10 Absolute Worst Gimmicks In Wrestling Today

3. Michael Nakazawa

Robert Stone
AEW

In the cartoon world of independent wrestling, a character like Michael Nakazawa could be a lot of fun. The baby oil is wacky, the man has great facial expressions and the whole schtick is tailor-made for getting a laugh in the confined environment of a gym or a leisure centre. It is an indie gimmick, and there is nothing wrong with that.

The problems arise once that gimmick finds its way onto national television. Rewind back to Double or Nothing, the first official AEW pay-per-view, and the Casino Battle Royale that opened the Buy-In pre-show. In a battle royal that included some weird gimmicks Nakazawa sticks out like a sore thumb, a change-the-channel gimmick in a world that needed to establish itself before anything else.

Many of the gimmicks on this list are largely harmless, creative missteps that do more damage to individual careers than the fates of companies. Not so with Nakazawa; his is a gimmick that turns viewers off and damages AEW's overall credibility.

Amazing what the liberal application of baby oil can do to the way a wrestling company is perceived and enjoyed.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.