Many times over, gimmicks are just ways to have an outlandish character occupy the insane and imaginary world of professional wrestling. But over the years, as the market and demographic demanded more reality based content, there have been more wrestlers or factions based more on real life situations.
Some of them were still outlandish even by these new standards, but overall gimmicks went from looking like cartoons to being something more relatable to the average person…sometimes for the better, sometimes not. The latter of which were quickly shelved for fear of a public backlash.
During the Attitude Era, Vince McMahon allowed WWE to “push the creative envelope” and go beyond the boundaries, and did they ever. Even just five years before 1998, the idea of getting “Val Venis”, a pornstar gimmick who would make his ring entrance to a cheesy porno music or The Godfather, a “pimp” who paraded to the ring with actual women (aka hoes), probably would have been frowned upon by the society at the time.
The irony now is, in 2021, Val or Godfather would not be appropriate in today’s modern WWE and society in general, where female empowerment and the focus on women’s wrestling on par or superior to the men’s roster, would not work out at all, except for the so-called one off “legends night”.
In that sense, maybe a group like the Right to Censor, a gimmick of wrestlers who preached against oversexualization of WWE programming, may have a spot in today’s modern WWE which pushes more female empowerment. Although, without live fan reactions, it’s impossible to know what the actual reception of a returning RTC would look like.
A little censorship and parental guidance may have fit for someone like Scott Steiner. The former WCW star and tag team champion, United States champion didn’t really have a gimmick; I think WCW just gave him a live mike and told him to say whatever he wanted, and for close to twenty years Big Poppa Pump did just that. At 58, it’s doubtful Steiner has mellowed out at all even by today’s standards.
WWE also has done gimmicks that fit in with current events, such as La Resistance during a brief period of anti-French feelings in America for not going along with the Iraq Invasion in the early 2000s, or Muhammad Hassan a few years after the 9/11 terrorist attack. Lately, they have not indulged in having characters hitting such a nerve on their programming; perhaps the toxicity of the Trump era has made politically motivated character development not an appealing road to take.
The way the Internet has opened up a plethora of information for the average consumer has made the idea of gimmick wrestling characters somewhat laughable as people have seen through all the kayfabe over the decades. But frankly, the gimmicks I mentioned would be silly, if not downright offensive, in today’s consumer market.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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