10 Strangest WWE Gimmicks Of The 1990s

The late Mike Shaw would have turned 65 today, had he not passed away in 2010 at the age of 53.

Who is this Mike Shaw I speak of? Well, you probably know him better as either Bastion Booger or Friar Ferguson, two ghastly inventions that are often pointed at as low points of WWE's mid-90's creative nadir.

Ferguson was a mad monk (which inevitably ran afoul of religious organisations), while Booger was a gluttonous hunchback who wore what looked like duct tape lingerie for his matches.

Both were awful, both were strange and yet, amazingly, neither one really looked out of place during a decade that birthed many questionable characters.

The 90's saw the tail end of the cartoon era, the emergence of the New Generation and then the raucous Attitude Era, all three of them having their fair share of off-the-wall creations that certainly wouldn't be accepted today.

From villainous dentists to insane Santa Clauses and every half-baked idea in-between, WWE threw a lot of outlandish ideas out there during the decade. Some were hits, most were misses but, at the end of the day, all of them were interesting (and funny) in their own ways and worth looking back at.

Apart from Phantasio.

Let's never talk about Phantasio.

10. Isaac Yankem DDS

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Kane was deservedly inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, but Glenn Jacobs certainly suffered for a while before having that winning character bestowed upon him.

The Undertaker's kayfabe brother had to endure the indignity of portraying the fake Diesel after Kevin Nash left for WCW but, odder still, had a spell as the wrestling dentist from hell.

Yes, it was the mid-90's, a time where occupational wrestlers were all the rage. Jacobs was brought onto our screens for the first time as Isaac Yankem, DDS, the personal (and very evil) cavity cleaner of Jerry Lawler.

The King employed Yankem to get rid of Bret Hart, the tooth driller facing off against The Hitman in the highest-profile matches of his so-so one-year run.

The character was cartoonish and completely over-the-top and, sadly, came about before Jacobs was truly ready for prime time. It also came about, supposedly, because of a joke Bobby Heenan used to make about going to see his dentist 'I Yankem'.

He yanks 'em (teeth). Geddit? Not all of the Brain's zingers were winners, I suppose.

The Mayor of Knox County had the size thing going for him and gave it his all trying to get the gimmick over, but it didn't resonate and he quickly fell down the card and out of sight, as he and WWE went back to the drawing board.

9. Repo Man

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Barry Darsow's WWE trajectory was the opposite of Glenn Jacob's, as he went from a popular and very over gimmick (Demolition Smash) to...

*sigh*

Repo Man.

Now this may have been lost in translation for myself and other fans based outside of the United States, because we don't really have repo men. At least not repo men who wear duster jackets and Zorro masks and carry tow ropes around, anyway.

The sneaky grappler's whole schtick was that he took great joy in taking away things from folks who couldn't afford to pay for them and it was actually Darsow's own idea, since he had previously worked repossessing cars.

Repo Man had moderate success, memorably coming back into the 1992 Royal Rumble match despite being eliminated and having a couple of alright feuds with British Bulldog and Randy Savage.

The latter rivalry centred around Repo Man knicking The Macho Man's hat, which isn't exactly up there with Jake Roberts feeding him to his cobra as far as dynamic angles go.

A product of its kid-friendly time, Repo Man stuck around for a lot longer than most probably thought it would and still sticks out as one of the odder gimmicks of the era.

8. TL Hopper

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Of the influx of occupational gimmicks in the mid-90s (The Goon, Duke 'The Dumpster' Droese etc.), the strangest of the strange is probably TL Hopper.

Hopper was a plumber, meaning that he cleaned toilets by day and wrestled at night, which doesn't seem very hygienic and also speaks to the pay a so-called WWE Superstar could expect to earn back then.

The slovenly Hopper was played by Tony Anthony, who had enjoyed some success in the Southeastern indies as Dirty White Boy.

The former Smoky Mountain Wrestling Champion was one of many hired by WWE to fill out their undercard during the lean years and was introduced to the audience through a series of vignettes which showed plenty of arse cleavage.

He carried his trusty plunger, 'Betsy', to the ring with him and would rub it in the face of opponents after victories, which wasn't often, since he was primarily used as an enhancement talent.

Realising his career was being flushed down the drain, Anthony took a hiatus and hung up his stained wife-beater, trading it in for dungarees and a John Deere cap when he returned as Uncle Cletus, the short-term manager of The Godwinns.

The creative equivalent of taking a dump.

7. The Real Man's Man

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A 180 degree shift from the snobbish blue blood he had portrayed in WCW, William Regal was the 'Real Man's Man' when he made the switch to Titan Sports in late 1998.

A creation of Vince Russo and based on the image of the Brawny Man (of toilet paper packaging fame), the Real Man's Man was promoted via some typically cheesy vignettes. In them, Regal was shown chopping wood, shaving with a straight razor and doing other incredibly manly things.

He even squeezed his own orange juice, the macho sonofabitch!

His theme music sounded like a rib and the whole look of the character was just 'off'. Construction hat, flannel shirt, jean shorts and wrestling boots and knee pads.

Was he supposed to be a construction worker or a lumberjack or both?

An uneasy amalgamation of undercooked ideas, The Real Man's Man didn't even have a chance to get going, since Regal was sent to rehab shortly after the character's debut.

A planned feud with The Godfather was scrapped and the Real Man's Man was sent packing back to the seclusion of his log cabin after just a handful of unimpressive appearances.

6. Xanta Claus

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Many of the gimmicks on this list had an obviously short shelf life, but only one of them could only be relevant for literally weeks, perhaps just days out of the calendar year.

That would be the evil 'Xanta Claus', the Chris Cringle from the darkside that was unleashed on the WWE Universe at the December, 1995 In Your House: Season's Beatings pay-per-view.

Hailing from the South Pole and on a mission to steal presents, Xanta Klaus was played by Jonathan 'Balls Mahoney' Rechner. He attacked Savio Vega at the behest of the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase.

He made a couple more appearances, including one on Raw and a quick victory over Scott 'Scotty 2 Hotty' Taylor at a Superstars taping, before the season came to an end and Xanta Claus was chucked away like that ugly sweater you got from your Auntie Nora.

Short-lived or not, the ridiculous character bombed and brought everyone involved the opposite of holiday cheer.

If you want a proper, full-on demented evil Santa played by a wrestled, check out Bill Goldberg in Santa's Slay.

Actually, on second thoughts, don't.

5. Beaver Cleavage

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While some of the oddball characters from the halcyonic 90's were merely eye-rollingly lame or otherwise silly but inoffensive, Beaver Cleavage truly pushed the envelop when it came to bad taste.

The unlucky recipient of this Russo-inspired abomination was Chaz 'Mosh' Warrington, who needed something to do after his Headbanger teammate went down with a knee injury.

In this case, he probably would have been better off sulking in catering and wrestling dark matches, because Beaver Cleavage was a potential career killer.

A parody of 50's sitcom Leave it to Beaver, it was an incestuous sendup of old school, wholesome family entertainment. In vignettes, the Beaver Cleavage character and 'Mrs. Cleavage' traded sexual innuendo that hinted the mother/son combination were far closer than they should have been.

That aspect was shortly dropped via a worked-shoot promo where Chaz denounced the gimmick, and it was re-tooled so that Mrs Cleavage became his on-screen girlfriend (renamed Marianna) instead.

But the fun times don't end there, because things took a domestic violence turn, as it was heavily implied on television that Warrington was now beating her up backstage (though it turned out that Marianna was lying because this was Russo's late-90's WWE after all).

The whole presentation was awful, confusing and did nothing but bad things for everyone involved.

4. The Berzerker

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If he came along today, people would probably just call him a hipster.

But back in 1991, The Berzerker was an unhinged viking that struck fear into the hearts of kids watching at home.

With his wild hair, bushy beard, furry boots, horned helmet, shield and sword, the Berzerker immediately caught attention and then kept it with his in-ring antics, particularly his off-kilter expressions and constant repitition of the word 'huss'.

His method for winning matches was certainly unique, as he would more often than not throw opponents outside the ring and take a countout, rather than pin them, running around and gesticulating wildly as the referee counted to ten.

HUSS.

While the character was like a watered-down version of Jim Nord's former tag partner Bruiser Brody, he did occasionally escalate things, such as the time he tried to give the Undertaker a 'viking funeral' and almost impaled him on his sword (though ultimately settled for piledriving The Deadman on the concrete floor).

HUSS.

The Berzerker wasn't great and was more than a little peculair, but he left an impression despite being a thousand or so years behind the times.

HUSS.

3. Max Moon

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From the distant past to the unknown future now, as we look at one of the biggest (and most expensive) flops in WWE history.

The brainchild of lucha libre star Konnan, Max Moon was a robot/alien/spaceman thing who wrestled in a bright, technicolour costume and was supposed to make his entrance flying to the ring with the aid of a jetpack, while shooting confetti out of a cannon attached to his wrist.

Yup.

The outfit cost a reported $13,000 and Vince McMahon and the creative minds behind the scenes put a lot of energy into ensuring the presentation of the character was just right.

Regrettably, Konnan had issues working the WWE style at the time and also butted heads with some in the locker room. That, coupled with his burgeoning success south of the border, meant that he left the company after playing the role just a handful of times.

The gimmick was then given to Paul Diamond, but it wasn't a hit and Max Moon went back to his home planet after just a few months (though I personally think he's being held in Area 51).

2. Damien Demento

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'Damien Demento' will likely only ever come up in conversation if you're at a pub quiz and one of the questions is 'Who wrestled in the main event of the first episode of Monday Night Raw?'.

Because that is the main claim to fame of the performer who was billed as emanating from the 'Outer Reaches of Your Mind'.

I'm not entirely sure what exactly the gimmick was actually supposed to be, which is the main thing that makes it strange.

He was supposedly demented (duh) and dressed weirdly, with a devil worshipper's beard coupled with a Paul Heyman skullet likely turning heads at the airport. In the ring he was nothing special, just another big guy who liked to kick and punch and do the occasional chinlock or seven.

The aforementioned Raw main event (losing to The Undertaker) is the main reason why anyone remembers him since, though he did make occasional televised appearances, he was mainly relegated to house show duty.

He didn't fit in with WWE's burgeoning 'New Generation' of smaller, more athletic wrestlers and didn't measure up to the likes of other big men such as The Phenom or Yokozuna, so it was no surprise to see him cast aside.

Demento had a standout look and played the madman convincingly enough and, who knows, maybe with time the character could have been fleshed out a little and enjoyed more success?

Perhaps it's time to bring the Damien Demento gimmick back.

What do you say?

Your move, Luke Gallows.

1. Mantaur

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Look at the above picture.

What else can really be said?

Mantaur was a total and utter disaster, a bizarre clunker of a character that is still used as shorthand today when describing the worst of the worst in sports entertainment.

The concept of a Minotaur come to life is, from the start, a stretch even for wrestling fans with their tongue permanently planted in their cheek to accept, but the presentation just made everything so much worse.

Poor Mike Halac - who was supposedly given the gimmick because someone in creative saw that his actual feet were somewhat hoofish - had to wear that bull's head, which was too big and cumbersome to enter the ring with, and then moo and charge at his opponents while wearing an unflattering black and brown singlet.

The gimmick was DOA and, after some routine victories over even lowlier jobbers than himself, he was starring at the ceiling for the likes of Thurman 'Spark Plugg' Holly. He was (mercifully) sent back to the farm within half a year.

Total and utter bullsh...