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sticklefifer posted:I kind of feel like in a list like that, the truly worst ones are at the bottom because nobody could be bothered to even notice them enough to vote. As far back as 2001 they might have even been working with Memphis Championship Wrestling or Heartland Wrestling Association, Les Thatcher's promotion in Ohio. I can't remember exact dates but yeah, 2001 or 2002 was around when WWE started working with OVW. But this was definitely a different FCW in 2001, as the WWE developmental territory of that name didn't open until 2007.
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Jun 21, 2018 22:47
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BEST GIMMICK This was a strange category that didn't quite turn out like I expected. Much like the tag teams, a gimmick has a relatively short shelf life in wrestling. You see a lot of people on this list who came up with something that caught on, ran with it for a year or two, and then it just went away. So longevity really rules here, as seen at the top. There are also plenty of wrestlers appearing on here with multiple gimmicks, and for the most part I went on a case-by-case basis on which ones to differentiate. For example, Version 1 and Broken Matt Hardy are clearly different characters, so I kept them separate, and while guys like Chris Jericho and CM Punk made various tweaks and changes, they are very much "Chris Jericho" and "CM Punk" through and through. You could maybe argue that the "three faces of Foley" should be their own thing, but they bled together so often in the same years that I'm not bothering. Anyway, on to the results.  COMPLETE YEAR-BY-YEAR RESULTS https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1St5XRdcIjRbQ5YbNjvGRZXsAWHHDvXP4u3LXPgFeCvg/edit#gid=1066030396code:-- Well, how about that. WON voters may not have rated Undertaker as a worker, but they obviously liked the gimmick. He and Austin are the only guys to win this award multiple times. -- Speaking of Austin, there's a weird thing in 2001 where he got votes for both "paranoid heel" and "what," so I just decided to combine them since it's basically the same character. -- Maybe it's because I wasn't watching at the time and late-2000s WWE comes off as so cringe and dated to me, but I never got into Santino at all. I don't get it! He stinks! Sorry. -- Shane Helms got way more mileage out of The Hurricane gimmick than can be reasonably expected. -- Remember when Damien Sandow dressed up as Miz for a few months and people were somehow into that? God drat. -- Speaking of "not getting 2000s WWE gimmicks," why the hell did people ever like Carlito? -- Just to clarify, "Razor Ramon HG" isn't Scott Hall or even the fake Razor, it's a guy named Masaki Sumitani who used the name "Razor Ramon Hard Gay" in Japanese indies. The gimmick is ... about what you'd expect with that name. -- I was curious about who the hell was "Macho Warrior Ric Hogan," so Google told me it was some random USWA guy in the 90s. Google also told me he was busted for child porn, so uh ... *grandpa Simpson enters/leaves GIF* -- At first I was surprised that Kane finished so low, but when you consider he's involved in dozens of Worst Feud contenders over the years, it makes a lot more sense. -- This is the first and probably only time that you'll ever see Zack Ryder on Brock Lesnar's level. Up next: Worst gimmick Maybe Bray Wyatt will have a better showing on this list.
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Jun 29, 2018 09:12
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I loved Matt Hardy V1, but I am legitimately surprised he ranks higher than Broken/Woken Matt as a gimmick.
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Jun 29, 2018 09:19
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Something earlier in the thread caught my eye. Io could be this generation's Manami Toyota but going to WWE will hamper that expectation, right? Also is All Japan's wrestling show still around?
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Jun 29, 2018 09:55
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Jerusalem posted:I loved Matt Hardy V1, but I am legitimately surprised he ranks higher than Broken/Woken Matt as a gimmick. I'd actually class them as the same gimmick, honestly, just with a decade-plus of development. You can draw a fairly straight line from the deluded egotism of V1 to the guy who falls apart after losing the TNA title and becomes Broken. The Matt Facts are a tamer version of Broken Matt's rambling about dining with Napoleon or bedding Cleopatra.
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Jun 29, 2018 14:22
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This gimmick is better than Mr Perfect, according to them (and keep in mind they were about the same time): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdQSJKl_EEc
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Jun 29, 2018 15:02
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quote:Sting 4 quote:R-Truth 4
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Jun 29, 2018 15:12
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Davros1 posted:This gimmick is better than Mr Perfect, according to them (and keep in mind they were about the same time): At least Art Barr was a drat good worker. Similar to Matt Borne taking what should be a loser character (Doink) and spinning it into gold. This...not so much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlLRt7gARL0
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Jun 29, 2018 18:10
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TV Zombie posted:Something earlier in the thread caught my eye. Io could be this generation's Manami Toyota but going to WWE will hamper that expectation, right? Also is All Japan's wrestling show still around?
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Jun 29, 2018 19:45
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Even with the wrestler getting busted for CP, Macho Warrior Ric Hogan is loving inspired
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Jun 30, 2018 23:26
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Like just that name is making me lose my poo poo laughing, that must have been a solid contender for GOAT gimmick
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Jun 30, 2018 23:26
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Not a bad promo, to be honest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-YUMpTSBLw But Jay Lethal is still at least 20x better.
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Jul 1, 2018 04:07
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Much like TNA, this thread rises from the dead every few months to remind people it still exists. Worst gimmick Some straight talk: this is the category I had the hardest time getting enthused for, even with all the delightful memories of terrible gimmicks. Fact is that the truly bad gimmicks -- bad enough to get votes in a Worst Gimmick poll -- had very short shelf lives, and rarely went longer than a year or so before the wrestler got repackaged. So there is a lot (and I mean a lot) of one-off entries on this list, including plenty of acts that won one year and immediately disappeared, enshrined with the 10 points. As a result, this is by far the longest list, and the most unwieldy (which is part of why I gave the thread a long break). As with Best Gimmicks, I made an effort to separate gimmicks from the same wrestler that are clearly different characters, but it's easier said than done. Let's get on with it! COMPLETE YEAR-BY-YEAR RESULTS https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1St5XRdcIjRbQ5YbNjvGRZXsAWHHDvXP4u3LXPgFeCvg/edit#gid=1239484911code:-- I decided to just lump all of Ed Leslie's gimmicks together because at some point "having a lovely gimmick" became the gimmick. You could argue I should've done the same with Billy Gunn and his million terrible gimmicks, but who has the time of day? -- What you see in quotes is just poo poo I'm pasting verbatim from the lists. So "whiny world champion Samoa Joe" can be 100% credited to Dave. -- DDP got votes in the same year for "Bob Patterson gimmick" and "stalker gimmick" in 2001. Future Hall of Famer, baby. -- The Hurricane got votes in both 2001 and 2002, and is now a beloved nostalgia act in 2018. Funny how that works. -- Remember when WWE used Bob Backlund to try to get Darren Young over and it failed miserably? What a weird run that whole thing was. -- It's kinda interesting to see early versions of gimmicks that everyone hated (New Day as vaguely minstrel gospel choir, Almas' loving suspenders and hats) evolve from that stage and become hugely popular acts without reservation. Maybe Mike Kanellis can do the same? (he will not) I don't have much else to say about this so let's move on. Next up: Best Promotion Hopefully this won't take another 2 months!
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Aug 13, 2018 07:21
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I want to have words with whoever is responsible for Kings of Wrestling getting 5 points. God I loved Claudio and Hero being goofy but cool together
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Aug 13, 2018 07:28
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forkboy84 posted:I want to have words with whoever is responsible for Kings of Wrestling getting 5 points. God I loved Claudio and Hero being goofy but cool together I think this may have been the TNA version that was Nash, Hall, and Jarrett dressing as Elvis a few times
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Aug 13, 2018 07:37
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Benne posted:Almas' loving suspenders and hats Jesus, I forgot all about that 
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Aug 13, 2018 08:49
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Very surprised to see that D-X and Kane both got votes in 1997--(also nWo in 96 and Kurt Angle in 2000) ah, loving wrestling nerds... Also I guess Mike Awesome got points combined for both "Fat Chick Thriller" AND "That 70's Guy"? I mean they were almost the same gimmick--plus there was a lot worse in 2000 WCW alone than both of those--Gary Coleman and the Partridge Family Bus included or not. Shiki Dan fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Aug 13, 2018 |
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Aug 13, 2018 17:32
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Big Coffin Hunter posted:I think this may have been the TNA version that was Nash, Hall, and Jarrett dressing as Elvis a few times https://twitter.com/GWNapp/status/1006262894747668486
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Aug 14, 2018 00:40
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Shiki Dan posted:Very surprised to see that D-X and Kane both got votes in 1997--(also nWo in 96 and Kurt Angle in 2000) ah, loving wrestling nerds... the time Paul Bearer first started mentioning Undertakers Dark Secret to Kane's actual appearance was too long. It started in May, and he didn't show up till October. Plus people were pissed he interfered in the Hell in a Cell match.
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Aug 14, 2018 01:59
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Promotion of the Year In theory, the intent of this award is to recognize the promotions that drew the best business and had the hottest matches of the year. In practice, it's kind of the "my favorite promotion" award, but the results are more consistent than you might expect, with many of the winners being well-deserved in that particular year. COMPLETE YEAR-BY-YEAR RESULTS https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1St5XRdcIjRbQ5YbNjvGRZXsAWHHDvXP4u3LXPgFeCvg/edit#gid=314024287code:-- As expected, NJPW takes the top spot, having a strong presence in nearly every year of the newsletter's existence. The only years it didn't place in voting was 2003 and 2005, during the infamous "Inoki-ism" era that some people are now galaxy-braining themselves into thinking was Actually Good. Don't listen to these people. -- Say what you will about WWE, but the business numbers don't lie (and they spell disaster for you!), which makes them a constant presence near the top of the lists. I'm real interested to see how the 2018 voting shakes out, given the company's new billion-dollar TV deals despite wretched creative for most of the year. -- AJPW's 90s peak speaks for itself, obviously, but look at them popping up in 2017 after a long-rear end drought (2011's trickle of votes notwithstanding). I don't think Kento Miyahara gets nearly enough credit for helping put them back on the map. They're definitely a company to watch going forward with the renewed interest. -- Look at NOAH's mid-2000s output and weep for how far they have fallen. -- Pride Never Die. That whole run is such a fascinating era of MMA history, and I hope it doesn't get forgotten over the years. -- Hey, remember when people used to care about CHIKARA? -- I'm glad that the BritWres resurgence hasn't been ignored by voters, with PROGRESS and RevPro having some downballot love the past few years. Up next: Worst Promotion Taking bets now for how big of a lead TNA wins this.
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Aug 24, 2018 06:52
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Benne posted:Hey, remember when people used to care about CHIKARA? Shutting the whole thing down for several months (a year?) as part of a storyline really seemed to kill any sense of interest that people had in it, sadly.
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Aug 24, 2018 07:58
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Shoutouts to the people who voted for Osaka Pro And shoutouts to Ian Rotten for voting for IWA Mid-South in 2004
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Aug 24, 2018 08:10
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Benne posted:Up next: Worst Promotion
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Aug 24, 2018 10:43
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