10 Wrestlers Lumbered With Dead On Arrival Gimmicks

5. The Gobbledy Gooker

Gobbledy Gooker Hatches
WWE.com

What's astonishing about watching the WWF product of the early to mid 1990s back now is that fans actually received some of the absolute dross with mild amusement.

The legendarily naff Bushwhackers and Men On A Mission Vs. Bam Bam Bigelow, Bastion Booger and the Headshrinkers match from Survivor Series 1993 - in which the WWF actually deployed the banana skin slip for comic effect - went over reasonably well with the Boston Garden crowd. It was a simpler time.

Even the WWF diehards - the fans who bought every last Hasbro figure, every last collector cup, who put up with all manner of naff characters - took a gigantic dislike to the inexplicable turkey man that hatched from a gigantic egg at Survivor Series 1990. As per Bruce Prichard's impression of the fans via Vince McMahon, "they f*ckin' hate him! They're booing the sh*t out of him!"

The Gobbledy Gooker, portrayed by poor Héctor Guerrero, was inscrutable. He gibbered. He couldn't talk people into the building. He danced about like a moron. His outfit actually precluded him from wrestling.

It was possibly the most harebrained idea Vince McMahon ever had, so deeply ironic - the turkey was never not going to be a turkey - that it lives on as wrestling shorthand for sh*te.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!