10 Worst WWE Gimmicks Of 2016
7. Elias Samson: The Drifter
NXT has produced some of the best gimmicks on WWE’s current roster. From Finn Balor’s Demon to Enzo & Cass as The Realest Guys in the Room, several of Raw & SmackDown’s biggest acts were trialed at Full Sail University before going mainstream, and NXT hits more often than it misses.
The misses, however, are quite spectacular. NXT got rid of Alex Riley’s cringeworthy “rage” and fat Bull Dempsey earlier in the year, but they’ve still got The Drifter, and that’s more than enough.
Elias Samson is supposed to be NXT’s resident dark, brooding vagabond, but there’s no depth to the character whatsoever. He’s got some spooky entrance music, a rugged look, and a guitar: that’s literally all there is, and it’s nowhere near enough.
No subtlety, no nuance, no defining character traits… nothing.
The Drifter broods, and that’s all he does. He scowls on his way to the ring, sings the occasional song, and plays a basic heel between the ropes. There’s little reason to get behind him at this point, and it doesn’t help that he’s not particularly exciting in the ring either. The Drifter promised much upon debuting, but his one-note gimmick grew stale a long time ago.