10 WWE Gimmicks That Started Elsewhere
1. 'Cinematic' Matches
And not even the (mostly pitiful) 2020 ones. Though their worst moments were mirrored in WWE's original attempts.
Shortly after Matt Hardy pioneered and mastered the concept right out of the (compound) gate with Final Deletion, WWE presented an inferior version between The Wyatt Family and The New Day. This was written off as a bit of silliness until Payback 2017's risible House Of Horrors match.
Providing a pathetic payoff to the months-long Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton feud, the company delivered an ultra-serious scrap in ultra-stupid surroundings. 'The Apex Predator' had defeated 'The Eater Of Worlds' at WrestleMania when it actually mattered. Taking his WWE Championship was Orton's grand plan and it had worked a treat despite Bray attempting to throw him off by projecting bugs onto the canvas.
That a non-title cinematic match would be used for Wyatt to somehow win the feud was condescending in the extreme, but no more so than every aspect of Bray's character by then. Man teleported back to the arena from his dirty abode, why the f*ck was winning more than one match in a row so hard?
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