10 Famous Wrestling Gimmicks That Were Actually Inherited
3. The Pegasus Kid
Following the shocking double murder/ suicide involving Chris Benoit and his family in 2007, WWE made a conscious effort to not only distance themselves from their former champion but completely eradicate him from the history books.
Given the extreme negativity associated with Benoit, it’s understandable that WWE would want to disassociate themselves from the atrocities that occurred. However, prior to the actions of that weekend, Benoit was hailed by WWE as one of the greatest in-ring workers of a generation; a notion shared by New Japan Pro Wrestling.
As such, in 2006, one year prior to the tragic demise of the Benoit family, New Japan reintroduced the character of Pegasus Kid - a masked gimmick originally portrayed by Chris Benoit on his first tours of Japan in the early '90s. The man chosen to wear the mask was Fergal Devitt, aka Finn Bálor.
Somewhat of a forgotten footnote in Bálor’s career, the short run as Pegasus Kid is likely to be one that WWE will want to ignore when recounting his time in Japan.