8 Gimmicks From The Past That Wouldn't Work In Today's WWE
5. The Mentally Challenged Wrestler
Wrestling has never been accused of being subtle and the "softly softly" approach to gimmicks and angles has never been Vince McMahon's strongest attribute. As such, it's unsurprising that WWE has attempted to present mentally challenged characters on a number of occasions in the past, going all the way back to George 'The Animal' Steele in the 1980s.
The most obvious example of this, however, is Eugene. Making his debut in 2004 as nephew of Raw GM, Eric Bischoff, Eugene was portrayed by WWE as being "special". Played by former OVW standout, Nick Dinsmore, the new character was said to be a wrestling savant and received a sizeable push from 2004 to 2005. Despite the persona being a lightning rod for criticism, Eugene got over and had notable SummerSlam bouts with both Triple H and Kurt Angle.
When the Eugene character began to flop, WWE simply replaced him and introduced the world to Festus - an unresponsive, slack-jawed giant. When the bell rang, however, he would transform into a raging beast, until the bell rang once more to signal the end of the bout.
In the PC world of today, the introduction of a gimmick like this would likely cause outrage amongst certain groups and is a persona that is probably best left untouched.