The Most Ridiculous Roster Of Gimmicks Ever
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Jerry “The King” Lawler is better known for his time in WWE as a color commentator than an in-ring competitor. However, before WWE, the Hall of Famer had a lot of experience under his belt in the independents with promotions such as Continental Wrestling Association, American Wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling, United States Wrestling Association, and many more. He was also a co-owner, with Jerry Jarrett, of CWA, USWA, and others which were together known as the Memphis territory, being their top star.
Since Lawler was also the creative head of the organization, he used to incorporate his fascination for comic book villains and horror movie monsters into the storyline. He would often make wrestlers dress up as strange creatures and book himself as the hero who defeats them. The monster gimmicks of his opponents would range from bizarre to downright ridiculous which would dive deep and explore.
Memphis Wrestling Had A Character Called Ta-Gar: Lord of the Volcano
Ta-Gar’s debut was hyped through pre-recorded vignettes in a setting as weird as the Lord himself. He would have ominous dialogues and appear translucent with a smoking volcano in the background. The production quality of the video was worse than the character himself.
Jerry Lawler had equipped him with a mechanical glove and shield, which fired a less-than-impressive fireball. After causing mild inconvenience to the roster for a few weeks in 1991, the smoke-spewing menace was made dormant by Lawler and went extinct soon after. It was later found that the man behind the erupting villain was David Vandiver, a journeyman who has wrestled for many promotions including WWE and WCW. Moreover, Ta-Gar has been called possibly the worst gimmick in wrestling history.
The Christmas Creature Was One Of USWA's Oddest Gimmicks
The Christmas Creature was the illegitimate child of a Christmas tree and the Grinch, for the United States Wrestling Association, owned by Jerry Lawler. No matter how ridiculous it was, it got over with the crowds, who wanted more of it. The USWA had a scarcity of top-level villains and that explained its demand among the public. There was no explanation as to what this awkward 7-foot creature was or why it was wrestling inside the squared circle.
Its only claim to fame was fighting Jerry Lawler in a title vs mask match in late 1992. Lawler teased the hidden identity of the creature to be someone from WWE. After Lawler won the match and when their identity was revealed, it turned out to be a rookie that nobody knew at that time. But as luck would have it, Jerry’s bluff became true.
The rookie went on to be one of the most successful wrestlers ever to tie a pair of boots and eventually got into the WWE Hall Of Fame. It was Glenn Jacobs aka Kane. This is one of rookie Kane’s forgettable gimmicks from the past and in the WWE Table for 3 program, he revealed that his mother had hand-stitched the odd-looking costume herself.
Nightmare Freddy Was Part Of Jerry Lawler's USWA
Nightmare Freddy arrived in the United States Wrestling Association and had no prizes for guessing who he was trying to be. One of Jerry Lawler’s movie monsters, he was quite simply Freddy Krueger from the A Nightmare On Elm Street movie, complete with the burnt mask, blade gloves, hat, and same clothes. Banking on the popularity of Krueger did pay off as Nightmare Freddy was a hit with the crowd.
In spite of his scary monster look, Freddy was a babyface and even teamed up with Dustin Rhodes once. Eventually, he did get beaten by Lawler, like everyone else. His greatest achievement was winning the USWA Battle Royal and getting a ticket to WWE Royal Rumble that year. However, a copyright claim from the movie’s production house ended Freddy’s adventures in Memphis.
The man behind the mask was Tommy Gilbert, a wrestling referee, who gave up refereeing to become Freddy for Lawler. However, after winning his WWE Royal Rumble spot, he sent his son Doug to the Rumble instead, donning the gimmick. The Freddy gimmick was by far the most successful in Memphis’s history. Apart from winning their Battle Royal, he also faced many top contenders like The Master of Pain. Furthermore, Tommy was inducted into the Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame, class of 1994.
Other strange characters who had tried and failed in capturing the King’s crown were Dr. Frank, The Phantom of the Opera, The Colossus of Death, Bota the Witch Doctor, Jason (from the Friday the 13th movies), The Zombie, The Undertaker (Memphis’s own version), The Wolfman, Frankenstein, and Kamala. While these ridiculous characters were created out of Jerry’s comic book imagination and were used more for laughs and cheers, he did end up creating classics like Kamala and The Road Warriors, and even The Undertaker honed his skills in wrestling as the Master of Pain in Memphis.
Therefore, while Jerry Lawler is considered one of the greatest legends of the business, there is no doubt that he created a unique yet ridiculous roster of gimmicks in his home territory of Memphis that were bizarre and popular with the crowd in their own way.
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