Professional wrestling is a haven for the weird and wonderful. During the recent Sting Q&A shows in the UK, it was fascinating to stand and watch as grown men and women posed with the face-painted character. The glee on people's faces was evident, even though they were effectively meeting another adult male posing in Halloween costume. This isn't an isolated case, the likes of Ax and Smash of Demolition still routinely appear in public wearing their trademark face paint. This is symptomatic of everything that's right with the industry. Even with everything that the core fan base now knows about wrestling, fans do still enjoy meeting their favourites and seeing them dress the way they remember from years gone by. Characters such as Demolition were awesome first time around, but there was some degree of risk involved. After all, what might have happened to the careers of Bill Eadie and Barry Darsow had the gimmick failed to get over? It was strange after all, and it's not the only one. This article is all about those wacky characters and gimmicks that perhaps had no right to be as successful as they were. Incredibly, they were wildly popular. This list examines why that was the case, and explores what each gimmick meant to the pro wrestling world at large, as well as the people playing them.
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
