10 Weirdest Ways Wrestlers Got Their Gimmicks

Gangrel’s vampiric pop culture influences are evident. Even before the vampire explosion towards the conclusion of ‘00s, David Heath had the classic Nosferatu and Dracula appearances, as well as the timely release of Interview with the Vampire (1994) to draw on. We’d later discover Heath didn’t quite have Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise’s acting chops, but that’s a story for another time.

The name Gangrel comes from a dorkier place, the hobby of tabletop role playing (your writer says this as a rookie Dungeon Master). In the popular game Vampire: The Masquerade, The Gangrel are one of the thirteen vampire clans found in the in-game World of Darkness.

The Gangrel clan are animalistic outcasts who shun the city and its politics for the wilderness and the laws of survival. They can become frenzied beasts mauling their prey with a merciless animalistic nature. All of these features, possibly requiring a slight Bear Grylls gimmick, make for the perfect in-ring monster. Yet Gangrel never entered the savagery of his namesake clan. In Heath’s defence he was fighting a battle from the gimmick’s inception, he recalled:

“I never heard anybody heel on vampires besides Vince McMahon […] I gave them stuff from White Wolf Masquerade. I was just trying to show them that there was a community out there. ‘This isn’t going to go anywhere like vampire movies, they’re coming, and people don’t hate on vampires. It’ll be cool.’ And they were like, ‘naw, naw, naw, we don’t get it. We don’t get it.’ Then, eventually, Vince Russo was like, ‘ah, I kind of get it!’ Then it clicked in Bruce Prichard’s head, ‘oh, I get what you’re saying.'”