Stale gimmicks have been a top conversation in pro wrestling this year.
With the change in WWE creative lead from Vince McMahon to Triple H, the company has started to revamp older gimmick matches and events. The Hell in a Cell event, and even similar things like the TLC event, have faded to the background in favor of meaningful storytelling.
That's a superb way to freshen things up for fans, though superstar gimmicks themselves could use a little revamp, too.
Fans know the ones. Some characters just don't work in modern times or have been overdone. Others just aren't working, and it shows in fan reactions.
Here's a look at a handful of gimmicks across both WWE and All Elite Wrestling that need to be dialed back sooner rather than later.
A stoner bro gimmick might have been provocative and fun 20 years ago, but it just doesn't hit the same in 2023 when public opinions on marijuana have dramatically shifted.
That's not to say Matt Riddle's gimmick isn't funny—he's hilarious. But there can only be so many jokes and miscues in promos and even matches and social media posts before fans start literally groaning out loud.
Maybe that, at least in part, explains why Riddle recently had a stretcher segment, typically used in pro wrestling to write a character off programming for an extended bit of time.
Riddle doesn't need to change too much. And some of the more emotional, serious stuff he did with Seth Rollins was outstanding. But all involved should weed out some of the over-the-top wink-wink, nod-nods about why he's acting the way he does in favor of real development, otherwise he's going to be stuck in tag purgatory forever instead of going after top titles.
Seriously, just because a guy's big doesn't mean it needs to be his defining character trait.
WWE does this, of course, with Braun Strowman after endlessly doing it with Big Show and a handful of others. Now Omos gets the same treatment.
Nobody is saying Strowman needs to go overhaul his moveset and start doing flippy-flips (barricade breaks and the running around the outside for a shoulder-check going away would be cool, though). But mixing up the gimmick with actual character development would be nice.
AEW's Wardlow suffers from this too. He's the "big" guy in that promotion. To its credit, they tried to build him up in new ways before the MJF leaving saga ruined his payoff. But now he's sort of in this same tier.
The solution is to let characters organically grow outside of the big-guy box, which will help the in-ring performances, too.
Some Superstars can't shake this perceived gimmick.
While this is a little more generic than the other two, it applies to anyone without a specific gimmick whose main identity is just piling up win streaks.
Think about the struggles Ronda Rousey has had in getting over with fans. Elite butt-kicker, sure, but that's where things have remained for a long time. It has applied to Bobby Lashley a bit in the past, as well as Butch and Sheamus as two other names who come to mind. Over in AEW, Jon Moxley gets away with it—as he should—but it doesn't work across the board, such as Wardlow's hybrid take on it.
The issues with this gimmick are a big reason Kevin Owens goes out of his way to not rely on it. He's never just the prizefighter he was in NXT, despite how entertaining it was at times.
Simple character work helps ease anyone out of this gimmick.
The Triple H Era has already hand-waved off some of the problematic storytelling issues such as pay-per-views named after a stipulation, which often stuffed ill-fitting stories into gimmick matches at bad times.
But other than that and actual character gimmick problems, other gimmick issues persist.
Such as say, match endings, even main events, that end in interference (mostly WWE) and endless finsher spam in big matches (mostly AEW).
And no, looking at you, WWE, not everything is for the first time ever, or the biggest match ever, and it's probably not the last time ever for that important thing, either.
Both promotions are also guilty of endless suicide dives by stars to the outside of the ring, which is both dangerous, silly and predictable. Bonus points for that spot where three or more Superstars line up just perfectly so they can catch the person diving from the ring to the outside.
