10 Worst Supernatural Gimmicks

The recent 'House of Horrors' match between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt was not WWE's first foray into the occult, but it may have been the worst.

Promoted without explaining how the overall presentation would actually look, the in-ring portion of the match lived down to expectations following a college theatre production pitting the two against one another in a dusty lodging layered with cheap props and even cheaper special effects.

It built on the supernatural element of the feud that came to life between the pair before WrestleMania (more on that later), but also exhibited the worrying reality of how WWE may handle the BROKEN gimmick should the company pursue the personas with Matt and Jeff Hardy in the months to come.

Carefully presided over by Matt himself, the other-worldly segments featuring the mentally unravelling brothers were blissfully tongue-in-cheek and welcomed the audience in on the lunacy from the off.

Bray, Randy, and several other characters over the years have been rendered completely unrelatable, either due to shoddy presentation, lazy misunderstanding of the concept, or a disconnect between the performer and their ludicrous facsimile.

As with the Hardy Boyz and The Undertaker, tiptoeing around the supernatural can often be a rewarding enterprise in pro wrestling. When done poorly, audiences only flee the scene in disinterest, rather than fear.

A victim of the all-too-literal relationship WWE's ECW relaunch chased with host channel Sci-Fi, Kevin Thorn was the permanent solution to an apparent need to feature a character that represented the broad remit of the network.

Having infamously trotted out a zombie on the debut edition of the show as a willing victim of a Sandman caning, rumours abounded that an actual alien was set to follow, with the 'ECW Martian' nickname gathering pace ahead of a sure-to-be unpleasant arrival on planet Earth.

Thankfully, that never made air (despite a momentary appearance of the costume in a throwaway segment with Vince McMahon on Monday Night Raw), but Thorn's vampire persona became the permanent solution to the mandated request.

Paired with Tarot reader Ariel, the pair were enthusiastic enough in the roles, but the personas were muddled mash-ups of the traditional 1920s Nosferatu imagery and contemporary emo-tinged 'Twilight' heartthrobs.

Bullishly inserted onto the roster, Thorn wasn't particularly terrifying as a wrestler, with his homogonised style horribly diluting the heavily gimmicked overall presentation.

Notable for his appearance in the worst match of maybe WWE's worst ever pay-per-view, Thorn and Ariel were sunk when the mixed tag contest with Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly collapsed under the weight of the quartet's inexperience

A vampire in teeth alone, Thorn was just another guy in 2007's heel 'New Breed' stable, before returning to a developmental abyss from which he'd never return.