7 Wrestling Gimmicks WWE Should Recycle
5. The Zeitgeist-Grabber
When DX crotch-chopped their way across the WWF in 1997, it was a revelation. Not only were they almost single-handedly raising the Federation's TV Parental Guideline rating, they did so by tapping into the mainstream pulse. With the advent of nu-metal and the back-in-vogue gross-out gag, obnoxiousness and puerility was the order of the day. Triple H and Shawn Michaels were ahead of the curve. No act in WWE comes close to similarly capturing the imagination of the casual audience.
Sasha Banks in NXT was the exception last year - adopting the language and iconography of urban music, she was, to borrow the nomenclature, on fleek, as she made her entrance at TakeOver: Brooklyn. Upon her main roster promotion, when she was eventually featured prominently, her identifiable traits were rounded off at the edges.
It's ironic; WWE has long been desperate in their attempts to court an uncaring mainstream media, but their transparence holds them back. Instead, by embracing fashion (admittedly difficult for an out-of-touch Vince McMahon), they could attract the fans whose would-be, newfound love of the product would compel the media to take notice.
They go with the trend - WWE have been unsuccessfully going the long way 'round for years now.