5 Best gimmicks created in Vince McMahon's WWE

#3 The Rock

The Rock's first WWE gimmick of a generic babyface wasn't something the rabid WWE fans of the 90s wanted to see. He soon began getting booed on a regular basis, with chants of "Die Rocky, die" becoming a regular thing on weekly TV.

Maivia was soon repackaged and turned into a heel. He returned to WWE TV in August 1997 after taking time off due to injury. Vince McMahon had dropped Maivia's babyface gimmick, repackaging him into an arrogant and self-centered heel. Now dubbing himself as The Rock, he joined The Nation of Domination alongside Faarooq, D'Lo Brown, and Kama. He then began berating the fans for booing him.

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The gimmick helped The Rock turn into one of the biggest Superstars of the Attitude Era and resulted in him bagging a string of WrestleMania main events, plus several WWE title reigns.

The Rock tweaked his gimmick when he returned in early 2003, after a short hiatus due to his Hollywood stint. The "Hollywood Rock" character is now widely regarded as one of the greatest heels of all time, even though it didn't last more than a few months.

About the author

Abhilash Mendhe is a pro wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda with nearly five years of experience. He completed his MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management in 2016 and worked with multiple banking institutions, including Tech Mahindra. While he started writing WWE articles for Sportskeeda in 2019 as a hobby, it eventually became a significant part of his professional journey.

Abhilash checks his articles thrice before sending them to the editing team, ensuring his work is highly accurate and reliable.

He has interviewed prominent pro wrestling personalities like Noam Dar, Angry Miz Girl, Brendan Cobbina, and Jesse Lambert. Abhilash is a big fan of AEW star Orange Cassidy, as he believes the former International Champion’s on-screen gimmick of an extremely lazy guy resonates with him.

Given the opportunity to script WWE’s next big storyline, Abhilash would treat fans to the second installment of The Bloodline Civil War. He would book Roman Reigns to re-form The Bloodline with The Usos and Sami Zayn upon his comeback. The angle would see The Tribal Chief-led group go head-to-head with The Rock, Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Jacob Fatu in a blockbuster family feud.

When not reporting on pro wrestling, Abhilash likes to work out, go on walks, read, and explore new eateries.

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Edited by Zaid Khan