The best gimmicks are those that are inspired by the performers real interests and personalities. It just so happens that one of the original ideas for Kofi, Xavier and Big Es faction was just that; an extension of their real life interests and personalities, while also capitalizing on current popular culture trends and all together being a pretty rad concept, straight from the minds of the performers themselves. The concept was fairly simple and inspired by the threes love of comic books and all around nerdy proclivities. They would be a group called the Smart Athletic Friends, and the gimmick would have been comic book inspired. They wouldnt have been super heroes, but they would be united in their appreciation of comic books and the heroism they inspire. The different tag team combinations of their trio would have their own team names. For example, the team of Kofi and Xavier would be called Speed Force, so on and so forth. It is the great beginnings of a gimmick. Firstly, its culturally relevant, given the immense popularity of Comic Book franchises in Hollywood these days. Second, it is relevant to the performers, a true extension of their personalities. It needed some workshopping for sure, as the name Smart Athletic Friends wasnt all that creative (although it might just have been cheeky enough to be fun), but they were on to something. They could have had comic book inspired preambles to their bouts, complete with a recap of what they had done the week before, presented in comic strip panels. They could have had different t-shirts for all three tag team combinations. There is tons of fun stuff you could play around with for that gimmick, and people might have dug it, because its fun and based on something that is really popular right now, that being comic book franchises and nerd culture. Most importantly, it was based on their real life friendship and nerdom, so it would be authentic. Furthermore, that kind of gimmick would play perfectly into The Authoritys return and their ongoing issue with The Vigilante Sting. New Day could have been inspired by Sting standing up to Triple H and Steph, making Kofi, Xavier and Big E decide to band together to stand up to The Authority in 2015, instead of standing idly by like they did in 2014. Its easy to have them feud with Kane and other Authority goons from then on and its a gimmick with a purpose. Instead they are portraying characters that are nothing like themselves, and it shows. What could have been had the WWE had faith in their performers idea, and helped them develop it instead of forcing a completely different and unrelated idea upon them.
Matthew J. Douglas is an emerging screenwriter born in Toronto. A lifelong fascination with what makes a compelling story and the Toni Morrison quote "If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." led the often opinionated Matthew to the life of writer. Matthew is also a lifelong WWE fan, and a self diagnosed Reality TV Junkie.
