10 Wrestling Gimmicks That Went Way Over Everyone’s Heads
1. Mankind (Child Prodigy With Parental Issues)
What People Thought: Post-managing The Undertaker, overweight, shrill-voiced ghoul Paul Bearer needed new charges to help him destroy 'The Deadman'. One of the first was Mankind, a masked terror who shared the same supernatural design as his predecessor (and was, rather conveniently) someone 'Taker could finally have great matches with.
Many fans took him at face value as another monster The Undertaker would despatch.
What He Actually Was: Fans of the WWF would eventually get used to Mick Foley's depth and range as a performer. Nothing was ever as it seemed with him on the surface. Dude Love was a teenage dream come true, Cactus Jack represented his sadistic side and the macabre Mankind was cleverly profound.
At the start of his stint under the mask, Mankind could be found yelling, "Mommy" at Bearer, The Undertaker's urn and various other inanimate objects. The soft, gorgeously-played piano music that rang out after his matches contrasted vividly with the disturbing tune that played before they started, and those elements all combined to make him some sort of childhood piano prodigy with disturbing parental issues.
The WWF, ever keen to keep things simple, neglected the child genius story and overlooked cries of "Mommy" fairly quickly, leaving Mankind as a more direct, traditional wrestling freak.
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What other gimmicks do you think went over everyone's heads initially? Let us know down in the comments section below!