10 Intellectual Wrestling Gimmicks (With Varying Levels Of Success)

The first Harvard graduate to wrestle in WWE, Christopher Nowinski parlayed a strong showing in the inaugural edition of Tough Enough into a career as a weasel and an intellectual. With his clean-cut look -- always a plus for a heel in the anti-hero loving post-Attitude Era -- and terrific facial expressions, he combined petulance, smarminess, and a huge superiority complex to create a textbook smarter-than-thou heel.

You just loved to hate this guy.

He was undoubtedly the most promising intellectual heel to come along in quite a while -- avoiding the hokey robes of previous Deans and Geniuses for a more smug, believable approach -- but unfortunately, post-concussion syndrome forced him into early retirement from in-ring competition.

It also led him to his current work as co-founder of The Concussion Legacy Foundation, proving those smarts were not simply a gimmick.