8 Times WWE Went Scottish

1. The Highlanders

John Morrison Drew Mcintyre
WWE.com

Infamous for a tame and cynical out-of-the-ring moment we'll get to in a second, The Highlanders surprisingly surpass even Roddy Piper for WWE's most glaring Scottish dalliance, more so for just how bloody 'WWE' the whole shambles was.

Debuting in 2006 (approximately 10 years past the gimmick's sell-by date) Robbie and Rory had the dubious honour of being tag team weaklings in a field that then 'boasted' Cheerleaders and Cowboys that had been decimated all year by DX, and makeshift combos you wouldn't even team up on SmackDown vs Raw games like Charlie Haas and Viscera. Worse still were their patronising introductory vignettes, which featured the Oban natives staring wide-eyed at big cities, cars, cake...basically anything that wasn't from caveman times, which apparently must be where Scottish people still reside. Bushwhackers for the internet age, the poor sods were paraded as Celtic berks, bumbling their way through the modern WWE world until they were reduced to jobbing duties on Heat, which itself was looking at the proverbial lights as a TV/Web show at the time.

The true descent south came in 2008 though, when after Rory went down with a torn pectoral muscle, Robbie added insult to literal injury, making a trip to the TNA Impact Zone days before WrestleMania XXIV to sit in the stands and watch his mates wrestle. The sh*tehawks in TNA didn't need to show him on camera of course, but they did anyway, effectively burying both guys and their condescending gimmick for good.

A shoddy tale of mid-2000s WWE woe with a pitiful conclusion, neither man ever made further dents in wrestling's promised land, and their casting as Scottish buffoons didn't help the trajectory of fellow lost cause and previously mentioned Drew McIntyre, who had to rebuild the simple act of just 'being Scottish' from the ground up so soon in their shadows.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett