Throughout WWE’s history, there has been absolutely no doubt about failed gimmicks. Remember Hade Vansen? Yeah, he was supposed to come up, and feud with The Undertaker. What about Max Moon? While everyone knows him as Konnan, does anyone really know his story? Well, on this weeks edition where I pick my brain apart, we’ll dive into all of these bad gimmicks, and more. Lets get started!
The first up is Hade Vansen himself. At first, Hade had the mic skills, and from what I heard, he has the look, and the ability to go far. But, we never really saw that. Instead, we saw a few promos on Smackdown where he seemingly targeted The Deadman. I for one remember the promos and was very interested in the character. It just never came through. Why was that? Well, we never were informed of a reason, but nevertheless, it would have been very interesting to see just where the character could have went. After WWE, Hade Vansen retired.
I also mentioned Max Moon. While everyone knows about Konnan playing the character (Which by the way hailed from…Outer Space), few people I talk to apparently don’t know about the other character who played him. That’s right, there was another Max Moon other than Konnan. After Konnan left WWE (Due to feeling discriminated against from Vince McMahon), WWE decided to try to keep it going with Paul Diamond. Prior to being Max Moon, Diamond was one half of the Orient Express as Kato. The gimmick was eventually dropped, likely due to fans simply not getting behind the character itself. I kind of hope this doesn’t happen with the Sin Cara character…
The next one was simply beyond weird. Kizarny. I’m not quite sure what WWE was even thinking when they brought him up with the gimmick. I know that Kizarny himself has been doing the gimmick before he was called up, but it still boggles my mind why WWE would have him do that on national television. He was twisting his words, and adding z’s after every syllable. It was more than beyond creepy. It was just…Weird. Now, I’m not exactly up to date on my Kizarny news, so this is one of the few times I resort to wish-washy Wikipedia. According to the site, Kizarny started his own promotion called Freakshow Wrestling. Makes sense enough.
The next one is one that I don’t even want to mention. Remember Marcus Cor Von? That’s right, the former Monty Brown…Which is what he should’ve stayed as in the first place! For WWE to change his name, and give him that jazzy music…My jaw was dropped for the first time. After making a name for himself on TNA as “The Alpha Male,” Brown tried his luck with WWE, making a debut on ECW. Brown (I’m not going to call him Cor Von) quickly aligned himself with The New Breed, and eventually had part in the New Breed vs Originals match at Wrestlemania 23. It wasn’t too long after that he eventually left WWE to take care of “family issues,” however was eventually released later that year. He came back to PCW as Monty Brown, but after that, hasn’t been heard from since. I hope that he’s okay. I loved the….PPPPOOOUNNNCCCEEE!!!
Rob Conway….Tsk Tsk. Just look at me….I hated that theme music. I don’t even know if he really had a gimmick. He pretty much was rehashed with arguably the most dumbest theme music I ever heard, and was pretty much told to be a heel. He had a look that was so similar to Buff Bagwell, that frankly I didn’t know who was who anymore. Eventually he feuded with Eugene, then after that had nothing going for him. Why WWE would do that to him just doesn’t make sense. Conway had talent but was one of those guys who never seemed to fit for one reason or another.
The next one is another one that I don’t even want to mention. The Brian Kendrick. He came out with some facial hair, a white jacket and Big Zeke by his side. The Brian Kendrick and his whole get-up happened right after Paul London was released due to smiling when Vince was seen walking out of the arena, and went to his limo that blew up. An odd reason to fire people, but hey it’s WWE. They fired the fans before. Anyway, the gimmick wasn’t much to ride home about, but it gave him that confidence build. Being a generic high-flyer is good and all, but having a bad attitude with Ezekial Jackson by your side is another thing. I hope WWE eventually brings him back.
Well, that’s all I got this week! In the mean time, be sure to follow me on Twitter @NiFederico , and stay tuned for next weeks Thinking Out Loud!
