12 Awesome Wrestling Gimmicks WWE Didn’t Know How To Handle

12. Dean Malenko

Adapting his 'Iceman' persona wholesale from his wicked ECW 'shooter' run, WCW understood that Dean Malenko's quiet charisma was wrapped up in his devastating effectiveness in the ring.

In league with his 'Man of a 1,000 Holds' moniker, Malenko was a wrestling machine, letting his skills do the talking and his thousand-yard stare bore a hole through his opponents.

Kept completely separate from the New World Order and other main event shenanigans, the character got over huge in WCW's alternate universe Cruiserweight Division, with Malenko establishing himself as a lynchpin of the league following landmark battles with Rey Mysterio, Psychosis and Ultimo Dragon.

Never was this connection with the crowd more apparent than in his feud with Chris Jericho, where a surprise unmasking against the Canadian loudmouth after months of inactivity sent fans into hysterics.

WWE just couldn't convert his highly-skilled attributes into something they deemed marketable, particularly during the frenetic turn-of-the-century product Malenko would enter.

Struggling to portray himself as an ill-fitting James Bond-esque lothario, Malenko clung on to his main roster spot until his retirement in late-2001 where he'd begin his new career as a multi-faceted WWE front office employee.