Wrestling's 10 Most Embarrassing Music Gimmicks
5. Van Hammer
"You know what's really cool, man? Fishnet tank tops that let your nipples just hang in the breeze. That's...that's a grunge thing, right?"
No, Van Hammer. No it f**king isn't. But that's what the supposed rock and/or roller thought when he joined Raven's Flock and started dressing like the meathead from Muscle Beach who accidentally ingested pot for the first time and thought it made him the most rebellious rebel to ever rebel.
Wearing a frayed fishnet tank tops is exactly the kind of thing an alternative poseur would do. And Van Hammer is nothing if not the ultimate poseur.
In fact, the most embarrassing thing about his gimmick is that the guy could never stick to a single genre for more than a couple of months at a time. He debuted in WCW in 1991 under the moniker 'Heavy Metal' Van Hammer, sporting a Flying V guitar over his shoulder and quite literally the dumbest top hat you've ever seen.
But then he dropped the metalhead gimmick after he evidently dropped acid for the first time, and decided to give psychedelia a try. Suddenly he was walking down the ramp (and into the warm embrace of Jerry Garcia's ghost) wearing a tie-dye shirt and a seashell necklace. But a couple of weeks later, the whole peace and love thing got stale and he jumped ship over to the Seattle music scene.
Seriously, what a poseur.