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- The WWE has produced plenty of superstars over the years—but it’s also spawned plenty of forgettable gimmicks
- Here’s a look at the worst characters the company has ever thrown into the wrestling ring
- Read more WWE stories here
Let’s face it, the WWE owns professional wrestling to the point that the entire sport depends on the success of Vince McMahon’s sports entertainment organization to stick around. If the WWE begins to fail, so will the sport. And that means no more backyard wrestling matches featuring kids hitting each other with baseball bats covered in barbed wire.
At one point, the WWE had a competitor that really pushed them to work very hard to earn every fan’s attention, and that was the WCW, World Championship Wrestling. But Vince McMahon bought them and just about any wrestling federation he could get his hands on over the past ten years. It was good for him at the time but it might have turned into the reason the WWE fails.
Without competition, what is the motivation for them to produce great programming like they did back in the late 90s? There is none. So if they go back to sending out terrible characters, like the ones we are about to look at, then the WWE is going to find themselves digging out of a hole made of quicksand.
So, in honor of keeping the WWE from making the same mistakes over and over again, we are going to showcase their worst character ideas ever as a reminder to us all what not to do.
23. Fake Character Look-Alikes
This one goes back to the days when wrestlers were changing federations on a weekly basis and the WWE started sending out characters like a Fake Razor Ramon and Fake Diesel as a response to the two wrestlers, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, jumping ship and leaving for WCW. It was a crappy idea that resulted in an even crappier concept that the WWE has done a few more times but never worked.
22. Isaac Yankem, D.D.S.
Only the true wrestling fans will recall the days of Dr.Isaac Yankem. He was a monstrous dentist that Jerry Lawler had hired to become Bret Hart’s biggest enemy, however, the character was beyond terrible.
There was simply nothing interesting about the character that he eventually changed into someone that you might have heard of (I’m talking about Kane).
21. The Mountie
Aren’t Canadians supposed to be the nicest people in the world? So how can a mountie be intimidating, or even someone worth respecting enough to root for or against?
The easy answer is “He can’t be”—and he wasn’t, as he flaked out very quickly.
20. Gillberg
There was a time when the WCW and WWE were neck and neck in the ratings and wrestlers started to jump from federation to federation, looking for the biggest paycheck or just to avoid working for certain owners. Regardless of the reasons, that battle turned into each brand making some of the greatest wrestling storylines the sport has ever seen.
However, when the WCW turned Goldberg into a superstar, the WWE, in an attempt to mock him, created Gillberg. It was a failure long before he ever appeared on TV.
19. Boogeyman
The Boogeyman was scary, but it wasn’t the “badass” type of scary. No, it was the creepy kind that made us all wonder what was really going on in the production meetings. He was disgusting.
Remember when he ate Jillian Michaels’ mole? He belonged in a Tim Burton movie, not the WWE.
18. Kerwin White
Chavo Guerrero was always a joke in wrestling. He was always nothing more than Eddie Guerrero’s annoying little nephew. On paper, however, this idea had some legs. They turned him into a suburban soccer dad douche. But it turned quickly into a mockery of something that didn’t make sense in wrestling.
17. Battle Kat
It doesn’t matter what his special powers were or even what he could do as a wrestler, the Battle Kat was a terrible idea that remains one of the most confusing.
The WWE is (and has been) either the best or the second-best professional wrestling organization in the past 30 years. So why would they let a grown man wrestle in a cheap, dollar store-looking female cat mask?
16. Tugboat
Fred Ottoman looked like he belonged in the Village People instead of professional wrestling.
Maybe it was the tiny sailor hat that wasn’t helping his case but he just did not look like he was in the right outfit his entire time at the WWE (he left and ended up becoming The Shockmaster in the WCW, who would have been number one on this list. That character wore a stormtrooper helmet covered in glitter and his entrance during his debut was legendary.)
15. Xanta Klaus
The man behind the gimmick, Xanta Klaus, was the exact name of a person that you would connect to a character that played a fat, disgusting, evil Santa Claus.
The man’s name is Balls Mahoney. That name belongs in a museum.
14. Red Rooster
JBL, John Layfield, revealed the reason behind why Terry Taylor was assigned the dumbest gimmick the WWE ever used. Apparently, Taylor was a rat. He would rat out his mates to the top dawgs of the WWF and that rep turned him into a joke to which he was punished and turned into a rooster. Well played WWE, well played.
13. Big Bully Busick
Rarely does the WWE create a character that is a better cartoon gimmick than wrestler. But with The Big Bully, they turned a potentially amazing idea into a joke thanks to a thick mustache and bright red turtleneck. Plus, he was literally named bully and people don’t tend to enjoy rooting for bullies.
12. Mexicools
One of the most underrated wrestlers in the WCW was a little-known Mexican wrestler, Juventud Guerrera. He grew a large fan base and ended up signing with the WWE and joining the Mexicools, a group of Hispanic wrestlers determined to change the perception of the Mexican communities in America.
It did not take too long for the group to split and eventually cause the end of a subpar group.
11. Nailz
Prison is not fun, but back in the early 90s, it was used as a gimmick in professional wrestling and was the basis for the storyline of Nailz, an abused inmate by the hands of Big Boss Man.
After a contract dispute with Vince McMahon, he allegedly attacked him in his office and thus got sent packing and was never renewed with the WWE.
10. The Stalker
Barry Windham has spent his entire career-changing federations and gimmicks so regularly that he has a reputation for it so when he showed up, for the second time, in the WWE as The Stalker, people weren’t too thrilled and it did not last long.
9. The Spirit Squad
Fans of wrestling don’t root for the same douchebags that used to beat them up all throughout high school so why would they get on board with one of the biggest groups of douches the WWE has ever compiled?
Their names—Kenny, Johnny, Mitch, Nicky, and Mikey—give off the impression that you are about to witness a group of jocks about to beat up a nerd.
8. Bastion Booger
Unfortunately, because Bastion Booger was turned into a big joke in the WWE, he was never taken seriously and therefore never earned the respect of any of the fans.
Who wants to worship a huge fat blob that loves donuts and candy?
7. Mystery Man
Brutus Beefcake is one of the best tag team wrestlers of all time. But when the WWE asked him to play Mystery Man, he took it and ran with it.
When it happened, no one knew quite what he was, or who he was just before he disappeared forever.
6. Max Moon
A superstar from outer space? Like, an alien? Why did the WWE think this would fly when they created this potentially massive superstar?
They even went out and hired the legendary WCW wrestler Konnan to portray the alien but it just never took off and fans saw it as more of a joke than anything else. So when they changed the person behind the mask to Paul Diamond, fans noticed and cared even less at that point.
5. Tekno Team 2000
What the crap was going on in the WWE back in 2000?
4. Phantasio
The only way to describe the Phantasio diabolical is to remind you all that he was around for one TV appearance, during which he ended up removing two grown men’s boxers using magic. How was that entertainment?
3. Mantaur
Turns out, wrestling fans hate giant Mantaur masks worn by big fat guys in one-piece costumes. There is nothing about Mantaur that deserves respect, it will always be one of the worst ideas in all of wrestling.
2. Giant Gonzalez
A giant-sized man that can wrestle is always a treat. But why would you force a man that was 8″ tall to wear a gorilla costume that looked like something your currently divorced uncle would wear to a Halloween costume party?
It was a terrible look and even though the wrestler saw some success in his few years in the WWE, it doesn’t change the pain we all endured every time he walked into the ring.
1. The Gobbledy Gooker
Whoever was responsible for The Gobbledy Gooker, is more than likely no longer working in the wrestling industry. Back in the early 1990s, the WWE started putting this giant egg on their shows.
It just kept showing up and everyone was going crazy trying to figure out what and why it was there. So when it hatched and out came a professional wrestler, Hector Guerrero, dressed in a turkey costume. What?