10 WWE Gimmicks That Overstayed Their Welcome
In stock long past their expiration date, some never good in the first place.
Sometimes a handful of bad decisions can be all it takes to move a gimmick from promising to putrid to interminable.
In the last twenty years especially, WWE has stepped on the proverbial rake numerous times with a series of gimmicks that have stalled a character's momentum, derailed careers of the talent in question and those working WITH them, or most detrimentally, bled WWE's viewership. For as many times as WWE has struck gold on a gimmick, there's usually ten one-dimensional jokes right behind it that serve to help no one involved.
In dire cases, frustration over not being able to escape a gimmick has led some to flee the company for greener pastures. The turnover rate of hilariously bad gimmicks would be forgivable if those in charge could recognize when the joke wasn't funny anymore, if it ever was.
Regardless of whether these gimmicks started with a chance to go somewhere or were dead on arrival, there's no denying that they all went longer than they should have and had most reaching for the remote before it was over.
10. Lost In (Broadcast) Space
The Shining Stars (April 2016-April 2017)
In October 2004, second-generation wrestler Carly Colón, Jr. defeated rising star John Cena to become WWE United States Champion in his first night on television at the age of 25. For the next five years, he would go on to be a successful mid-card career as the resident "Bad Apple" on both RAW and SmackDown, becoming Intercontinental Champion, featuring at WrestleMania in a segment with the likes of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Stone Cold Steve Austin, as well as unifying the WWE and World Tag Team Championships with his brother Eddie, known as Primo, four WrestleManias later. He even had a shot at John Cena's WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber at the New Year's Revolution PPV in January 2006.
Unfortunately for Primo and their cousin Orlando, going by Epico, such success would not visit their respective careers as often.
In a nine-year span that was bookended by stints of either having no discernible gimmick or not being featured on-screen at all, the duo did find onscreen success for a little over two years as Los Matadores before falling into the most puzzling chapter of their run, The Shining Stars.
Returning to their Puerto Rican roots, Primo and Epico began hawking their home island as "The Shining Star of the Caribbean" and passing out brochures to various talent. Even now, it's unclear if they were meant to be portraying sleazy timeshare salesman or tourism spokesmen, or... ?
In any case, what little TV time it produced for them was meaningless.