10 Wrestling Gimmicks More Disturbing Than You Think
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- History has forgotten the, erm... alarming origins of these WWE characters.
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Even as a young kid I picked up the addict vibes in Raven's Flock. Sick Boy for example... a direct referance to heroine-junkie culture.
Sick Boy was also the name of junkie heroin addicted character in the movie Trainspotting from 1996 ( might be earlier ) adapted from a book.
@@baconoftheark 90s Grunge, man. Junkie chic was all the rage. 🙄
Bruh. I was so naïve.
@@asicsjohnson Don't take that as a bad thing, my dude. I was like 14 or 15 at the time. WAY too young to be able to identify social flags like that, solely based on personal experience. 😂😝
There's also Kidman's scratching at himself constantly (to the point that his SSP was named "The Seven Year Itch"), which is something heroin addicts tend to do.
Kidman changed his gimmick cause Saturn freed him from Raven. Told him to clean himself up and go get the Cruiser Weight title. So he took a shower and stomped itching and started winning matches with his clean hair and clean tank top. (Yes basically a metaphor for stopped using)
"drink your tea, it's going to get stone cold."
"WHAT?!"
Kidman was so underrated in both WCW and WWE. His SSP was just a treat to watch back in the day.
His sideways shooting star was sloppy and terrifying. Didn't he once spectacularly boff himself on the top rope so badly that his opponent had to wrap himself in a small package to lose as predicted?
@@JSTrudel Yes. Lol. Kidman had a pretty awful Shooting Star Press actually. Funny because fans of his always seem to big up that move (which he wasn't good at) rather than all of this other moves which were quite interesting and entertaining. The only good part about his SSP was when he had the heroin gimmick in the Flock and they called it the Seven Year Itch.
@@JSTrudel i only remember him doing the ssp and landing on the top ropes lol
Did he ever NOT botch his SSP?
Yes he made mistakes, but this is part of my childhood that I very much enjoy. The young fool in me will never forget how cool it was.
Kidman was a seriously underrated wrestler. He had great matches in the cruiserweight division. Could hang with the luchadores no problem.
Loved Kidman and his shooting star press actually looked like a finishing move. Even if it finished him sometimes lol
About Kidman, you forgot the most important aspect of his Nest days: he kept constantly scratching himself, something that, I am told, heroine addicts tend to do. Kidman the man didn't understand why he was supposed to scratch himself, but it got the gimmick over even more.
They didn’t say it but they did show video of it
That’s more crack and meth that you itch. Heroine makes you nod off and very distant and angry
Yeah opiates can make you itchy. It's a common thing.
Anytime someone mention's Kamala's handler Kim Chee, I chuckle a little because the man was literally named after pickled cabbage
And it’s the name of a Drag Queen of Drag Race
I always wondered if that was a case of them just randomly picking a "foreign-sounding" word and not really knowing what it meant or a reference to how the sidekick in jungle adventures had names like Friday in Robinson Crusoe and Short-Round in Temple of Doom.
Probably the former.
@@ArcherSuh4721 Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe and in the book Crusoe called his new companion Friday because that's when they met . Crusoe was based on Alexander Selkirk a real life shipwreck survivor who also had a checkered past .
@@robertclark2253 Yes, I am aware of that. (Though not the name of the real life person.) Like I said, the sidekicks had names like that...
@@leonturner2598 yes it is the boil queen I believe lol
Kidman's finisher was called The Seven Year itch
Came here to say this, nobody ever catches that reference.
Raven was a leader of a group of dedicated grunge fans and the grunge scene has a notorious rate of heroin abuse.
Not the best look from WCW, but most people don't catch it.
@@tyrone5969 I knew the gimmick was drug related, Kidman was a herion addict, Lodi and Sickboy were supposed to be cokeheads (or something to that effect)
Another Flock fact you may already know:
Lodi was a doppelgänger of Billy Idol, and Idol spelled backwards is Lodi(and vice versa).
Seven year itch is just the unknown reason that most people tend to cheat after 7 years. It has nothing to do with drugs.
He's Jewish
Hilariously enough, Kidman was one of my favorite members of The Flock that wasn’t Raven himself. Lord knows I mained both in WCW/nWo Revenge.
"The whole narrative of Kane is horrible, imagine you spent half your life thinking you were horribly burned, only to realize you're just uncomfortable with men in drag"
😂😂😂😂😂😂
The itching/scratching Kidman used to do was the biggest hint at his gimmick
I thought he was an EMO grung rocker gimmick
@@invisiblebully171 nah that'd be more Raven... Kidman was having the heebies from you know what lol..
@@necrophagiakc I loved that whole faction Raven, Saturn, Kidman and Reese were great Kidman had the best shoot star press in the business
@@invisiblebully171 until he invented the shooting star knee drop that put chavo out cold I mean he was stiffer then a corse left outside in December
WCW was the best
Kidman's finisher was also called the Seven Year Itch. Never caught on to that as a kid.
To be fair, there is also that Marilyn Monroe movie of the same name, and to us goody-two-shoes who knew nothing of drug culture, it just felt like a weird tribute to the movie.
Kidman's in an almost cult like group within the grunge scene where there's a notoriously high rate of heroin abuse and "The 7 Year Itch" is used as a reference to the chronic itching/scratching and the scabs that makes which heroin causes among many long-term users. Not the best look for WCW, but it was the attitude era.
I remember my father explaining to me that Kidman was a heroin addict due to the scratching and his messy appearance.
Never thought of it to be edgy, tasteless or dark to be honest 🙈
One thing my dad was wrong about was that the Flock were a bunch of homeless people, I guess.
Spike Dudley and Billy Kidman would of made for an… interesting tag team.
I’m sold! I wanna see this
One of Raven's flock was Sick Boy which is the name of a character in Trainspotting which is about young heroin addicts in the UK
Honorable Mention: Bret Hart was an actual Hitman. Not only was his nickname "Hitman" his finisher was the SHARPSHOOTER!
A nickname is not a gimmick
And the sharpshooter had the legs looking like crosshairs in a scope.
Simon as unmasked Kane is incredibly perfect...🤣🤣
Razor Ramon (who was based off of Scarface) was a Coke Dealer that moonlighted as a Wrestler!!
The Eva Marie gimmick was pretty messed up....like....why did they force us to watch that?
Legit 👏 can't stand that woman in or out of the ring. And my God I could wrestle better.
This casts a dark, dark shadow on biscuits with gravy...
Absolutely loved kidmans shooting star press….looked way better than any other I’ve seen to this day
If you thought Billy Kidman's character in WCW was bad, early TNA had a wrester named Kobain, who was "suicidal in the ring" and wanted to "overdose on wrestling." (Not joking.)
Early TNA is a goddamn fever dream. If the video didn't exist I'd be convinced I imagined it
@@iangray1980 "Goddamn fever dream" is right! Puppet, Bruce, AJ Styles telling everyone to ZIP IT! I haven't seen a wrestling show go that far off the reservation since WCW Thunder.
4:25 Adam Bomb was called The Creation of Devastation sometimes so the story makes sense .
Would anyone consider Bastion Booger disturbing? I'm curious.
John Doe from SE7EN probably.
Disturbing - no
Gross - yes
I usually don't consider anything that was added to the Kane/Undertaker backstory post WM14 as canon. It was just random nonsensical Russo-bullshit and bullshit of whoever was writing in 2003, that didn't fit in with what we learned in 1997. So no. In my headcanon, Kane isn't Paul Bearer's son, Taker didn't kill his parents, and Kane wasn't in highschool shagging up with Katie Vick.
The 97 story was just too good to be ruined by all those unnecessary additions for more drama on top of the drama cake.
As for Mick Foley, I think Dude Love needs a mention, at least the initial 97 version of the character. At first it seemed like a happy character and a great moment for Mick that he could live out his dream, but moments like when Kane attacked Dude, or when either DX or the Outlaws attacked him, and he would revert back to Mankind in increasingly disturbing promos, showed that in truth Dude was just another personality that Mankind had slipped into to try and be somebody else, but he was still very much mentally unstable and unwell. Because back then, Mankind was very much still a serious and even as a babyface terrifying gimmick. Foley still doesn't get enough credit for his character work here.
I loved early disturbing Mankind, Mick played the part so convincingly, it was riveting to watch him, because you never knew what he was going to do next. I still liked Mankind after he became a comedy routine, I mean, it's impossible to not like Mick, no matter the character, but I remember at the time wishing he would have kept the character dark. I hadn't really thought about Dude Love being dark, but it makes sense. Mick is an absolute genius, and is the only one that could pull these characters off. I'm actually surprised he didn't go into movies...he would really make a great serial killer type character.
How about when he wrestled himself and mixed his attire for the gimmicks? lmfao Never going to forget seeing him beat himself senseless and try to pin himself.
@@ItsMeMattCarter I kind of remember that...might have to look that one up to refresh my memory. I bet Mick was entertaining as hell wrestling himself, lol.
I think the Skinner one wasn't really surprising since he came from everglades as a crocodile hunter. Its obvious that he hunts/kills animals for fun and bringing that "game hunting'" spirit to wwf.
But the rest of the list is great. Many of us might remember the small details of the wrestlers background but never realized that this would be a very disturbing story once interconnected. For honorable mention, next time maybe you should talk about Seven's gimmick in wcw.
And also the whole gimmick of Skinner was a near exaggeration of The name Steve "GATOR" Keirn
Doink the Evil Clown was a very talented wrestler who also was an Evil Clown.
@@jonathanrife-rs7sf as a kid watching the Golden era, I hated evil Doink and loved the good guy version. His pairing with Dink and his feud with Bigelow was fun. But now in my late thirties, I appreciate the Evil Doink more.
Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski was a rare example of a hitman that was also a serial killer. Or, better put, a professional serial killer. Dude was 6’5 and around 300 lbs, which he used to his advantage when performing his signature method of murder, which he called “The Tree”. He would tie a noose around the victim’s neck and then throw the rope over his own shoulder, effectively lynching them with his own body functioning as the titular tree. His nickname was given to him by the cops after he froze a victim’s body in order to make it so that they couldn’t determine a time of death, making the case infinitely harder to solve. He did three interviews with a psychiatrist that were filmed for HBO, and they are a fucking RIDE.
The two books about him are even more graphic and bizarre
Calling Kidman's SSP the "Seven Year Itch" was a strange direction.
Kane should've had more WWE title runs....
Kidman was one of the best in ring and the look was punk rockAF.
I would add Waylon Mercy to the list.
The man that Bray Wyatt based his entire gimmick on!
@@andykhan3038 Wyatt also added elements of the crazy backwoods family from the movie Deliverance.. Waylon Mercy was based on the character Max Cady from the movie Cape Fear . Cady was played by Robert Mitchum in the original movie in 1962 and Robert DeNiro took the role in the 1991 remake .
There was a decent amount of Kevin Sullivan, as well. He was less cult leader and more Satanist and feuded in Florida with Mike Graham, Dusty Rhodes, and the Windham family. That may be the best story untold. Sullivan eventually corrupting the grandson of Blackjack Mulligan.
Simon clearly doesn't understand hunting
i always interpreted Gallows run as Festus as a simple hick that just got angryyyyyy in the ring
It was just that originally, but it got retconned when he joined the SES with Punk.
I am extremely shocked that Dustin roades wcw seven gimmick didn't make the list
Well, Seven's gimmick is exactly as disturbing as you think, and also, it was aborted as soon as it began.
pedo uncle fester
I’m sure someone else has said it already but in certain parts of the United States hunting alligators and snakes is extremely important, from both a social and an ecological perspective.
In Texas, Ranchers & Farmers will gladly pay hunters to kill wild boars that wreck havoc on farmers crops and livestock
yeah, there are some truly great examples on this list but the skinner entry is a massive stretch.
Snakes and alligators can be dicks sometimes.....
Let's not forget, Key. Prince Albert and Droz's drug dealer.
That ECW championship joke broke me. 😂
The only thing worse that the Kane gimmick is the Mayor Glenn Jacobs gimmick he's currently portraying.
I, for one, applaud people of Glenn Jacobs' level of fame throwing their name on a ballot to do public service. Being the man in charge of spending people's taxes is a sure-fire way of pissing off one group of people or another. Kane's a millionaire, he would not need to put himself through that, yet he made the choice to get involved. Kudos to him!
The only thing worse than that is a whining leftist, you being a great example of such. Grow up and put on some big boy pants finally.
Boo-hoo cry more
A couple more; #1 "Crow" Sting was Based on WCW originally not trusting him thinking he joined the NWO and his feeling Betrayed by WCW
2.The nWo was based on Hall & Nash coming back for revenge because they felt Disrespected as The Diamond Studd and Vinnie Vegas/Oz in early 90's WCW and Hulk Hogan being angry because The WCW fanbase Rejected him and Saw him as The Enemy anyway for two years beforehand.
Wow! This was a serious stroll thru memory lane! Good damn list Simon!!!!
Tugboat was an actual boat
Wrestling Bios calls him smackhead Kidman and yeah that sums it up. I only ever saw him post-Flock so was pretty strange to see looking back.
I watch Wrestling Bios too. Great channel for wrestling content.
I thought that SCSA was inspired also by "Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer" with Michael Rooker.
Kidd man was a good mid-card guy
7 year itch lol
His theme after that was dope though (No pun intended), with the boom boxing before the music kicks in.
Plus Kidman's Finisher was called "The 7 Year Itch" a reference towards an STD and that Kidman's character was constantly scratching himself as if he was "Dirty"
Kane I think should be spared this position simply on the merits of Doctor Shelby.
How could they have left Eugene off this list is a big mistake
How was a special needs wrestling fan fulfilling his dreams disturbing?
Lots of this is speculation,but I agree some are very close. But assuming addiction without knowing it is a bit offsides in my dumb opinion.
"From there we went through Drunk driving and Necrophilia?? Lol 🤣
These are all my favorites. I’m disturbed.
You got a new subscriber bro love your storytelling shit had me dying 🤣🤣🤣🤣
That guy Hornswaggle looked like Conner McGreggor.
Hornswaggle looked an awful lot like 70s midget wrestler Little Bruiser in size as well as looks. So much so I have often wondered if Little Bruiser was Hornswaggles real life father.
Bryan Clarke's yellow contacts scared the shit of out me when I was kid. Fun gimmick, though.
I liked Adam Bomb, and yes, those yellow contacts were freaky!
Randy orton - he wanted kill legends and prove he isnt like his dad and he will do whatever it takes to win no matter the cost he will use anything and anyone to reach the top, both his character and real life persona shared similar parallels
His "taunt" was scratching I'm wcw revenge. It was subtle, but it was implied he was a heroin addict. I thought this was interesting. The subtlety is what made it good
How is Skinner being a hunter disturbing?
*Those last few sentences about the mayor has me cackling LMFAO.*
Wasn’t seven a kid kidnapper? Similar to that NOS4A2 show. “Follow me to eternity” or something.
He was supposed to be either a kidnapper or a murderer so it got dropped pretty fast
these are accurate, and everything about everything raven in ecw and wcw was involved in was dark.
i didn't know doink used to be skinner. i remember both of them and thought they were two different wrestlers
Kuklinsky was a hitman not a serial killer. One does it for money the other does it purely for pleasure. Kuklinsky just so happened to like his job.
Spike Dudley in ECW was a drug addict hooked on LSD and his finish was The Acid Drop...
Biscuits and gravy made me a man oh!!!
that tag team would totally get WWE cancelled today but I love that song.
Jesse was Festus’…enabler.
I didn't know Skinner was Doink the Clown lol
There is literally a wrestler named Suicide.
That’s disturbing
Silly me; I always thought Fetus was meant to be someone suffering from a mental handicap. Never ever thought he was just drugged 😂
I just figured we were watching an Of Mice and Men gimmick. We all knew where it was going.
The hornswoggle thing was hard to watch when it aired
wasn't there a wrestler who had a gimmick that he would beat up his girlfriend whenever he lost a match?
Chaz as played by Charles Warrington who was also known as Headbanger Mosh after Headbanger Thrasher came back the domestic abuse angle was forgotten about . When Thrasher left WWE Mosh went back to being Chaz this time tagging with D'Lo Brown to form Lo Down they had Tiger Ali Singh as their manager .
Marc Mero and Sable comes to mind but with the exception of that one time she showed up with a "black eye" he didn't hit her that we saw but he did berate her alot
Jamie Noble and Nidea.
@@shadowdramon01 Noble & Nidia's gimmick towards the end was that Noble would use a blinded Nidia as a Human Shield after Tajiri blinded her with the Poison Black Mist. It went on for weeks until Nidia miraculously regained her sight during Jamie Noble & Rey Mysterio's Cruiserweight Championship match and turned on Jamie
@ Ran Wolf if I'm remembering this correctly although I could be wrong because it was so long ago. I think Chuck Palumbo did that gimmick on Smackdown during his biker gimmick heel run. I believe that Michelle McCool was playing his girlfriend/manager/valet at the time and he would get angry at her and I believe domestic violence/abuse was alluded to during the time but I could be wrong about Michelle McCool being the other half of that tandem.
The fact Kane is only a 2 time world champion still blows my mind.
I absolutely loved Adam Bomb
I kinda wanted to see Festus vs Eugene. 🤷 I am demented though, so.
Serial Killer... so close to home? Weird to discover that.
I watched a Simon miller list from 5 years ago today and it made me miss when he would speak like a human and not whatever this is now
if you woulda told me that a vice pres. would be named Kamala... LOL🤣
She's the real monster she makes money off selling aborted baby parts
Skinner needed a vegan rival.
The 7 Year Itch is an amazing name for a finisher.
Adam bomb scared me so much as a kid
I remember skinner from a vcr tape I had
I have met n know Kamala Jr 😀 Even met Jimmy Hart at one of Jr's show...
I didn't know PA had a nuclear incident in 1979 wow
From what I understood, the itching part of Kidman's gimmick was also part of the drug addict shtick (I forget which drug habit causes that).
Heroin can caused the itching I believe
A lot of them do. Heroin would be my guess because of its popularity in the 90’s. Meth also causes people to itch badly, that’s why so many meth addicts have sores and scabs.
I hated that Kidman gimmick when he was in Raven's Flock & was always lookin dirty asf. 😩😩😩 Loved him as a wrestler but that? Nah.
Wasn't his finisher called the 7 year itch
No way. I loved that Kidman's gimmick!!! :)
I’m fuckin done!!💀💀💀
I really enjoyed Jesse and Festus and i wont have the internet keep dunking on it! Lool! (but yeah it got dark when it turned out drugs kept him like that when joining CM Punk)
Kidman n raven were wwc gods
Is this Simon hiding under the mask at 3:01? 🤪🤪
Simon is hilarious. In my tum tum lol
Abreviated state haha inebriated Simon :)
Kidman deserved so much better
Bubba Ray during his "put women through tables" phase.
Just like Phil Brooks to retcon history
Incredibly disturbing.
Lol. It is kinda crazy that Kidmans gimmick in Ravens flock was a strung out dope fiend. They said he didn't take showers but come on
Why didn’t Waylon Mercy make the list?
5:44 is that Tommy Dreamer in the ECW shirt on the right?
I think it's The Sandman that's pictured not Tommy Dreamer.
The fallout (lol) from Three-Mile Island was far more political than environmental. The worst amount of radiation exposure anybody got during the incident was about equivalent to a chest X-ray. On those grounds, I have to dock points from Adam Bomb for authenticity.
Sickboy from The Flock was a addict too.
Billy Kidman was NOT A DRUG ADDICT! He simply had eczema that caused him always scratch his arms. Those weren't track marks. It was eczema scars.
Um sure.