A bad gimmick is worth more than a thousand words, especially when you combine glitter, Star Wars and a name that makes us think of “The Shocker.” Likewise, a bad catchphrase can be more damaging to a wrestler than the original character count would suggest.
A stupid slogan can pigeonhole performers as jobbers (hi R-Truth!) or bury them into obscurity. Best cast scenario, it fades away without taking their careers with it.
No matter how hard they tried, these catchphrases could never stick the landing.
“If you don’t got it, get it! If you don’t get it… figure it out!”
John Laurinaitis
CM Punk called him a “glad-handing, nonsensical, douchebag yes-man,” but the interim General Manager John Laurinaitis was a lot things. From Johnny Ace to Clown Shoes to the owner of one of the most confusing and clunky catchphrases in WWE history, this guy wore many hats. Impressively, we managed to hate all of them. Here’s some more of Johnny’s worst…
Stevie Ray
Stevie Ray’s catchphrase faded into obscurity once The Harlem Heat split, along with his singles career. It’s not all bad — he’s a Hall of Famer who works with Booker T on occasion. He still uses the insult on social media, so follow him on Twitter.
Nexus
Word play is only impressive when it makes sense and this catchphrase just made it seem like Nexus did not understand words. Which is probably why CM Punk got rid of the dumb line when he took over the heel stable. Wade Barrett moved on to form The Corre and the “Nexus or against us” ultimatum was officially as useless as it should’ve been from the start.
Ryback
“Feed me more,” might be stupid, but it’s the perfect amount of stupid. But before The Big Guy has his feeding time, he was basically ripping off Billy Madison’s “O’Doyle rules.”
Ryback (Part 2)
Ryback’s love for bad catchphrases and laying them on super thick started early. He was dropping nonsense way back in developmental as Skip Sheffield. So to put it in perspective, “feed me more,” is at least a third draft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YzC3ovuHLLI#t=72s
Heath Slater
Heath Slater is yet another former Nexus member who fell victim to the catchphrase-curse. Slater has been resurfacing lately, even if it’s just to get RKOed into salads. “One man band,” was a reference to entrance music that has yet to change, so he could be trying (and failing) to get fans to chant this in the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mYVoY6T9qg
Alberto Del Rio
Alberto Del Rio’s career in the WWE was cut short for other reasons, but his overuse of the word destiny did not help his cause. Bad booking didn’t help either… but you already knew that.
X-Pac
X-Pac should’ve just stuck with “suck it” like the rest of DX. Instead he referenced weed and butts whenever he got the chance. Normally this would’ve been awesome, but for some reason it made him come off like more of an undercover cop than anything else.
Sheamus
“Fella” unfortunately survived Sheamus’ heel-turn, probably because of all the merch leftover from face Sheamus. But at least now “Fella” is not attached to these lame promos, not to mention a catchphrase that sounds like a brogue phone sex hotline.
Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt learned an important lesson back in NXT when he was Husky Harris — don’t draw unnecessary to your weird body. Plus, telling us you run like a Ferrari is way creepier than your spider-walk, even if you do resemble a tank. It’s a good thing he eventually went with “the new face of fear,” instead of the old face of buffets.
NEXT: An Extensive Recap Of The Many, MANY Times Hulk Hogan Failed At Twitter