9 Wrestlers Who Went To Insane Lengths Researching Their Gimmicks

Hollywood stars face accusations of pretentiousness whenever they employ method acting, and you can sort of understand why. While it's commendable that Christian Bale dropped a third of his body weight for The Machinist, it's hard to see the benefit of stalking a woman for real in preparation for your role as a serial killer (yes, Jamie Dornan did once admit to this).

In wrestling, however, things are arguably a little different. For one thing, it's live. There are no do-overs, and therefore no time to practice playing your character, at least not in front of a live audience. The only way you can really test-drive a new gimmick is to assume it in everyday life, cutting near-the-knuckle promos on your local shopkeeper, screaming about how much you hate America while in line at the bank.

OK, neither of those are particularly sensible ideas, but you get the point. Over the years, several wrestlers have gone to extreme lengths in order to prepare for their upcoming role - be it physically transforming their body, acquiring a completely new skill, or simply taking the gimmick out for a spin in public.

Here are 10 examples.

We all know what it's like when you start a new job. You're prepared to do pretty much anything to put yourself in your employer's good books - be it buy everyone a round of coffee, stay in the office until 9pm, or you know, get a tattoo.

That last one is what John Tenta - who went by Earthquake during his first WWF stint - did a short while after turning up in WCW in 1995, when he was asked by management to transition from Avalanche into The Shark.

The tattoo in question was - you guessed it - a shark, which was frankly a little redundant. He already wore Finn Bálor-style teeth paint over his mouth, not to mention the fact that his wrist-bands were emblazoned with the words "SHARK ATTACK". It wasn't like fans were in any doubt about what his character was supposed to represent.

Since the spot on his arm where the shark went used to be occupied by a tiger, however, it's possible that he was just looking for an excuse to rid himself of his old tattoo. Fair enough, if so, although it must have been a little annoying when he was released a couple of years later.