaker, but it'd have to do. So, Anthony became TL Hopper, and he was...a dirty, manky, unpleasant sod. Y'know, the kind of chap who'd refuse to wash his hands (or anything else) no matter what grimy situations he found himself in. In other words, Hopper was easy to boo, and probably easy to smell.
Who thought a wrestling plumber was the way to go in the first place though? Sure, the biz has had its fair share of occupational gimmicks over the years (the 90s was a haven for them), but 'foul-smelling wrestling plumber' was taking things to new depths. So to speak. It was circling the drain. Also so to speak.
TL's biggest moment came during the pre-show at SummerSlam 1996 when he fished a turd out of the pool during a beach party scene. Before confirming it to be a sausage not poo, Hopper took a bite out of it to check. Lovely stuff, and exactly the sort of thing that'd encourage 'Free For All' customers to give their cable company a call and order the full pay-per-view.
After all, you wouldn't see anyone chow down on turds in WCW. Perhaps surprisingly.