10 Ways Wrestlers Proved Their Gimmicks Outside WWE
WWE stars like Mark Henry, Chris Jericho, The Miz and more who lived their gimmicks.
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00:00 I don't mean to alarm anybody, so calm down with this revelation, but if you saw me in
00:05 the real world and you saw me in real life, I would still be bored.
00:09 Because even though I have made this my gimmick, I am also living it, which very handily ties
00:15 into today's list.
00:16 Because hello, my name is time for What Culture, please hit that subscribe button, otherwise
00:20 somewhere a puppy dies.
00:21 This is not true at all, I massively regret saying it, I am so, so sorry.
00:25 This is 10 ways wrestlers prove their gimmicks outside of WWE.
00:30 Number 10, Ric Flair literally lives his gimmick.
00:32 I mean, go read his book, listen to any of his friends, or just go and hear any interview
00:36 Ric Flair has ever done.
00:38 This whole jet flying, limousine riding thingamajig that he's been doing for the past, I don't
00:43 know, 78 million years, that's just Ric Flair.
00:47 He flubbin' loves to pie.
00:48 That means all the money and all the traveling and all the booze directly ties into what
00:52 he was showing you when he was being a professional wrestler, and he's still doing it today, even
00:58 though he is past 70.
01:00 And look, each to their own, it's his life, and he should be able to do whatever the hell
01:04 he wants.
01:05 My word, it can be a little bit scary.
01:07 His peers definitely confirmed this too, because some people were like, look, I can't go out
01:11 with the nature boy, 'cause the next day I'll be lying in my bed going, oh, I'll never be
01:15 able to move again.
01:16 Whereas Ric Flair would get up at the crack of dawn, and he'd be on round 98.
01:21 And this definitely did cross a line, we've made that more than aware recently, but when
01:25 we are talking about gimmicks, there is no difference between Ric Flair the performer,
01:31 Ric Flair the human being.
01:32 Number nine, DDP is really positive.
01:34 So this is kind of the same as Ric Flair, but going off in a totally different direction.
01:38 'Cause I have had the pleasure of interviewing Diamond Dallas Page, and go and talk to anybody
01:42 else that has also sat down and done this, you can schedule in 20 minutes, and one hour
01:47 later, you'll still be having a chat, DDP is just the best.
01:52 Dallas is just ridiculously positive about everything, which also ties into his DDP-wide
01:56 business, which of course is also reflective of the gimmick that WWE gave him where he
02:01 would smile, and basically became a motivational speaker.
02:06 What does he do outside of the ring?
02:08 He gives motivational speeches.
02:10 It's kind of wonderful really, because he does practice exactly what he preaches, and
02:15 because of the amount of people, he has gone out of his way to help.
02:18 I don't care, man.
02:19 We don't love DDP enough.
02:21 Everybody take your hearts and send it his way.
02:23 Number eight, JBL is a financial expert.
02:26 Mostly because John Bradshaw Layfield is really good with money.
02:31 Amazingly, this happened before WWE did anything with JBL too, 'cause in 2003, Bradshaw brought
02:38 out a book that was like, "Oh man, you wanna get rich?
02:39 Well, I know how to do it."
02:41 Had a better title than that.
02:42 You can look it up on Google right now, and obviously this made its way onto the desk
02:46 of Vincent Kennedy, the man who said, "Ha ha, I've got an idea."
02:49 This is why all of a sudden, the beer-swilling, APA-beating-up warrior became the smart-dressed
02:55 John Bradshaw Layfield, and looked fair play to him.
02:58 He did turn heel.
02:59 Just go watch anything from the mid-2000s, he got some serious heat.
03:03 We got some million-dollar man thrown in there for good measure, but the real genius here
03:07 is that Bradshaw was still going on financial programs on Fox during this, so you could
03:12 tune into Smackdown and go, "Oh yeah, what does he know?"
03:15 And then go over there and say, "Oh, well, he actually knows quite a lot."
03:18 This made the character even easier to hate as well, because you knew he was loaded, and
03:23 that's just what we do as human beings.
03:25 Just like, "I would like your money, and as I don't have it, boo."
03:28 Number seven, the Ultimate Warrior is just the Ultimate Warrior.
03:31 Who knows which way 'round this went, but Jim Helwig definitely became the warrior,
03:36 and the warrior definitely became Jim Helwig.
03:38 I mean, after a while, he even legally changed his name to Warrior, which meant if he ever
03:43 became like a HR assistant, you'd have to walk into the office in the morning and go,
03:48 "Hi, Warrior."
03:49 He'd go, "Hello."
03:50 And it'd be weird.
03:51 It also led him to doing a bunch of speeches about destructicity and the power of the spirit,
03:56 and if you've ever seen an Ultimate Warrior promo, you know this is the kind of flubbins
03:59 he used to come out with.
04:00 I mean, there was something captivating about it, which is why he did become the WWE Champion,
04:04 and as we do know now, a lot of the things he did say were way too controversial and
04:09 should never come out of anybody's mouth.
04:11 I do think that one of the reasons he was able to climb the mountain, though, is because
04:15 he was essentially one of the same.
04:17 I mean, when he was saying, "Hulk Hogan, aliens are gonna come and get you," nobody really
04:21 knew what was happening, but he just believed it so damn much, you kinda did too.
04:26 So really, we started to blur the lines between what was real and what was not real, and that
04:30 included his own death, which he somehow predicted 24 hours before the fact.
04:36 He was a very interesting guy, was Warrior, but once again, that's probably why it clicked.
04:42 Number six, The Miz returns to reality TV.
04:45 So this must have been somewhat satisfying, 'cause after conquering the world of reality
04:48 TV in order to become a professional wrestler and a WWE superstar, which he did very well,
04:54 The Miz then went back to reality TV as the massive famous person he always wanted to
05:00 be.
05:01 That sounds like success to me, especially because when he did first walk into a WWE
05:04 locker room, a lot of the roster was like, "I don't wanna work with that guy.
05:08 He shouldn't be here," 'cause they didn't like his way in.
05:11 And what did The Miz do?
05:12 He took this all on the chin.
05:14 He overcame it, had an incredible WWE career, to the point people at the USA Network, the
05:20 Airs Raw, went, "Hey, Miz and your wife, Maryse, would you like a reality TV show?"
05:25 And of course he said yes.
05:27 It's not like he's part of some ensemble cast, the title is literally Miz and Mrs.,
05:32 but again, all you gotta do is go listen to anybody else that has worked with The Miz,
05:37 and Mike Mizanin, he's basically the exact same person you've seen on TV.
05:42 You cannot fault him though, because he worked his ass off, and you love to see it.
05:47 Number five, Ken Shamrock wants MMA competition.
05:50 When Ken Shamrock joined the then-WWF in 1997, the UFC wasn't the entity it is today.
05:56 In fact, that's one of the reasons Kenny did come across.
05:58 He wanted to get paid.
06:00 Everyone knew how best to present him though, hence why he was dubbed the world's dangerous
06:03 man, because he had literally fought people in a cage and beaten them to a bloody pulse.
06:09 When he came out, all like, "Duh, duh, duh, duh," you were like, "Ha, ha, that guy's
06:12 crazy."
06:13 The problem was, this itch never left, and when Ken Shamrock did leave the WWE in 1999,
06:18 after a very underrated run, he decided to prepare to return to MMA, which he did in
06:24 2000.
06:25 He and Shorty got himself booked in a pride fight as critics told him, "You're too old
06:29 to do this," and afterwards he went on to have a pretty good second run.
06:33 Now look, did he win every single one of his fights?
06:36 Of course he did not, but this completely backed up the Ken Shamrock we had seen in
06:40 World Wrestling Federation.
06:42 He wanted some competition, and to tap people out with ankle locks, he was going to do it.
06:48 He soon returned to TNA as well, and all of this helped even more, because it was like,
06:53 "Oh my gosh, that guy may actually kill someone."
06:56 I still kind of feel that way now.
06:59 Before CM Punk takes aim at WWE.
07:01 Obviously.
07:02 I mean, just go and listen to any of the stories that CM Punk wants to tell about the WWE,
07:07 and really the big takeaway is thank goodness he got out of there when he did, because it
07:11 was the best for his mental and the best for his physical health.
07:14 We all know that his persona before he left was that he was anti-the company, and this
07:19 is basically carried on in his real life and for good reason.
07:22 I mean, never forget, he was given his walking papers on the same day as his wedding, and
07:28 while WWE has said this was a coincidence, well I'll just leave the information with
07:33 you.
07:34 This is why when he did pop up on WWE backstage, everyone was like, "Well how the flub is
07:38 this happening?"
07:39 Although Punk was very quick to tell us that one, the tab was being picked up by Fox, and
07:45 also two, that he wasn't going to go hold back.
07:47 And actually, to be fair to him, he was very balanced on the show, but I tell you, when
07:52 he didn't like something, shots fired.
07:54 Number three, Brock Lesnar dominates the UFC.
07:57 From day one, WWE has told us that Brock Lesnar is a prime athlete, and whatever sport Brock
08:02 Lesnar wants to go into, he would absolutely destroy.
08:05 So after a few years of being on the top of the card, he did decide to leave pro wrestling,
08:10 and what did he do?
08:11 He went to UFC and became the Flippin' World Heavyweight Champion.
08:14 As soon as he had defeated Randy Couture, you kind of knew eventually he would go back
08:18 to sports entertainment, and when he did, good grief, this character was already written
08:23 way back in 2002.
08:24 It's just like, "Do you remember Brock Lesnar?
08:27 Well he went out and he beat some people up to real, so now he is basically our end of
08:32 level boss."
08:33 Which is the reason he was chosen as the dude to end the Undertaker streak, because everyone
08:37 can look at him and say, "I totally believe that dude is real."
08:40 He has just been such a successful gimmick, and I'll say it again, to the point I truly
08:45 believe Brock Lesnar to be one of the best wrestlers ever.
08:49 That's right, you can go get mad in a comet.
08:52 Number two, Mark Henry is a strong man.
08:54 When Mark Henry signed a lucrative developmental deal in 1996, he was pegged for good things,
08:59 because of course he was.
09:01 Look at the man, he is absolutely ginormous.
09:04 As we know that didn't click as soon as some people had hoped, although to be fair,
09:07 his tag team with D'Lo Brown is vastly underrated, and there were rumours in 2002 that Vince
09:12 McMahon had enough and was actually thinking of letting Mark Henry go, until reality stepped
09:18 into play.
09:19 That same year though, Henry entered the Arnold Strongman Classic, and good grief, he was
09:23 absolutely ridiculous.
09:25 Especially if you were a wrestling fan and you tuned into this, you'd be like, "Oh
09:28 my gosh, that's Mark Henry, and he is throwing around a log like it's a flipping pillow."
09:32 You can see this kind of stuff on YouTube and it will blow your mind, but when this
09:36 information as ever got back to Vince McMahon, it was like, "Oh man, we better hold on
09:40 to Mark for a while and see what we can do."
09:43 And of course a few years after this, we got the legendary Hall of Pain run, so this was
09:48 absolutely the right decision.
09:50 It also goes to show too that you don't have to be a wrestling savant right out the
09:54 blocks, sometimes we just have to be patient, because goodness is around the corner.
09:59 1.
10:00 Chris Jericho Is A Rockstar
10:01 When Chris Jericho started calling himself a rockstar in the late 90s, it made perfect
10:05 sense.
10:06 Not only did he wear his inspirations on his sleeve, but go and look at that haircut.
10:09 I mean, I don't care what you say, that is pure 80s metal.
10:12 This then continued when he decided to start a cover band called Fozzy that originally
10:16 was kind of a comedy group, when all of a sudden one day he woke up and said, "Well,
10:21 we do have a Fivesome here, I like music, why don't we write our own?"
10:25 This is when they became a real band, to use a terrible, terrible term, and look where
10:29 they are today.
10:31 Not only does Chris Jericho tour the world playing his own songs, but he even walks to
10:36 the ring to his own theme music.
10:40 This crossover is well known now, no matter what gimmick Chris Jericho has portraying,
10:45 this has always been at the core of all of them, which could be why he's had the crazy
10:49 longevity that he continues to have.
10:52 Now, of any other wrestlers that prove their gimmicks outside of WWE, make sure you let
10:56 us know in the comments below, and don't forget to like the video, share the video, and subscribe.
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