10 Wrestling Gimmicks Based On LIES!

1. George 'The Animal' Steele

George the Animal Steele Mine
WWE.com

Standard issue wrestling logic has it that the best characters are the real life characters with a feature turned all the way to eleven on the dial - so what the f*ck did schoolteacher Jim Meyers have lurking in his subconscious to unearth an Animal?

Covered in hair and able to effectively portray a deranged (then, eventually, lovably so) monster, William Meyers was a schoolteacher at Madison High School in his home state of Michigan. A celebrated football coach, he eventually became a member of the institute's hall of fame for his off-the-field achievements...though not for dying his tongue bright green.

Ironically, his first gimmick actually did try and make use of his past - The Student was his first label during a masked run designed to hide himself whilst he worked both jobs. Only upon embracing wrestling as a full time profession did he embrace the character that fans came to adore during the 1980s boom after its origins as a terrifying monster.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.