9 Wrestling Gimmicks Ripped Off From Video Games

4. Glacier (Mortal Kombat)

Like a Christmas gift received from a well-meaning elderly aunt, Glacier was definitely not cool. In fact, he was ice cold.

It's difficult to put one's figure on precisely why WCW tried to tap into the expired cultural zeitgeist of Mortal Kombat in 1995, three years after the Mega Drive gorefest caused a wave of moral panic, but they did anyway, conjuring a series of wrestling ninjas based on Midway's brawler.

First up was Glacier, not a window fitter, but a freezing facsimile of Mortal Kombat mascot Sub-Zero. In reality, he was journeyman Raymond Lloyd, whose hybrid shootstyle was theoretically perfect for the video game martial artist come to life.

Weeks of vignettes, showing vague glimpses of the nithered newcomer and trailing the tag 'Blood Runs Cold', were eventually paid off with one of the most splendiferously extravagant wrestling entrances of all time.

Snow descended from the ceiling of the MGM Studios, whilst a matrix of blue lasers blinded the audience to herald Glacier's long awaited debut - a taped squash of The Gambler on an episode of WCW Pro. This was the match WCW choose to splurge half a million bucks' worth of production costs on. Glacier's intricate armour, designed by Hollywood outfitters AFX, cost $35,000 alone.

As impressive as his ingress was, the very matter-of-fact Big Bubba was not the ideal first feud, and the steam, paradoxically, began to run out for the iceman. That's when WCW introduced...