7 Wrestling Gimmicks WWE Should Recycle
1. The Mike Bennett
Mike 'The Prodigy' Bennett's Ring Of Honor persona was an enterprising work of genius. A sports entertainer in a straight-laced wrestling world, his intentionally anachronistic persona was an astute harbinger of heat. Hardcore ROH fans hated him because he was the enemy incarnate.
A straight subversion wouldn't quite work - to the widespread audience, who increasingly share a similar ethos to the taste-making ROH devotees, a plain wrestler in a sports entertainment world would probably become a babyface. It would cast a counterproductive shadow over the rest of the roster.
That said, this would be one of the few occasions on which WWE's patented Flanderisation would actually work. Creating a chickensh*t heel, afraid of the plethora and overabundance of gimmick matches, would make it that much more cathartic when he was contrived into wrestling one.
Moreover, a steadfast refusal to engage in a fifteen minute promo - instead, our wrestler could spend that time simply warming up in the ring - would raise the hackles of the audience, who would go wild in their support of the man who would batter him and rescue them from boredom.
WWE has a dubious record with postmodernism (see: The Authority), but variety, for better or worse (see: The Boogeyman) livens up wrestling.