Shining a Spotlight 1.24.08: A Question of Character

I know, ring work is important, the right push is important but let’s face it, you have no character, you’re not going to make it far in this business. Just look at Shelton Benjamin, a very talented in-ring performer but never quite has taken off because he doesn’t really have a character. It’s a common problem for many in the business and while some are able to get by on the simple power of their aura and their abilities (like Bret Hart), the rule is that if you don’t have a character, you just can’t make it well.

The character question has popped into my mind a lot watching TNA lately as they seem to be doing so much damage to characters, including their own long-standing ones. I’ve always had a soft spot for Sharkboy, as he’s fun to watch and he’s smarter than he seems. After all, he did what few wrestlers bother to do, which was trademark his name as proven when they made that Sharkboy and Lava Girl movie and he actually sued them for it. He’s always had a bit of a cult following and does his best even if he is often a jobber.

So it makes no sense what TNA is doing with him lately. At first, the stuff with him getting constantly injured and coming out in growing bandages was kind of fun and seemed to promise a push after being ignored so long. But then we got the completely insane skits on the latest “Impact” of him convalescing at home. Okay, the stuff of his family all in masks was funny but the bad fish puns were too over the top and then we get the out-of-left-field thing of Sharkboy sitting right up and doing a Stone Cold impression. It’s one thing to “emulate” a star from a rival company but to completely rip off the gimmick and give it to a guy who’s been ignored so long makes no sense even by TNA standards.

Not that TNA doesn’t have such character problems with their other stars. The biggest is Abyss, who’s been a good worker and star for them for a while, even staying with them after being tempted by WWE. He was always good as a mute monster and bad-ass guy but they’ve been weakening him by addressing him as “Chris” and letting him talk, taking away some of his mystique. I do put some blame on the fact that Abyss is now part of the booking committee and has increased his own participation in hardcore matches. But it’s reached its zenith on the latest “Impact” with Jim Mitchell revealing himself as Abyss’ father which is a total and complete repeat of Paul Bearer and Kane a decade ago. Yes, it’s Russo stealing from himself but it’s still stealing from an angle that didn’t work out that well in the first place and just makes Abyss look more like a knock-off.

Hell, you can complain about so much in TNA being like that. The Vodoo Kin Mafia repeating the tricks of a decade ago, Jay Lethal as Randy Savage, Team 3D and the Steiners arguing about who’s the better tag team when both are long past their primes (yes, the feud has been good but is based on stuff that happened in other promotions), Dustin Rhodes as Black Reign and James Storm and Eric Young feuding over a drinking championship. Let’s not forget AJ Styles made to look like a total idiot, Kurt Angle not far behind, Robert Roode turned into a guy who hits women (which is still a sore subject months after the Benoit tragedy) and Team 3D trying to ruin the X Division for no real good reason. One of the biggest problems TNA has is that not only are they not giving fresher faces a chance but those who are here are playing out characters that try too hard to replicate the hottest era in the sport.

Lest you think this is another anti-TNA rant, I’m not letting WWE off the hook. Oh, no. I hardly think I need to list the horrible characters WWE has come up with over the years and how so many of them are in the top ranks today. Yes, it’s a bit improved from the insanity of the early 1990’s but the fact is, WWE looks at their workers, not as talents but as performers and figures out who can fit a role rather than the other way around. There are plenty of guys who’ve come up from OVW, eager to prove themselves only to find that, in order to play in the big leagues, they need to “adapt” to the bigger stage. So you’ll have Nick Dinsmore transformed into idiot savant Eugene, Paul Burchill as a pirate, Rico and so many, many more. Almost never do these actually take off but WWE keeps insisting that this is what the fans want. They’ve had a long history of that, giving talented workers like Terry Taylor stuff like the Red Rooster and even having Ricky Steamboat do a bit in 1991 where he’d breathe fire.

The WWF did have a lot of talent that got over on their own. Hogan always has an amazing charisma that pulls people in despite themselves and used that to his full power to keep on top. Roddy Piper would have the Scottish trappings but always was true to his own way, outspoken and doing what he wanted. Randy Savage had the ego of the Macho Man but lived up to his name with his brutal ring style. The Hart Foundation really were allowed to be themselves and Bret got over with his ring skills and his cool attitude. So while the cartoon character dominated, WWF at that period did have actual talent that got over on their own.

But again, I think it’s important to point out that this is an attitude that goes way back before Vince McMahon took over. When Gorgeous George came on the scene, wrestling was mostly the classic tough guys who no real flair to themselves but the advent of television led to a shift as people wanted to see wrestlers differing more from one another and set apart. So George came in with his flaunty ways and started a different attitude for the business. True, it was mostly still the tough guys but you would get stuff like a guy named “George Ringo, the Wrestling Beatle” and the various “evil Soviet” characters. Some of them could actually be seen as pretty damn offensive like the Red Devils, Hispanics who would constantly say they were from “New Mexico, not that stinking country to the south” to a Los Angeles audience. And you had the Von Brauners and “Gentleman” Saul Weingeroff, two Nazis managed by a conniving Jew, a gimmick no sane promoter today would touch with a ten-foot pole.

Even in the late 1970’s and early ‘80s, you’d have goofy stuff in the territories like Kevin Sullivan’s devil worshipper, the Road Warriors with their leather and makeup and World Class would have Kamala and the Missing Link. But yes, it was McMahon who really kicked it in as the “Rock n Wrestling Connection” got the WWF a lot of media attention and Vince went for it by amping up the cartoonish aspects. Yeah, they’d have a lot of duds (Outback Jack, Red Rooster) but it did connect with an audience and helped Vince build up his power in the wrestling world. Sometimes, the wrestlers would help with the characters like Jake Roberts, who’d wanted to bring a snake with him to the ring for a while and was able to do it here and Ted DiBiase who really got into the “Million Dollar Man” persona. The rest of the territories tried to stay away and be more traditional, especially Jim Crockett. So fans who disliked the cartoon of WWF could flip over to NWA and watch Magnum TA, Dusty Rhodes and the Four Horsemen basically being themselves. Sure, they’d have the odd thing now and then (like Lazer-Tron) but it was pretty much wrestling over the goofy stuff.

But when Crockett sold to Turner, that’s when things got bad as the Turner execs decided that the only way WCW could compete with WWF was to emulate them. Make no mistake, Jim Herd was the one leading the charge to this new philosophy. This was the man who honestly wanted to create a tag team of hunchbacks as they couldn’t be pinned. When that was rightfully shot down, he instead came up with the infamous Ding Dongs, a masked pair who incessantly rang bells during their matches and were booed out of the building on their first appearance. Herd was undaunted and kept on so we’d get Norman the Lunatic, the Black Scorpion and Kevin Nash as the green-haired Oz. When Herd wanted Flair to wear an earring, a toga and be renamed Spartacus, it helped usher Flair’s exit from the company. But even with Herd gone, we’d get more and more dumb gimmicks that soon made WCW just as big a circus as WWF.

The independents and territories would have their share of wild stuff too. After all, Jerry Lawler spent years as the “King” of Memphis with crown and robes to complete the act and fighting with comedian Andy Kaufman. As I noted, World Class would have some goofy characters and that got worse as the company hit financial hard times, same as the AWA. Too many times, guys on the independent scene would be so interchangeable with masks and costumes of wildmen and such so you can’t say it was just WWF in that time period that embraced the cartoonish aspects of wrestling.

One thing to recall is that when a character type would take off, you’d have lots of guys trying to imitate it. The Road Warriors inspired plenty of painted tough guy copycats, most notably Demolition (although you can make the case the Demos were a damn effective team in their brief time). Ditto for the Rock and Roll Express creating plenty of tag teams in torn pants and rock personas like, oh, the Rockers. Sgt. Slaughter inspired plenty of military-themed wrestlers and let’s not get into all the various savages and barbarian types. I think this Xerox mentality helped some gimmicks lose their luster and seem too familiar to really work today but wrestling has always seemed to love recycling stuff (which could be a column topic all its own).

The early to mid 1990’s were a pretty bad period for wrestling as too many guys in both of the big promotions were just costumes, not real workers, clowns, sports guys (golfers, hockey players and cheerleaders), garbage men and so many more. Every now and then, there would be something that would break out, however. Scott Hall spent years trying to get ahead with his looks and talent but it took a “Scarface” rip-off to find major stardom as Razor Ramon. The shift in 1998 to a new “attitude” era did help but unfortunately, Vince Russo would soon be going over the top in WWF with stuff like “Eager Beaver” and other gimmicks that catered more for T&A. Of course, Russo would save the big insanity for his run in WCW as he would take potshots at WWF guys like turning Ed Ferrera into “Oklahoma” and a tag team based on “network censors.” He’d also do his best to saddle men with completely unnecessary gimmicks. Who can forget turning Mike Awesome from a terrific power wrestlers into a 1970’s lounge lizard? Or the already horrible Alex Wright as Berlyn? Booker T as GI Bro? All of that really took its toll and helped WCW to its end.

ECW was an interesting case as on the surface, they did seem to have a lot of characters there. You had a tortured poet (Raven), a beer-drinking cane-wielder (Sandman), a dysfunctional “family” (The Dudleyz), a bunch of guys who would imitate others (The BWO), a shoot fighter (Tazz), a Middle Eastern madman (Sabu) and a bunch of guys who acted like they were Italian (the FBI). But somehow, these guys connected with the Philly fans to escape such cartoonish personas, aided by a lot of violent ring action and their bold attitudes and even helped end that goofy behavior for WWF and WCW.

One factor to consider is how some guys would do their best to shift their character about as time went on to fit better. The best example is Hogan realizing the red and gold super hero wasn’t working and went to the egotistical asshole leader of the NWO. Sting is also good with shifting himself from the blonde hair and flashy outfits to the Crow look that gave him some new life. Undertaker was a bit long in the tooth with the supernatural gimmick so the shift to the motorcycle guy had good timing and made it fresher when he went back to the classic “Deadman” persona again. Hell, Mick Foley has made a career of shifting his characters up to fit things and remains so hugely popular due to it. So sometimes taking on an odd character quirk can be helpful to the worker although quite often it can hurt (see Dusty Rhodes’ WWF run).

Now the cartoonish aspects may have lessened in recent years, thanks to the spread of the IWC and the death of kayfabe but we still get them a lot in WWE. In fact, it’s been a major problem that so many of the OVW guys getting the call-up will be forced to take on a goofy character rather than be the good workers they were in OVW. I don’t know why that is exactly but it can be said that Vince is a guy rather stuck in his ways and doesn’t really want to let go of the stuff that got him on top in the first place. Plus, you have to consider the fact that, often, some of these characters can actually work out. It’s not often but they do. The Undertaker is a prime example as, let’s face it, an undead zombie in funeral clothes who gets his power from a mystical urn sounds like a stupid idea that would die out fast. Instead, he’s become one of the longest lasting gimmicks around and is still a huge star. There are others who fit that bill too.

Take JBL for example. Yes, he’s gone on record admitting that at first the fans didn’t get behind his transformation from a tough guy to a Wall Street type but now he’s been accepted and is over both as a commentator and a wrestler. And there’s the Bogeyman. Yes, the Bogeyman. He may not be a huge star, he may not be that skilled but he has lasted much longer than most expected and that has a lot to do with his character. The whole “actor on a horror show scarred” was convoluted but it helps as people aren’t afraid of him because they think he’s supernatural but because he’s a nutcase who thinks he’s the Bogeyman. More importantly, it works because when you watch, there’s never a moment when you feel he’s not the Bogeyman. Marty Wright is just so at home playing this complete whack job that you can’t help but get sucked in. It’s the same with Hornswoggle, who’s gotten massively over now. You just can’t tell what’s going to click with fans and that’s probably the reason we’ve had so many stupid gimmicks over the years.

But I have to admit that so much of the time, it’s not the gimmick but the worker who makes it and a look at the guys on top in the companies do show that. I knock TNA a lot but I have to give them credit for how they present Samoa Joe. They don’t go for any over the top island references like dumb costumes or “island gimmick bouts” or anything. Yeah, there was that one time at “Bound for Glory 2005” where he came out with a bunch of native drummers and dancers like a Polynesian Resort show but for the most part, TNA hasn’t messed with his image. He’s just a total bad-ass who doesn’t need trappings. Of course, one wishes TNA would then realize how the fans love that and push him to the title but that’s a whole different argument. Consider that AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels did more than okay as basically themselves but adding on characterizations (AJ as a complete idiot and Daniels as a religious nut) curtailed their heat and push. Christian was a bit off at first as a face but soon found his ground as the cock heel he’s so good at.

But when you look at the guys on top in WWE, it strikes you that they aren’t really characters. HHH, Shawn Michaels, Batista, Edge and CM Punk all have one major thing in common: They come off as real. Cena fits that too as these are guys who really seem to ignore the trappings of over the top characters to remain on top. Some have struggled past that stuff (HHH as the Greenwich Snob, Batista as a “deacon”) but today are getting by as, basically, themselves. It’s like Steve Austin who had to go through the stupid “Ringmaster” before hitting upon the idea of making himself over with a serial killer look, a new nickname and the “Austin 3:16” catchphrase. Ditto for Cena who transformed himself with the hip-hop persona to get over and the Rock who went from a smiling babyface fans hated to an egotistical jerk who got over big time with his loud mouth. It’s in them what to do, they just need to get that out.

It just seems to prove what I’ve always held to, that the best wrestling characters are simply the real guy taken to the tenth power. Hell, even Vince McMahon has adopted that attitude as “Mr. McMahon” is the heartless, manipulative bastard people long thought Vince really was and you can tell he has an absolute ball doing it. Some of them seem to play with their personas like Punk, who looks like a wild guy with his tattoos but always talks of being so clean with no drinks or drugs (which has helped him get over in the post steroid scandal WWE). It just shows that even WWE is missing the obvious, that rather than try to come up with something to fit these guys, let them do their own thing and it can work out nicely.

Maybe that’s a reason ROH appeals so well, because they seem to recognize that. Of course, some haters will claim that makes the ROH guys dull and not as impressive as the guys in WWE or TNA but those who really respect the old styled ways of the business can enjoy that these guys put it out there just being themselves, tough as hell workers who love what they do. Hell, guys like Flair, Race, Steamboat and the Horsemen got over big time with that attitude for years, surely promoters can see fans love that stuff?

But promoters quite often fail to see the obvious before them and so you can expect to see more dumb characters for a long time to come. Some will be original, others will be takeoffs of more successful gimmicks but they’ll keep coming because promoters are sure the right combination of the guy and the gimmick will be a hit. Sometimes, they are right in that regard but often it’ll take someone just being themselves, going their own way, letting their actions do the talking but talking like an exaggerated version of themselves that will become stars. In a way, that’s a good thing. It shows that wrestling can still mature a bit, still be held in some manner of respect, far more than in the wildness of the early ‘90’s. That might bring more guys in as they’d prefer going under their own way than be saddled as a pirate or a freaky guy in makeup. Still, as long as wrestling’s around we’re going to have some wild characters to go with it. It’s part of the business and some of us have learned to accept it. For those who feel they overcrowd the business, just accept it and look forward to the fact that sometimes the characters can click and sometimes under that idiotic persona the heart of the true star is ready to burst on out.

Also around 411mania:

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For those who think I’m hard on TNA, check out What Were They Thinking?

Why I Love Wrestling continues classic tag team clips.

The Shimmy provides a Royal Rumble cheat sheet.

Piledriver Report and the Fink also give Rumble previews.

Thoughts From the Top Rope gives what he wants on the Edge DVD. Here’s hoping WWE listens to him.

Don’t forget Column of Honor, Triple Threat, 3 R’s, Hidden Highlights, Fact or Fiction and all the rest.