Everything is so generic these days. The WWE pushes the face divas so similarly. Most of the heel divas have that generic, glamorous thing going on to. Members of tag teams seem like cardboard cutouts at times. There are just not enough fresh gimmicks.Take Rhodes and DiBiase. I like that arrogant kind of character a lot of heels have. It is why I loved Randy Orton during Evolution. He quickly became my favorite wrestler, end even before his first World title win. He just embodied his character. Thing is, I am getting bored with his two former henchmen having the same character. They are not even putting in the same essence that Orton did, in my opinion. The funniest thing is that Orton has actually moved on to another rather fresh character. He is not Mr. Orton Pose anymore. He has this anger thing going on. He is the Viper. Rhodes and DiBiase are still stuck in the generic stage. And more heels are getting that arrogant thing going. Some mix it up a little by being arrogant and trying to be cool/sexy. Some have the arrogance and have pretty good mic skills to back it up. That makes some seem both arrogant and annoying, like Miz. The special thing about Rhodes and DiBiase is that they are arrogant and their daddies are legends. No offense to their families, but how does that really make either of these two young men's characters really unique or interesting? It does not.
The Hart Dynasty has that same thing going. More specifically, they latch on to the Hart family. They also have their Canadian pride showing. That is another thing. How many times are they going to push nationality as a gimmick? Only in rare circumstances have I found it interesting in this current crop of wrestlers. Take the nationality away, a lot of these wrestlers are still pretty generic.
What separates DH Smith from Tyson Kidd? Rhodes from DiBiase? Shad from JTG? I do not mean wrestling style or who had who for a father, but in terms of character and gimmick. They are all the same. Remember the New Age Outlaws? Back in DX? Jesse James and Billy Gunn just seemed to have unique characters and gimmicks to me. Matt and Jeff may have been very similar, but at least their overall gimmick was more exciting than just having their daddies be legends and promoting where they are from.
There are a lot of wrestlers with gimmicks out there. I already mentioned Cryme Tyme. Jillian has a gimmick. Goldust still has that legendary character. Thing is, most of these people are not pushed well at all. There are some veterans and legends in the business that have kept their gimmick they had when things were more interesting and have success still. Taker, Kane, Triple H, and so on. Yeah, some can argue that Triple H does not have much of a gimmick with The Game, but he has used his backstage influence to still have somewhat of a unique character. A lot of the younger guys making their way up do not have that. That is the problem. CM Punk does have a gimmick, but being Straight Edge has been a part of him for longer than his WWE run. It did not take the creative team much to figure out how to push that.
Is that the problem? Is the creative team today just not that creative anymore? Are they afraid to copy what was done in the past? I will get upset if that gets done a lot too, but a little of it is not bad. Bring back another royalty gimmick. Use a past gimmick as inspiration for a new one. You had a stable of male cheerleaders? Debut a stable of 4 or 5 female cheerleaders. Probably not too PG. Problem is, how well will these gimmicks thrive as time goes by? Will they have to take a backseat to allow other wrestlers and serious feuds shine? Vince McMahon may create gimmicks just to kill them later on.
Having a gimmick is only one thing. Wrestlers also have to have charisma and mic skills. I do not think that is too much of a problem for some. They seem to have it. All they need is a real gimmick. MVP has mic skills. I just feel they treat his character too dryly. These new NXT guys seem fresh and interesting, but they will get ruined soon when treated as generic newbs, faces, monster heels, and so on. Let these guys have gimmicks. Give them the time and opportunity to let the gimmicks shine. Not all these new wrestlers have to be made of cardboard.
