10 WCW Stars Who Did WWE Gimmicks First

3. Van Hammer

Van Hammer Elias
WWE

OK, so Elias is a mish-mash of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, whereas 'Heavy Metal Van Hammer' was a homage to hair metal acts of the 1970s-80s like Van Halen, Guns N' Roses and others. However, both share a ton of similarities between them beyond choosing acoustic guitars over the 'Flying V'.

Just look at them side-to-side. That could be SmackDown's next rocking, socking tag-team hit when Elias returns from injury...in an alternate universe. As anyone who witnessed Hammer's attempts to get over would attest, that's not a world anyone wants to live in. He directly failed to grasp the basics of pro wrestling.

Elias has him licked there then.

His own throwback style fits in with what Van Hammer was trying to achieve though. Nostalgia can be a powerful tool, and Elias' troubadour style approach does seem like the kind of gimmick WCW would've tried back in the day.

Advertisement
In this post: 
DDP The Rock
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor

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.