10 WWE Gimmicks That Worked For One Wrestler (But Not Another)
4. 'Crazy' Woman
Worked for: Mickie James
Didn't work for: Alicia Fox
It takes a special kind of terrible to be this over-the-top with your "crazy" gimmick and STILL leave fans apathetic.
WWE has done the somewhat-misogynistic “crazy woman” gimmick several times before (like with Victoria and AJ Lee, who it also worked for), but the gimmick has never felt less inspired than when Alicia Fox had her run with it. The reason for this is because Fox didn't seem to have any sort of rationale behind her insanity - she just sort of... was. The "psychotic" shtick doesn't work if the audience can't understand why the character is psychotic.
Perhaps the most effective practitioner of this gimmick was Mickie James.
She debuted in WWE in 2005 as a Trish Stratus “super fan,” then evolved over time into into a bats**t, obsessive heel. What made James’ portrayal of the role so successful was that she had a reason to be crazy - she had to destroy her idol for not reciprocating her love and adoration. With Fox, it just felt like a pitiful, last-ditch attempt to get her over.
It didn't work, and Fox is once again gimmickless today.