10 Wrestling Gimmicks Probably Made Out Of Spite

1. Oklahoma

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WWE

In amongst some of the dross served up in the final two years of WCW's lifespan, there was nothing more distasteful than Oklahoma.

This was a character played by WCW writer Ed Ferrara and was created for the sole purpose of mocking Jim Ross. While it's one thing to wear a black cowboy hat and carry a bottle of BBQ sauce, Ferrara crossed the line of good taste by leaning heavily into Ross' Bell's Palsy condition in his JR parody.

If a wrestler was handed this gimmick, the performer involved could be somewhat excused due to this being a decision forced upon them by upper management. In the case of Oklahoma, Ed Ferrara had no excuses. Not just was Ferrara tasked with the Oklahoma role, but this heinous act was purely a creation of Ferrara and Vince Russo.

Prior to arriving in WCW, Ferrara had spent 16 months under the employ of WWF, with him and Russo extremely frustrated by the more traditional approach to the business of veterans like Jim Ross and Jim Cornette. Thus, the jump to WCW and subsequent creation of Oklahoma was done as a way to take a classless shot at someone with which they'd butted heads.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.