10 Worst Gimmicks For The Best Wrestlers
3. Kazuchika Okada
Kazuchika Okada is not as well known outside of Japan but he is as decorated as any professional wrestler today. The New Japan Pro Wrestling star is a five-time IWGP Champion, was ranked number one in Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s 2017 PWI 500, and is a four-time Wrestling Observer Newsletter match of the year winner. And if it wasn’t for a terrible gimmick, he might be Impact Wrestling’s brightest star today.
New Japan sent Okada to the United States in 2010 to work with Impact Wrestling as a part of their working agreement. For about a year, he worked mostly Xplosion and dark matches before being repackaged.
Okada was then given a ridiculous Kato (of Green Hornet fame) ripoff gimmick that included being renamed ‘Okato’ and becoming Samoa Joe’s sidekick. The storyline was short lived and shortly after it ended, he left Impact Wrestling. New Japan also ended its working agreement with Impact and it was reportedly not a coincidence.