10 Early Gimmicks From Famous Wrestlers You Won't Believe
3. Chuck Taylor
If your first exposure to the indie scene was its "major label debut" of sorts in All Elite Wrestling, you'll likely have just one perception of Chuck Taylor.
As part of the Best Friends tag team/stable, Taylor plays an irreverent babyface character, a good-natured and dorky fellow. It's nice and rewarding to see him earn the odd small victory, though he's often utilised as a loveable and valuable loser, because he alongside Trent? and Orange Cassidy add a different complexion to the wrestling landscape. Cloying to some, endearing to others, this bromance is wholesome. In a medium constantly asking the audience to buy conflict and hatred, Best Friends - provided they aren't feuding with Miro and Kip Sabian for eight f*cking years - are refreshing.
Before Chuck took to hugging his friends on national television, he was terrifying young children on the emerging indie scene as a priceless d*ckhead heel. A pioneer, several wrestlers in [REDACTED] copied the bit.
And it was a clever one: he gave the parents something to laugh about, and the kid got over it, but making a child cry is still a sh*tty thing to do.
Or perversely hilarious, depending on your perspective - and since many people held an opinion, it afforded him early notoriety.