10 Weird Gimmicks You Forgot WWE Wrestlers Had

7. Golga – Earthquake

John Tenta is often regarded as one of the most talented big men in professional wrestling, actually starting as a sumo wrestler in Japan with an over 20 match winning streak under his considerable belt.

In the world of pro wrestling Tenta had a number of gimmicks some of which were really successful, like Earthquake, winning the tag belts as half of the Natural Disasters. Some, like The Shark, were not, but that’s still pretty memorable, look at that singlet.

No, but just look at that singlet. Look at that singlet though. But who remembers Tenta’s final gimmick when he returned to the WWF in the mid 90s. Probably not many, considering that he wore a pervert’s choice leather mask throughout the entirety of it.

Tenta was Golga in the Oddities, a stable of misfits featuring Giant Silva, Kurrgen, Luna Vachon and Golga, whose gimmick was that he has a deformed face (poor John Tenta) and an unsettling love of Cartman from South Park, and he spent most of his time carrying a cartman plushing around and dancing.

Wrestling’s f**king weird forever.

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6. Johnny Polo – Raven

Normally, in the journey from gross teenager to gross adult, people throw away their ripped denim in favour of khakis, and their foul-smelling plaid in favour of polo shirts. Raven, always the counter-culturist, did it the other way around.

One of the most iconic wrestling gimmicks of the 90s, few can forget the image of Raven sat in the corner of the ring, his leather jacket, his shredded jorts, his christ like pose, a twisted angry poet, a psychotic cult leader and the face of disenfranchised 90s grunge.

Cut to two years earlier in WWF and here’s Johnny Polo, a preppy rich kid, managing The Quebecers and coming to the ring with a polo mallet and enough pastel t-shirts to render you legally blind.

It is unfathomable that they are the same person. Raven’s career in TNA and beyond has proved that he’s more than capable of re-inventing himself in startling ways, here’s looking at you Serotonin Raven with the weird mouth jacked thing, but the journey from Johnny Polo to Raven may very well be the most drastic 180-degree gimmick change in wrestling history.

Also look here he is in WCW as Scotty Flamingo, a surfer gimmick, QUOTH the raven.

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5. Who – Jim Neidhart

Where? WWF? When? 1996? Why? F**k knows. Who? Yes.

So, Jim The Anvil Neidhart was one of the most recognisable wrestlers in the 90s, from his work in the great Hart Foundation to his pointy beard, to his work in the even better Hart Foundation in 1997, The Anvil was a well-known and fairly popular gimmick.

For reasons that I can only assume are almost definitely cocaine-related Vince and Co. decided to repackage Jim Neidhart in 1996 as a masked wrestler called Who, so that those in commentary could run their own interminable imitation of classic vaudeville bit who’s on first.

Yes, while WCW was changing the game with the nWo, WWE were recycling comedy bits from 59 years ago.

Who’s in the ring? Yes. Do you get it? The man in the ring is who? What? Who is in the ring? That’s savio vega? No, who is wrestling Savio vega, exactly! And then you nose starts to bleed.

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4. Make A Difference Fatu – Rikishi

Rikishi’s had a list of gimmicks in WWE that’s as big as his own bodacious bum.

He was a savage wildman in the Headshrinkers, he played a dollar store bane in the form of The Sultan, then he was a happy go lucky buttocks jiggler, and then a happy go lucky attempted vehicular murderer, and then a happy go lucky buttocks jiggler once more.

But in amongst all that silliness, y’all remember Make A Difference Fatu? For the briefest of spells in 1995, Rikishi was repacked from Headshrinker Fatu into a far more eloquent man growing up on the mean streets of [checks notes] Sunnydale, California.

Wait THAT Sunnydale. I would 100% watch a show about Rikishi hunting vampires. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as cool as that, instead, Fatu was all about telling kids to stay in school, to not do drugs, and instead chill out, max and relax all cool, and at some point, he probably sat the wrong way on a chair to try and keep it real with you.

He’d end all of his gimmicks with Make A Difference, which was ironic because he was almost immediately repackaged, never to be heard from again.

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