Best Wrestling Gimmick                  

Award Description:

To be given to the wrestler who had the best character gimmick in the past
year.

Previous Winners:

  1991: The Undertaker
  1992: The Undertaker
  1993: The Undertaker
  1994: Bob Backlund as the real WWF champ
  1995: Goldust
  1996: NWO
  1997: Mick Foley's multiple personalities
  1998: Lionheart Chris Jericho as a Paragon of Virtue
  1999: Hardcore Holly as The Big Shot and a Superheavyweight

**2000**: Edge & Christian, for the benefit of those with flash photography

564 first place votes
545 second place votes
533 third place votes

146 85 45 1075   Edge & Christian as Teen Idols
114 98 43  950   Kurt Angle - American Hero
 35 36 20  323   Triple H as "The Game"
 22 34 42  296   Acolytes Protection Agency
 21 29 33  258   Right to Censor
 15 30 45  255   William Regal as British Goodwill Ambassador
 43  1  2  222   Bokujin Ken
 13 19 21  164   Mick Foley as WWF Commissioner
 12 21 17  157   Al Snow representing different European countries as European Champion
 10 14 32  156   Lance Storm as a Canadian Hero
 15  9 16  134   Al Snow & Steve Blackman as "Head Cheese"
  7 10 19  103   Too Cool & Rikishi Phatu dancing
 10  5 10   85   "Positively" Kanyon
  6 15  5   85   Eddie Guerrero's Latino Heat
  5  8 15   79   Jeff Jarrett as Sting
  8  8  5   74   Mikey Whipwreck and Yoshihiro Tajiri as minions of the 
                 Sinister Minister
  5  8 10   69   Chris Benoit
  4  7 14   69   Undertaker as "American Badass"
  4  7 14   69   Curry Man
  9  4  5   67   Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner
  6  3 14   67   Big Show as a big goof
  5  4 10   57   Steve Corino, Old School Warrior
  3  4 11   49   Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley - "Slut"
  2  8  6   46   Onryo
  3  6  6   45   Tazz
  2  9  2   41   Cima/Suwa/Sumo Fuji as Crazy Max
  3  3  7   38   Naked Mideon
  2  5  3   31   Conquistadors
  1  7  2   30   Dudley Boyz
  4  1  3   29   Kane
  2  3  3   25   Crash
  0  4  5   22   3 Count
  3  2  0   21   Steve Austin
  1  4  0   17   Gran Hamada & Ayako Hamada as first father and daughter 
                 team to hold tag titles
  2  1  1   15   Rock
  2  1  1   15   Misfits in Action
  2  0  2   14   McMahon-Helmsley Regime
  1  1  3   14   Vampiro
  1  2  1   13   Positively Kanyon
  1  2  0   11   Hardcore Holly
  2  0  0   10   Radicalz
  1  1  1   10   Mike Awesome - Fat Chick Thriller
  0  0  5   10   Team Canada
  0  3  0    9   Steve Blackman
  1  1  0    8   Screamin' Norman Smiley
  1  1  0    8   Raven
  1  1  0    8   Oz Academy
  0  2  1    8   Survival Tobita testing limits of humans by fighting monsters
  1  0  1    7   La Parka Overdubbed
  0  1  2    7   Stoker Ichikawa
  0  1  2    7   Chris Jericho
  0  2  0    6   EZ Money
  1  0  0    5   Tiger Ali Singh
  1  0  0    5   Sandman
  1  0  0    5   Hayabusa
  1  0  0    5   Backseat Boyz (Johnny Kashmere & Trent Acid)
  0  1  1    5   Mike Sanders
  0  1  1    5   Cat as Commissioner
  0  1  1    5   Ape Virgon
  0  0  2    4   Tiger Mask IV
  0  0  2    4   Natural Born Thrillers
  0  0  2    4   Crowbar
  0  1  0    3   Ric Flair
  0  1  0    3   Perry Saturn as Revolution's goof
  0  1  0    3   Miss Kitty
  0  1  0    3   Julio Dinero & Chris Hammrick & EZ Money
  0  1  0    3   Jinsei Shinzaki
  0  1  0    3   Jaguar Yokota as "Hime Maru"
  0  1  0    3   Hardy Boyz
  0  1  0    3   Goldberg
  0  1  0    3   Giant Killer Shane McMahon
  0  1  0    3   Convenience Store Robber
  0  1  0    3   Booker T.
  0  0  1    2   Triple H & Stephanie McMahons's marriage
  0  0  1    2   Tomoko Isozaki as "Ran Maru"
  0  0  1    2   Tank Abbout as 3 Count's Manager
  0  0  1    2   Sting
  0  0  1    2   Roadkill as an Angry Amish Warrior
  0  0  1    2   Mae Young
  0  0  1    2   Los Fabulosos as Latin America's most desirable men
  0  0  1    2   Little Spike Dudley
  0  0  1    2   Lita's Visible Panty Line
  0  0  1    2   Kuishinbo Kamen
  0  0  1    2   Just Joe
  0  0  1    2   Disqo's lame duck
  0  0  1    2   D'Lo Brown as a pimp
  0  0  1    2   Black Liger
  0  0  1    2   Above Average Mike Sanders
  0  0  1    2   "Prime Time" Elix Skipper

REJECTED

  1  1  0        Triple H/Steph/Angle love Triangle (angle, not gimmick)
  1  0  1        "Tie" votes
  1  0  0        TLC match (not that kind of gimmick)
  0  0  1        Yellow Dog (ineligible - time)
  0  0  1        Who Am I (Huh?)
  0  0  1        Triple H/rakishi hitand run (angle, not gimmick)

HIRO: Big Show's appearance as the Showster at Backlash was the best
gimmick ever! Angle's gimmick as the American Hero was also special as
well as Edge and Christian's act. Comedy rules. Honorable mentions include
Too Cool and Rikishi (which would have been in my list if not for the
staleness after 5 months or so), Eddy's Latino Heat gimmick (for the first
few months), Al Snow's Euro reign and Benoit's rabid wolverine act.

OTTO HEUER: Best Wrestling Gimmick--This wasn't hard to narrow down to a
handful, but then I didn't have any preference in the ordering, so I drew
straws among: "Positively" Kanyon, Yoshihiro Tajiri, 3 Count, "That '70s
Guy" Mike Awesome, Edge & Christian as Teen Idols, Jeff Jarrett as Sting
(becuase it so brought to the forefront how lame Sting has been since he
took the 18 months off), Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley's Slut Gimmick.  The
first three won the drawing.

DEAN RASMUSSEN: The first time I saw Bokujin Ken I WEPT at the innate
GENIUS and sheer balls of Survival Tobita to say, "This is MY version of
pro wrestling! This is MY world! This is MY art! Everybody else can go
straight to HELL! KNOCK OUT ALL MONSTERS!" There is NOTHING on earth right
now more punk rock that SPWC. Take that to the motherfucking bank.

ADAM FROM TORONTO: Saturn's best days came with his rambling, nonsensical
monologues in WCW. Kinda like Austin's, but intentionally funny.

MATTHEW HEMING:  Despite the heatless machines involved, the RTC is still
strongly over as heels.

J3R CR0WE: There is NO testing these guys... they totally reek of
awesomeness! What else can you say? Regal has really been makin' me fall
over laughing with his promos and commentary... I'm loving it!

ROBERT STRUPP: As much as I like the APA gimmick, Edge & Christian have
really put themselves into the top tier of wrestling personalities thanks
to this gimmick and the los Conquistidores gimmick. Jeff Jarrett as Sting
was well done in the beginning, though the wrestling match it ended up in
sucked horribly.

MICHAEL STAKELY: 1. The Power of the Card! They should have had him do a
Sprite commercial though...

CHRIS OSTER: In a time where gimmicks are much more uncommon among the top
guys, the good ones really stand out.  Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle have
a couple of the best gimmicks I have EVER seen in fifteen years of
watching pro wrestling, and they play them to perfection.  The Acolytes
squeeze in between them, just because I dig their act so much.

ANDREW BAYER: KEN~!

DUDICALY2K: BEST GIMMICK: Bokujin Ken, aka KEN THE BOX, is minimalism at
its best-- like Raymond Carver or Andy Kaufman as "The Foreign Guy." A man
wearing a bag over his head and a refrigerator box, decorated in leaves
sounds (and is)  inherintly cheesey. But, it's what he represents-- he is
a tree defending his homeland against man due to man's encroachment.
Wrestling, as an artform, is a caricature and pardy of greater social
problems. No other gimmick in wrestling today best exemplifies that. I
also liked Lita's run as a feminist champion.  She's an attractive girl
who got over by her "skill" (she's really bad, but she got masked really
well).  She used her sexuality but didn't allow it to be exploited-- which
is a very post-modern take on feminism. It's okay to be beautiful and know
it-- just like its okay to do whatever you can in the ring. In this, the
age of wrestling scum, Lita was a shining beacon.

DANIEL HERMAN: VOTE KEN~! VOTE KEN~! VOTE KEN~!

SCOTT W.: Edge & Christian as Teen Idols was the best.  Funny tv.  Angle
as our American hero is second.  3rd is the UnHolly Alliance formed by
Mikey and Tajiri.

CHANCE50JR: Edge & Christian RULE!

MARCUS SPARKS: As proof that nobody can get a gimmick over like Al Snow, I
submit to you the Head Cheese expirement.  It made Steve Blackman funny!  
And Blackman's desperately seeking a charisma transplant.  Kurt Angle took
the ball on the Olympic Hero and ran with it all the way to the WWF title.  
The American Badass was a nice re-invention of the old Undertaker and made
an old man fresh for a little while longer.

PETE GOODRICH: At times Head Cheese was great stuff.  The armchair booker
inside me sez they could have been decent champs if they'd gotten the
push.  For like a month, mind you.

JOHN C.: No doubt about it, Edge & Christian had the best gimmick this
year. The way they transformed themselves from quiet members of the Brood
to cocky, arrogant heels was a pleasure to witness. Their way of making up
words, playing theme songs with a kazoo and their classic five-second pose
are things I will never forget. Kurt Angle had a great year too playing a
heel that in his own mind believes he is a hero. To me, that sort of stuff
needs to happen more often in wrestling and because it is original, it has
captivated audiences. Lance Storm rounds out the list as a cocky Canadian
who has tried his best to put wrestling on the map despite the lack of
talent that surrounds him.

GREG NECASTRO: Angle is using the same format that made the Rock a
superstar.

JOSEPH MICELI: APA just plain crack my shit up.  Blackman is just a
badass.  STEVE BLACKMAN IS THE TRUE AMERICAN BADASS!!

ANDY P. GOSS: Scott Steiner's "roid rage" esque gimmick is great.  It's
tailor-made for him, and he's got Austin potential written all over him.  
Hopefully, he'll enter someone's HOF soon enough.  Meanwhile, Steve Corino
and William Regal are great heels because they know what the crowd doesn't
want -- in Corino's case, bland wrestling; in Regal's case, lecturing.

JONAH ROSCH: Edge and Christian just made this category their own this
past year.  They went from two mysterious guys who came in through the
crowd to two gloryhounding goofballs laughing and smiling all the way.
They really made this gimmmick their own, and it was one of the most
inventive gimmicks I've ever seen. Anyway, if you make me laugh, I always
appreciate it.

PAULOMON McTAGGART: Head Cheese was the coolest gimmick ever because it
got a reaction for Blackman.

JAMES HOWARD: If WCW knows what's good for them at all, they will never,
ever, *ever* let Kanyon get away from them. I would have simply written
off WCW as a lost cause forever, as would have many other people, if it
weren't for that one move that now *literally* came out of nowhere. Kanyon
is a brilliant, brilliant man. :) Likewise, if the WWF knows what's good
for *them* at all, they'll never ever ever let Edge and Christian get away
from them. After all, their nuts are safe for consumption. :) And, I
swear, if you had asked me two months ago if I thought Mideon would ever
be the funniest part of a show... :)

GEORGE JOHNSON: Line of the year: "Cake is the party that rocks the body!"

DOUG CORTI: After Survival Tobita vanquished such foes as Bisexual
Nikoichi and Convenience Store Robber, SPWC as a whole was faced with a
problem. With Tobita defeating his opponents with ease, a true monster
heel monster was needed to keep SPWC interesting. What could be better
than a giant tree that was tearing up the countryside and attacking
innocent villagers? In doing so he created a monster heel, that, when he
eventually conquers the creature, will give a boost not only to the
profile of Survival Tobita as a wrestler, but all of us pathetic humans.

PETER HAZLETT: What scares me is I think that is the real Vampiro?!!

JOE GAGNE: Edge and Christian?s gimmick--an amalgam of "smart" language,
cheap heat, Gothic visuals, and Bill and Ted--works for a simple reason:
they?re very funny.  An Olympic gold medallist that?s a heel?  Angle makes
it work, and it just shows how much the industry has changed since the
80?s.  Christophe r Daniels as Curry Man is so bizarre and brilliant I
can?t do it justice in words.

MAGNOOOS: Am I the only one who thought Mike Awesome's Fat Chick Thriller
shtick was great?  Obviously it couldn't be a long-term gimmick but WCW
could have let it continue a few weeks longer.  Please don't throw out my
ballot because of this comment.

SCOTT ZUCKER: "Positively" Kanyon had me laughing so hard this year, that
it hurt. It's disappointing that he's been off TV for quite some time now.
Al Snow's gimmick as European Champion was also amusing and well done.

JEREMY SORIA: I loved "Head Cheese." I'm surprised it didn't last longer.
I love Kurt Angle. I love Edge and Christian taking their five-second pose
for the folks taking flash pictures.

RICK SCAIA: Edge and Christian's "Bill and Ted" like goofiness not only
got them noticed amidst the WWF's most talented roster of tag teams ever,
but it's planted the seeds for long term future success and given both men
the sort of character and appeal that could eventually springboard one or
both to singles success.  The second best gimmick of the year is the APA,
which puts Faarooq and Bradshaw in the versatile position of pretty much
being able to work anywhere, anytime, and against anybody (babyface or
heel); it was so good an idea that WCW's ripped it off TWICE already (with
the Harris Boys and Kronik).  The RTC gets #3 because it makes me laugh to
see the WWF turn a bunch of self-important pricks (the real-life PTC) into
mid-card storyline fodder.

ViNNY: BOX BOX BOX

TROY OLSON: Honorable mention to La Parka's mysterious voice.  It may have
been lame, but I always laughed when he said "two chair shots=97One for me
and one for my homies."

JEREMY DELINE: The Acolyte protection agency was one of the few good
things to crawl out of the stinking carcass of the corporate ministry
fiasco, and let Bradshaw and Simmons play up their full potential without
needing the belts to get heat. Kurt Angle developed a multi-faceted
character in a span of a few months, and the Whipwreck/Sinister Minister
duo, although it probably won't get many votes, was something I dug for
the sheer depravity it contained-the vignettes would fit right in with a
poor man's adaption of say, blue velvet, with Mikey sucking on an oxygen
mask and giggling while the Minister slaps Isabella Rossilini across the
face and demands that she call him daddy...any gimmick that I feel like i
need to take a shower after watching, to clean the dirt from my eyes is
good ol'fashioned fun.

NATHAN LONEY: Pairing the Sinister Minister with the wayward Mikey
Whipwreck was cool.  Pairing the daredevil Whipwreck and the devil
Minister with Tajiri was awesome.  This team has been very entertaining,
had great matches, and had several great moments in promos.  "Positively"
Kanyon was the only reason to watch WCW a few months ago.  Very funny.  
I'm a fan of the APA.  Wrestlers have taken protection money in the
past... what about a pair of wrestlers who do it because they need beer
money?  I like it!

BILL LEHECKA: If Edge & Christian didn't have their gimmick, I don't know
where they would be.  They're hard workers without the mike, but they're
more entertaining workers with the mike.

MATT SPAULDING: When the WWF took the tape off of E&C's mouths, two new
stars were born, and we never saw it coming.  Too Cool and Rikishi had no
business being as over as they were with the dancing, but they made it
work and the fans loved it.  As good as Angle's gimmick is, it only gets
third on my ballot.  Honorable mention to the Acolytes Protection Agency,
which did, on a smaller scale, what the "Teen Idol Shooters" gimmick did
for E&C.

BLAZEJ SZPAKOWICZ: Edge and Christian just completely reek of awesomeness.
It would be an act of utter heinosity if they didn't win this--but since
there's so many other people deserving of it, I won't mind too much. E&C,
however, are just amazing, and quite possibly the two funniest men in the
business. Except possibly for Kurt Angle, American Hero. The
self-righteous, arrogant, obnoxious all-American hero is just such a great
gimmick in this day and age. William Regal gets third, just for the way he
can say unspeakably nasty things so politely. Honourable mention to
Benoit, the APA and RTC.

ERIC STRAGAND: Norman Smiley as the accidental hardcore wrestler/Screamin
Norman, made me laugh more than anything else, this year.

LAWRENCE BENEDETTO: It may be wearing thin now, but RTC was an outstanding
"F- You!" by Vince to the PTC.

TANVIR RAQUIB: Badass gimmicks that are not gimmicks rule. Chris Benoit
plays that role quite well. Survival Tobita RULES~!

COLIN MacKINNON: Crazy MAX rule.  Well, both them and M2K.  The reason I
like them is because they're so...  well, dickish. :)  From the opening
bell taunt to their movesets...  Terrific stuff.  I'm not saying that
these guys are wrestlers of the year, but they manage to have a ton of
great matches (especially the C-MAX vs. M2K series), and manage to be
entertaining.  A winning combination in my book.

TOM CRUZ: How could anyone not vote for Rikishi and Too Cool? No matter
what happens, so long as they danced, everything was just gravy. Lose a
match? DANCE. Win a title? DANCE. Run in on the main event? Get the face
from the main event with you and DANCE. Sheer genius.

NICK RANGEL: The WWF, once synonymous with cheesy gimmicks, has finally
gotten it right.  Edge and Christian's persona makeover has paid off
massive dividends.  Tazz's transformation from no-jobbing bad-ass to
old-school heel would have never worked if Tazz hadn't proven so good at
being so bad.  His obnoxious laugh is infectious and hilarious.  And what
more can be said about Angle, whose persona would have been played for
cheers 11 years ago, but has now been transformed into the sort of heel
Hogan should have become(instead of the grating Hollywood that he did).

JEFF "FRO" WAHLMAN: Hey that Edge and Christian gimmick reeks of
awesomeness!  I dig Kurt Angle as Olympic Hero as well. Regal has to have
the best facial expressions ever in wrestling so he is number 3.

C McMURTRY: Kurt Angle's Olympic Hero gimmick works so well because it
isn't hard to believe that is him. Many Olympians had the attitude his
character adopts, and Angle is able to pull it off well enough to make the
viewer suspend disbelief long enough to think Angle really is this
pompous, arrogant S.O.B.. Edge & Christian's gimmick also works because,
based on the "shoot" interviews they've done, it is an extention of their
own personalities, once again showing that reality is much more
successful, when presented properly, than gimmicks thought up by suits and
ties in towers. We saw how well a year of silence worked for E&C. And I
have, and will always be a mark for Regal. The best part of the gimmick is
how he really thinks he is the good guy in all this.

JBELL55146: As the t-shirt says 'Game Over? Damn right I'm over!'. And
Kurt Angle and Lance Storm as American and Candian heros respectively are
just pure good when looking for old school heel heat.