10 Early Gimmicks From Famous Wrestlers You Won't Believe
1. Bryan Danielson
WWE must have respected Bryan Danielson a bit when they signed him.
That's because he was known as Daniel Bryan, in a bid to both own and somewhat respect his name. He wasn't called Gerry Gillingham or Pete Powers or Skip Sheffield. Only one of those names is actually real, but the first two might as well have been. Sheffield, Husky Harris, Michael McGillicutty: all were super-sh*tty, generic, alliterative names devised by hacks with no earthly idea about how to get somebody over.
That, or WWE respected William Regal.
Yes, that must be it, because Bryan was jobbed to Darren Young in 1:51 just six matches in. All the while, Michael Cole, the best in the industry at...being allowed to talk after 30 years, called him, variously, a pale vegan nerd who didn't eat meat, own a television or have charisma.
Bryan Danielson had charisma out the ass. He always did, but Vince confused height and spray tan with charisma, and so Bryan was f*cked as the main event talent he always was until the fans threatened to walk out of WrestleMania. Not a "gimmick" per se, Danielson nonetheless parodied the sex stud archetype in his indie days by promising victory "1-ah, 2-ah, 3-ah" with accompanying seedy hip thrusts one time. Yes, one time: Danielson came up with a funny as f*ck character that might have endured if he hadn't thought it was funny to do for a couple of minutes.
WWE thought the solid little goat-like wrestler literally had more chance of shagging mid-air than Brie Bella, with whom he was briefly paired in a "loser gets the girl" angle.
He subsequently married Brie Bella.