1. The Miz & Damien Mizdow The Hollywood A-Lister & His Stunt Double/Protege
This is clearly the biggest surprises of 2014, on two accounts. Firstly, they finally found a character that fit The Miz perfectly. Some say he peaked when he was WWE Champion heading into Wrestlemania a few years back, but this iteration of The Miz's character is the best work of his career. Secondly, they found a perfect use for Damien Sandows identity crisis shtick, that had been going on for far too long without any discernible direction. The WWE was treading water with Sandow, until this came along and he made it into something special. The gimmick is fairly simple, The Miz is a self-dubbed A-List Actor who has enlisted the services of Damien Sandow as his Stunt Double and protege. It started off with Sandow simply dressing as The Miz and wrestling in his stead if the Miz decided he didnt want to compete, and has evolved into Sandow mimicking all of Mizs movements at all times, including when hes cutting a promo or when getting his ass kicked, in order to perfect his performances as Damien Mizdow. Now the most interesting development in this gimmick is that the act might just be the most legitimately funny thing the WWE has ever done. Yes the WWE has had funny people before that have said funny things, but most of the WWEs comedy relies on humiliation. Whether it be covering your rival in feces, or making someone perform degrading tasks, comedy in the WWE is often based on some form of degradation. Miz and Mizdow are an act that any sense of humour would find at the very least chuckle worthy. Its not wrestling funny, its just funny. What else is great is the unique dynamic that has been set up between the two. Fans love Mizdow but hate The Miz. Miz is playing his role as the villain well, often denying us the opportunity to cheer Mizdow, while Mizdows comedic antics simply never fail to entertain and endear. It gives us a fresh dynamic of a tag team completely devoted to each others success, despite their character alignments and reactions being diametrically opposed. It's fairly brilliant. As always, your thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated. Tell us what you think about the choices for best gimmicks and if you think anybody has been left out. If so, who?
Matthew J. Douglas is an emerging screenwriter born in Toronto. A lifelong fascination with what makes a compelling story and the Toni Morrison quote "If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." led the often opinionated Matthew to the life of writer. Matthew is also a lifelong WWE fan, and a self diagnosed Reality TV Junkie.
