10 Lame WWE Gimmicks That Shouldn't Have Worked But Did 

Cowboy Farmer Brock Lesnar is actually pretty interesting and it makes sense seeing as how he grew up on a farm. Plus, you can tell how much fun Brock is having at this point in his career with the character.

Chris Jericho was hilarious when he had The List. He was even more hilarious when he was calling everybody a stupid idiot 😆

Chris Jericho’s list character was hilarious, and I laughed all the time when he would add someone.

People forget the Undertaker was supposed to be a filler gimmick. Look how that turned out.

Fun Fact: that controversial moment when JBL provoked a heart attack on Eddie Guerrero's mom was actually EDDIE'S Idea

JBL’s real-life “side hustle” as a stock market investor and financial commentator on CNBC and Fox Business contributed to the persona, too.

“ The Undertaker “ In an era of ridiculous cartoon characters “ Mark Calloway “ made that character stand out to the point where as it turned out he became one of the greatest of all time . “ Mankind “ A character that should of definitely failed if not for the pure talent of “ Mick Foley “ willing to put his body on the line each and every night especially for that “ Hell in the Cell “ match. “Mr Bob Backlund “ After years of being a white milk babyface to the core turning Bob into a delusional psychopath was a stroke of genius. “ Doink the Clown “ ( Matt Borne only ) This may have sounded absolutely ridiculous on paper but was way better than “ Big Josh “ . I would have liked to see how far they could have taken it if not for Matt Borne’s substance abuse issues . A darker more twisted version would have been great especially if they put him in a program with Taker . “ Batman vs Joker “

Miz & Damien Sandow duo was hilarious . Sandow should've been a multi time mid card Champion atleast

Im a believer in that any gimmick can work as long as the wrestler gives maximum effort and the company push the wrestler consistently with interesting storylines. Goldust and The Hurricane are perfect examples

Corbin's broke gimmick was so good that he made alot of fans actually start to support his character, and feel sorry for him, which is insane considering all the heel work he's done.

Cowboy Lesnar worked because that's literally who Brock is in real life, personality and all

You forgot undertaker even he admitted the character shouldn't have worked

New Day have been so successful and popular I keep forgetting that people used to hate them when they debuted as a faction

The Hurricane 🌀 was made even funnier 🤣 when he introduced Rosey as his "SuperHero in Training". I hope I don't have to explain the acronym.

cowboy lesnar is the equivalent of ABA taker

Sad Corbin could've been a face.. its last matches had some fans cheering for him.. I think they changed him to Happy Corbin too quickly..

Chris Jericho is absolutely amazing. The craziest part is that even though he's the same cocky jerk throughout almost every incarnation he keeps it fresh just by tweaking the details.

The Hurricane is still my favorite wrestler of all time. I agree that on paper this probably sounded like a terrible idea but Shane nailed it. On top of consistently solid matches, his promo work was great. The brief story with The Rock was surprisingly entertaining and I never knew I needed the Hurri-Kanes in my life until that became a thing. Still waiting for his HOF induction.

Broke Corbin should have lasted a bit longer. I think there was more to explore with him being broke.

Honorable mention! Heath slaters I got kids Gimmick GOT HIM OVER ON SMACKDOWN IN 2016 MY FAVORITE YEAR OF SMACKDOWN!!!!!!!! As well 💯💯💯💯

Brock Lesnar'a Cowboy character is interesting . It will be great to see him bringing his Ultimate Farmer character once he returns

Rikishi was pretty iconic during his tenure in WWF/WWE, and also unique. He was one of the few people who kind of bypassed the hierarchy of superstars with being a jobber/mid-card/main eventer. He wasn't a main eventer or at least meant as one, especially paired with a tag-team that although was popular, was only moderate in their success in terms of wins/title matches. He was intended as a mid-card, but unlike pretty much every mid-carder, he would gets titles and wins over main-eventers, even somewhat frequently. He transitioned between his tag-team/mid-card matches to being that "formattable foe" against the main eventers where you're almost between the mid-card and main eventer status. They use that spot often still, some more recent examples (2005-2022) of this role would be like Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, Matt Riddle, and Carmella. You'd see this role often dominate the mid-card scene and be present in the main event scene, but often just falling short and not being an actual main contender. This led to a lot of downfalls and loss of popularity with these types of superstars, where you knew they'd never be given a real shot. Rikishi was different. He would actually get wins over the main eventers and often times cleanly. I miss this as it kept that "formattable foe" role actually true to the name. It felt real and organic as you seen him actually work his way through the main eventers with his matches rather than having a dead set line of how far he was going to go.

Brock Lesnar being a cowboy was and is still hilarious to this very day. It showed exactly why he deserved to have so much fun ever since his SummerSlam 2021 return.

i would add breezango's fashion police, rusev day, and heath slater's "i've got kids". cowboy lesnar wasn't a lame gimmick. that's just who lesnar is in real life and most fans loved that version of lesnar

Here's a bad gimmick that shouldn't have worked, you have an undead zombie with magical powers that gains strength from a fat guy holding an urn. Yeah, sounds bad, but Mark managed to make The Undertaker gimmick work. So there is your #11.

Looking back at Rikishi he was way ahead of his time work rate and wrestling style wise. He would totally fit in perfectly at any modern shows and promotions.

Hurricane managing Nikki A S H would've been interesting

Damien Sandow was over in everything he did i really dont know how The WWE management didnt see that, its such a shame that he didnt get the push that he deserved.

I loved the broke Corbin character, almost as funny as the list of jericho

Damien Mizdow was absolutely HILARIOUS!!!! 🤣

rikishi could hang with the main eventers like austin because he was a true professional. it's crazy how easy they make it look.

Goldust character completely changed Dustin Rhodes career

I liked Lone Wolf Corbin best and I miss the APA tag team they were great!

I know it’s recent, but Cowboy Brock was amazing and hilarious.

Sandow had charisma. Is crazy how wwe dropped the ball with him.

Here's my list 10. Chris Jericho: The List Of Jericho 9. Kevin Owens: The New Face Of America 8. JBL 7. Rikishi 6. The Corporation 5. Daniel Bryan: The YES Movement 4. Goldust 3. The Godfather 2. "Cowboy" Brock Lesnar 1. The Oddities Honorable Mentions 1. Kamala 2. Cryme Tyme 3. IRS 4. Eugene 5. Damien Sandow: Damien Mizdow

Rikishi dancing was always funniest moments even in Attitude Era

baron corbin’s gimmick really shows how good he is at his job

JBL was the one that made me love wrestling. Kofi was the first one I saw and I enjoyed the shows when he was there and one day a highlight of Eddie vs JBL came in my recommended and let's say his gimmick could be entertaining in majority of the eras in my opinion.

lets be honest the wacky world of wrestling any gimmick could probably get over !!! look at eugene.....and gimmick where the man had special needs got over ffs !!!🤣🤣🤣

New days of gimmick comes to mind. Idk how they turned a group of pastors to the greatest tag team of all time. I've been all for it tho cuz they had my guys E and Kofi. Woods was just the cherry on top.

Dustin Rhodes was so commited with the Goldust character, that he at some point he came to Vince and said he wanted to get breast implants to make Goldust more excentric. Of course Vinnie Mac rejected the idea lmao

I've always wanted cowboy Brock lesnar since 2017-18. this was the time where his character really got boring. Always been a fanatic fan of brock and knowing his childhood only makes sense for him to have a character of a farmboy.

King Booker character was medicore at best

Goldust is such an underrated wrestler. He is one of the GOATS in the world of wrestling!

When too cool and Rikishi stopped and danced in the royal rumble, It was classic attitude era wrestling. It was soooo cool and badass. One of the most memorable for me.

Brock's character wasn't gonna fail, cause it's brock

For those who knew a lot about him, Lesnar's "Cowboy" gimmick was obviously going to be fire. Because as he himself and Paul Heyman, who obviously knows Brock very well, have stated, deep down he's really just a country farmer. He could spend the rest of his life on his farm in (I think) Montana, tending his land and hunting and he'd be perfectly happy. As also seen from multiple segments during his time with Paul Heyman, he's also got a fantastic sense of humor. "Suplex City Bitch" comes to mind. Finally, anyone who watched him talk during his UFC career knew he didn't need Heyman to speak for him. He just did because the whole "Superman with a Spokesman" gimmick worked really well for them. You could also see during the times where he spoke for himself during the time with Heyman that he could talk just fine.

Talk about dedication to his character, Dustin Runnels actually wanted to get breast implants. 😂

Stand Back! There should be a Hurricane on this list

Shane Helms is a super nice dude in general. He has always popped up to answer any questions I've had online.

Doink the Clown initially looked awful but the character was played masterfully by Matt Borne. The dark and creepy persona of the original Doink is fondly remembered to this day.

I think you could’ve included Ezekiel

How was the Undertaker not #1 on this list, An undead mortician and gravedigger should never have worked as a gimmick but ended up being an all time great.

The List just made The List!

The attitude era was so hard in surprised that they didn’t have a klansmen gimmick “The grand wizard” his finisher would be “the fiery cross” Vince McMahon is getting a hard on just thinking about it

I say that the New Day gimmick is still awesome and successful to this day- I was super excited to see their debut together long ago in 2014 and I knew in my heart that Kofi, Big E and Xavier are going to be a great big hit and here they are- 14-time Tag Team Champions, 2x WWE Champions because Kofi & Big E, King of the Ring because of Xavier, they did it all and still making it awesome!!!! I love New Day Forever & Always- NEW DAY STILL ROCKS!!!! Also, I really enjoyed Cowboy Brock Lensar more than his heel persona- I just love that he's outgoing, enjoying his babyface persona, and still being an awesome badass!!!! I also do love him literally trying to run over the Bloodline with truck tractors, LOL, that was so good and priceless!!!! You did great, Brock, you did great!!!

Heath Slater's "I got kids" was great. Sadly they didn't push the gimmick farther. I know it's not a long-term draw but one of the most entertaining in the recent years.

That Farmer/Lumberjack/Cowboy Brock was awesome & perfect -- The whole stern-looking UFC/shoot fighter look was getting super-old, & it was great to see Brock look comfortable, have fun, & add a new dimension to his character

if Bradshaw and Farooq were Canadian it would have been "Eh Pee Eh".

The Hurricane was a great Gimmick Rosey and Stacy Keibler with the Hurricane is iconic Stacy Keibler is a legend and a WWE Hall Of Famer in my opinion she looks Hot in that Superhero attire.

The List of Jericho is underrated character for Jericho

Baron Corbin should better bring back his Lone Wolf character

I might get some heat for saying this but Akeem The African Dream was lame but it worked once he and the late Boss Man formed the Twin Towers.

King Booker!!! Booker T was such an awesome dude, making the king gimmick so prestigious

Undertaker has to be number one. He turned a fairy tale papa shango type of character into the most legendary gimmick of all time.

Brock made it work because he is a farmer. That is what he likes to do and he brought that to TV and it was amazing

JBL is an honest-to-God financial consultant when not piledriving bodies in the ring

Papa Shango could be one

I actually like the new Brock Lesnar. Glad he lost because part time champions really hurt the business, but his last match was probably the best I’ve seen him in. It was a back and fourth match with SEVERAL moves being used by both men; not just spamming 2 finishers

Tbh the undertaker should be on here too

7:41 "...King Booker was without a doubt the most acclaimed time period of his WWE tenure"... is what someone would say if they never saw the comedy bits with Booker and Goldust

Cowboy Brock Lesnar is the best version of Brock Lesnar

You should be put on Jericho’s list for not talking more about AEW

The top 9 have been written on the List as the List of Jericho is #1. I was really about to quit watching WWE in Aughust 2016 but then..........Magic happened. Thank you Chris Jericho.

Regarding Booker T and the king gimmick, a big part of why it succeeded was the vast juxtaposition between a street wise black dude from Houston and an English Royal. It was perfection! On another note, regarding The New Day... they were supposed to be babyfaces initially, but fans booed/hated The Power of Positivity so much that the group eventually turned heel... at which point each member was able to shine and (ironically) started getting cheered.

I loved the list Jericho he was the most entertaining part of raw with Kevin Owens

I love the farmer Brock gimmick.

I loved The List Of Jericho. It was funny and the way he said You Just Made The List or something did. I would bust out laughing

2:18 im Samoan and im amazed that you pronounced his name properly. big ups to you g!

Cowboy Brock should've failed??? This is coming from the same guy who keeps calling Satnam Singh (Great Khali) 2.0 when he hasn't even done anything close to.

JBL character completely changed Bradshaw's career by getting mega push

You're the best RU-vidr full-time

Most of these characters worked amazingly. List of Jericho and Damien Mizdow were hilarious. What's great about cowboy Lesnar was that it worked for him even more than it did to the people, it was obvious how much he was enjoying every second of it. Broke Corbin was really cool and worked great. The new day was absolutely the greatest unexpected success.

The great one watchers know the legend status of the ultimate farmer

One of the best gimmicks should have not work in no time period but Vince had his back against the wall going head on with WCW and that's Degeneration X.

CONGRATS ON 2 MILLION

i love when heels get what they deserve but i felt bad for 'broke corbin'

bum corbin and jbl wasnt lame

Makes sense why Zeke isnt on here, it was never a lame gimmick. Wishing him well on his recovery🙏🙏.. KO needs to be stopped though 😠and only Elias can do is!!

I think Jericho could've even pulled off the "moppy" gimmick. Man's a true talent.

Love brocks new shirt on wweshop. Says "got plowed in tractor town" lol. There's a lot of grear stuff on there now

That Nikki ASH gimmick should have failed !!! She should have never one any championships under that gimmick, Nikki Cross should have won championship gold under her crazy psychopath gimmick

Well you don't like farmer Brock Lesnar

Nice bro

Biggest thing that nearly all of these, not sure about Corbin, have in common is that the people doing them liked the gimmick and had/have fun with them. Almost like if a wrestler likes what they are doing as their persona then they will be more natural and shine through, who would have thunk it?

Even though entertaining, You can tell this channel is running out of ideas

New Day character is already overrated anyway

Jericho has a lot a great gimmicks I can’t decide which one I like my personal favorite is his heel run in 2008.

Rikishi was a great part of the Attitude Era, i couldnt get enough of him gettin' his groove on.