10 Old School Wresting Gimmicks That Need To Return

7. A Ripped Narcissist

WCW Tiger
WWE.com

There are characters that flirt with elements of this gimmick at present, but nothing that brings it all together to capture the sheer sh*thousery of Lex Luger in various incarnations, Rick Martel in all his late-80s 'Model' pomp or even Chris Masters before his work was badly, badly exposed and his body was mocked by his boss' son-in-law following a wellness violation.

When Brian Cage has finished doing the bidding for Team Taz, he should get to flexing a little more for the good of himself. Humongous mirror and all. Shayna Baszler is bigger and badder than most of the women on the Raw roster, but that's rarely been enough for Vince McMahon to book her as such thus far. It goes understated how much black humour she adds to her beatings - might she have untapped comedic potential adding braggadocios bullsh*t as well? MJF has mastered "mean and lean" since getting his big television break a year ago and could easily add even grosser narcissism to his bag of tricks.

Wrestling remains an aesthetics industry too - there'll never be a time where the bananas visual of a bananas body would actively hinder somebody's trajectory.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett