9 Awful Proposed WWE Gimmicks That Thankfully Never Made It To TV

8. Deaf CM Punk & Punky The Cheerleader

It's not secret that WWE didn't have high hopes for CM Punk when he signed with the company in the summer of 2005. His work during a dark/tryout match was torn to shreds by Triple H, Michael Hayes, Arn Anderson and Shawn Michaels before he was shipped to OVW for further training. In September 2005, while Punk was training in OVW, it was reported that the WWE creative department had come up with a gimmick for his debut. Punk was going to become the first ever deaf wrestler. Yup, That's what WWE creative had come up with for the former Ring of Honor World Champion. There were apparently many 'hilarious' backstage segments planned for the deaf Punk, in what was another blatant attempt at cheap heat from WWE. Can you imagine how hard it would have been for Punk to keyfabe the gimmick in public? Luckily, Punk wasn't given the gimmick and debuted as the 'Straight-Edge Superstar' on ECW some months later. As an afterword, it should be noted that there were also rumours that Punk was to be brought up as a member of the Spirit Squad named 'Punky' but that he refused to comply with those plans. Also interesting is that Vince Russo pitched a 'deaf mute' gimmick to Edge in 1998, allegedly because he didn't have faith in Edge's promo skills.