WWE History Vol. 7: The Gimmick Wrestlers

Pro Wrestling is a business that thrives upon archetypal representation. It's important that an individual wrestler's 'brand' be easily recognizable, and therefore marketable.

For example, in WWE, Seth Rollins is the anarchist burning down the system, while Randy Orton is the wily veteran willing to take drastic measures to win.

But in the modern era, most pro wrestling gimmicks are more grounded in reality than in times past. Most fans expect to interact with their favorite superstars on social media or at conventions. This limits the type of gimmicks which can reasonably be employed.

If we turn the clock back to the early 1990s, however, we find a much different world. The internet as we know it now, was years away, and fans by and large only saw their favorite wrestlers either at an arena or on television.

During this era, WWE was experiencing some drop off in their fan base, as some wrestling fans went on to more complicated forms of entertainment, while several scandals rocked the wrestling industry and hurt the market share across the board.

WWE decided to try and appeal to both wrestling purists and the younger generation of children who were still watching their product. Top tier technical wrestlers like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels would comprise the main event scene, while the lower to mid-card would have larger than life, easily discernible characters to appeal to the children in the audience.

This is the story of the gimmick wrestlers, those chosen few who were meant to fill this niche role with the company.

#1 Repo Man

Barry Darsow cut his teeth in the southern wrestling promotions, particularly in Georgia. He portrayed a character named Krusher Krushnev, who was an American turned Soviet sympathizer. He would hold the tag team title with partner Ivan Koloff before heading to the WWE in 1987.

It was during this period that Darsow played his best character, Smash from Demolition. Though they were created as a knock-off of the Road Warriors, Demolition was quite successful in their own right, winning the tag team titles and holding them for a record sixteen months, nearly a year and a half.

But several things happened to Demolition. Ax, Darsow's partner, was aging and WWE wanted to replace him with Crush, who was not as skilled in the ring as Ax. The WWE also hired the Road Warriors, and wished to push them as the premier face-painted monster heel team.

Ax left the company, Crush was repackaged as a Hawaiian, and Darsow became the Repo Man. Why exactly a man who repossesses cars for a living would also need to wrestle is unclear, as was the gimmick. Darsow ran around in a coat, mask, and chain acting sneaky. Unfortunately, the Repo man was never able to abscond with any title belts.

The WWE thought the gimmick would be relevant, but the fans did not want anything to do with it.

Darsow left WWE, and went to work for rival WCW, though he never made it out of the lower card.

#2 Duke 'The Dumpster' Droese

Duke the Dumpster Droese, the wrestling garbage man.

Duke Droese was a big, big man, standing at six and a half feet tall and weighing in at well over 300 pounds.

He was trained for the ring by promoter Bobby Wales, and worked the southern indie scene under the gimmick Garbage Man.

When he joined WWE, the promotion decided to keep going with his occupational gimmick but also wanted him to be more relatable to fans. So he was rechristened Duke's "The Dumpster" Droese.

Droese was named the #500 best wrestler in the world by Pro Wrestling Illustrated in the inaugural offering of their annual list. Some fans would chant "500" when he made his way to the ring.

Believe it or not, Duke Droese has some victories over multi-time world champ and Hall of Fame member Triple H. When Triple H still used the Hunter Hurst Helmsley gimmick, Droesce defeated him on several occasions, including for a coveted Royal Rumble spot.

Droese wound up requesting his release from the WWE because the grueling road schedule was hard on his body.

He would famously return to the WWE once again in the gimmick battle royal held at Wrestlemania 17.

#3 I.R.S.

Mike Rotunda was a standout amateur wrestler who wound up winning a scholarship to Syracuse University, where he earned Letterman status four separate times in both wrestling and football.

He traveled to Germany and was trained for the ring by The Destroyer, then returned to the USA. Rotunda wrestled for JC Productions and other southern promotions before signing with the WWE for his first run in 1984.

Teamed with Barry Windham as the US Express, they won the WWE tag team title twice, a rare feat for the era. Their most famous feud was probably against Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff.

Rotunda would move to the NWA, where he enjoyed a lengthy reign as World Television Champion as a member of Kevin Sullivan's Varsity Club, which also included Ric Steiner and Dr. Death Steve Williams.

But Rotunda's most famous run in any company was definitely his time as Irwin R. Shyster, aka IRS.

Dressed in a suit and tie, he would accuse the WWE Universe of being tax cheats. WWE knew that people hated paying taxes, and someone who worked for the Internal Revenue Service--also abbreviated IRS--would garner cheap heat. Unexpectedly, the gimmick worked and IRS teamed with Ted Dibiase as Money Inc and even won the tag team titles.

IRS remains ever so loyal to Ted Dibiase that when the two superstars were part of a battle royal event held on Monday night Raw, the latter bribed the former with money to eliminate himself and IRS obliged to give Dibiase the win without the million dollar man breaking a sweat.

Rotunda is retired now, but his son wrestles for WWE as Bray Wyatt aka The Fiend.

#4 Max Moon

Journeyman talent Paul Diamond portrayed the character Max Moon in WWE.

Paul Diamond had wrestled on the indie scene for over five years, building up a reputation as a solid worker if a bit undersized.

When he joined the WWE in 1990, he was paired with Akio Sato in the Oriental Express. Diamond wore a mask and was named Kato to avoid people realizing he was not, in fact, from the far east.

A restructuring of WWE's lower card led to Sato's dismissal from the company, leaving Diamond without a partner. Around the same time, WWE signed Konnan to play the Max Moon character, but the Mexican superstar only wrestled one dark match in the 'corny' gimmick outfit.

Diamond was assigned the Max Moon character, complete with a (non-functional) jet pack. Since all his jet pack did was blow smoke, Diamond would have to hop up the ring steps to try and create the illusion he was flying.

The gimmick didn't last long, and Diamond would return to the NWA territories thereafter.

#5 Tekno Team 2000

In the world of pro wrestling, there's nothing wrong with claiming that you're the tag team of the future. But when your gimmick revolves around the fact that you're the tag team FROM the future, the fans might not buy into your character.

Such was the fate of Travis and Troy, better known (to a handful of fans) as Tekno Team 2000.

Chad Fortune (Travis) was a journeyman pro wrestler who teamed up with college roommate and son of Cowboy Bill Watts Erik Watts (Troy) to comprise Tekno Team 2000. They supposedly knew moves that hadn't yet been invented, giving them a huge advantage over the contemporary tag teams.

Unfortunately, their future vision didn't result in any tag team championship gold. They barely hung around WWE for a year before their dismissal. Watts had a run with WCW and TNA, while Fortune went on to drive Monster Trucks. No, seriously.

The WCW was the brand often known to come up with such corny gimmicks, but in this case, the WWE took precendence.

#6 TL Hopper

TL Hopper annoys Jerry Lawler while the King relaxes in his pool.

Tony Anthony, as the Dirty White Boy, was a major star in the southern promotions in the 1980s. He wound up winning over twenty different championships, usually as part of a tag team, with his biggest moment coming as the crowned AWF world heavyweight champion.

When he joined the WWE in 1996, the promotion didn't think the name Dirty White Boy would fly with its youth skewed audience. Vince McMahon declared that since Anthony 'looked like a plumber' he would portray one in the ring.

TL Hopper was born, and wrestled mostly low to mid-carders like himself. Some of his vignettes and promos were hilarious, such as the one where he menaces Jerry Lawler with a candy bar that closely resembles human excrement.

TL Hopper didn't last long, and Anthony would go on to portray Uncle Cleetus in the Godwins stable.

The WWE had all sorts of professional gimmicks on the table back in the day. But a plumber is certainly pushing it.

#7 Doink the Clown

Doink the Clown. You either loved him or hated him, but you probably hated him.

Matt Osborne was a second-generation pro wrestler who made his first big splash in pro wrestling as lumberjack Big Josh in WCW. Unfortunately, Josh's gimmick revolved around the fact that he was supposed to be gigantic and muscular, which Osborne, while in great condition, was obviously not.

Osborne joined the WWE, where he was given the Doink gimmick based on an idea by Road Warrior Hawk. Doink originally wrestled as a technically skilled heel, whose pranks were often cruel and caused harm to his opponents.

Eventually, Doink transitioned to being a good guy, and a different wrestler named Ray Apollo portrayed him. Doink never made it out of the low to mid-card, and is one of the most maligned characters in all of wrestling. While some fans found the character entertaining, most people were turned off by the gimmick and believed it to be a low point for the WWE's creative team.

Thank you for reading another edition of WWE History. What gimmick wrestler was your favorite, or least favorite? Please comment and let us know beneath the article, and we'll see you next week for another trip down WWE memory lane.

Edited by Amar Anand