10 Wrestling Gimmicks That Weren’t Supposed To Last Long

7. Suicide

Suicide TNA
impactwrestling.com

A curious experiment gone right (before it went horribly wrong, because of course it did), Suicide was a completely covered wrestler that appeared in TNA right around the time the company began promoting their first ever video game.

In keeping with the thinly-veiled perception of them as rivals to WWE, 'TNA Impact' brought a limited cast of characters into the homes of wrestling fans with the added bonus of an everyman story mode featuring the superhero-type gimmick that could then be seen on their television product.

The synergy made sense, even if the character (at various points portrayed by Christopher Daniels, Akira Kawabata, Kazarian and future WWE Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins) had little motivation in the 'real' world compared to his time as a sprite.

It was perhaps why the suit stuck around so long. TNA farmed it out to that many talents that it hung about on television long after the game came out, lasting five years before Perkins took on 'Manik' as a new name, dropping the mask and the persona altogether.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but 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 in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. 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 sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett