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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00:00I don't mean to alarm anybody, so calm down with this revelation, but if you saw me in
00:05the real world and you saw me in real life, I would still be bored.
00:10Because even though I have made this my gimmick, I am also living it, which very handily ties
00:15into today's list.
00:16Because hello, my name is time for What Culture, please hit that subscribe button, otherwise
00:20somewhere a puppy dies, that's not true at all, I massively regret saying it, I am so,
00:25so sorry.
00:26Here are 10 ways wrestlers prove their gimmicks outside of WWE.
00:30Number 10, Ric Flair literally lives his gimmick.
00:33I mean, go and read his book, listen to any of his friends, or just go and hear any interview
00:37Ric Flair has ever done, this whole jet flying, limousine riding thingamajig that he's been
00:42doing for the past, I don't know, 78 million years, that's just Ric Flair, he flubbin'
00:48loves to pie.
00:49That means all the money and all the traveling and all the booze directly ties into what
00:53he was showing you when he was being a professional wrestler, and he's still doing it today,
00:58even though he is past 70.
01:00And look, each to their own, it's his life, and he should be able to do whatever the hell
01:04he wants.
01:05My word, it can be a little bit scary.
01:07His peers definitely confirmed this too, because some people were like, look, I can't go out
01:11with the nature boy, because the next day I'll be lying in my bed going, oh, I'll never
01:15be able to move again, whereas Ric Flair would get up at the crack of dawn, and he'd be on
01:20round 98.
01:21And this definitely did cross a line, we've made that more than aware recently, but when
01:25we are talking about gimmicks, there is no difference between Ric Flair the performer,
01:31Ric Flair the human being.
01:32Number nine, DDP is really positive.
01:34So this is kind of the same as Ric Flair, but going off in a totally different direction,
01:38because I have had the pleasure of interviewing Diamond Dallas Page, and go and talk to anybody
01:43else that has also sat down and done this, you can schedule in 20 minutes, and one hour
01:48later, you'll still be having a chat, DDP is just the best.
01:52Dallas is just ridiculously positive about everything, which also ties into his DDP-wide
01:56business, which of course is also reflective of the gimmick that WWE gave him where he
02:02would smile, and basically became a motivational speaker.
02:06What does he do outside of the ring?
02:08He gives motivational speeches.
02:10It's kind of wonderful really, because he does practice exactly what he preaches, and
02:15because of the amount of people, he has gone out of his way to help.
02:18I don't care, man.
02:19We don't love DDP enough, everybody take your hearts and send it his way.
02:24Number eight, JBL is a financial expert, mostly because John Bradshaw-Layfield is really good
02:30with money.
02:31Amazingly, this happened before WWE did anything with JBL too, because in 2003, Bradshaw brought
02:38out a book that was like, oh man, you want to get rich, well I know how to do it, had
02:41a better title than that, you can look it up on Google right now.
02:44And obviously, this made its way onto the desk of Vincent Kennedy, the man who said,
02:48ha ha, I've got an idea.
02:50This is why all of a sudden, the beer-swilling, APA, beating up warrior became the smart-dressed
02:56John Bradshaw-Layfield, and looked fair play to him.
02:59He did turn heel, and just go watch anything from the mid-2000s, he got some serious heat.
03:03We got some million dollar man thrown in there for good measure, but the real genius here
03:07is that Bradshaw was still going on financial programs on Fox during this, so you could
03:12tune into Smackdown and go, oh yeah, what does he know?
03:15And then go over there and say, oh, well, he actually knows quite a lot.
03:18This made the character even easier to hate as well, because you knew he was loaded, and
03:23that's just what we do as human beings, just like, I would like your money, and as I don't
03:28have it, boo.
03:29Number seven, the ultimate warrior is just the ultimate warrior.
03:32Who knows which way round this went, but Jim Helwig definitely became the warrior, and
03:36the warrior definitely became Jim Helwig.
03:38I mean, after a while, he even legally changed his name to Warrior, which meant if he ever
03:43became like a HR assistant, you'd have to walk into the office in the morning and go,
03:48hi, warrior.
03:49He'd go, hello, and it'd be weird.
03:51It also led him to doing a bunch of speeches about destructicity and the power of the spirit,
03:56and if you've ever seen an Ultimate Warrior promo, you know this is the kind of flubbins
03:59he used to come out with.
04:00I mean, there was something captivating about it, which is why he did become the WWE Champion,
04:05and as we do know now, a lot of the things he did say were way too controversial and
04:10should never come out of anybody's mouth.
04:11I do think that one of the reasons he was able to climb the mountain, though, is because
04:15he was essentially one of the same.
04:17I mean, when he was saying, Hulk Hogan, aliens are going to come and get you, nobody really
04:21knew what was happening, but he just believed it so damn much, you kind of did too.
04:26So really, we started to blur the lines between what was real and what was not real, and that
04:30included his own death, which he somehow predicted 24 hours before the fact.
04:36He was a very interesting guy, was Warrior, but once again, that's probably why it clicked.
04:42Number six, The Miz returns to reality TV.
04:45So this must have been somewhat satisfying, because after conquering the world of reality
04:48TV in order to become a professional wrestler and a WWE Superstar, which he did very well,
04:54The Miz then went back to reality TV as the massive famous person he always wanted to be.
05:00That sounds like success to me, especially because when he did first walk into a WWE locker room,
05:05a lot of the roster was like, I don't want to work with that guy.
05:09He shouldn't be here, because they didn't like his way in.
05:11And what did The Miz do?
05:13He took this all on the chin.
05:14He overcame it, had an incredible WWE career, to the point people at the USA Network, the
05:20Heirs Raw, went, hey, Miz and your wife Maryse, would you like a reality TV show?
05:26And of course he said yes.
05:27It's not like he's part of some ensemble cast, the title is literally Miz and Mrs.
05:33But again, all you got to do is go listen to anybody else that has worked with The Miz,
05:38and Mike Mizanin, he's basically the exact same person you've seen on TV.
05:42You cannot fault him though, because he worked his ass off, and you love to see it.
05:47Number five, Ken Shamrock wants MMA competition.
05:51When Ken Shamrock joined the then WWF in 1997, the UFC wasn't the entity it is today.
05:56In fact, that's one of the reasons Kenny did come across, he wanted to get paid.
06:00Everyone knew how best to present him though, hence why he was dubbed the World's Dangerous
06:04Man, because he had literally fought people in a cage and beaten them to a bloody pulse.
06:09When he came out all like, duh, duh, duh, duh, you were like, ha, ha, that guy's crazy.
06:13The problem was, this itch never left, and when Ken Shamrock did leave the WWE in 1999,
06:18after a very underrated run, he decided to prepare to return to MMA, which he did in 2000.
06:25He ensured he got himself booked in a pride fight, as critics told him, well you're too
06:29old to do this, and afterwards he went on to have a pretty good second run.
06:33Now look, did he win every single one of his fights?
06:36Of course he did not, but this completely backed up the Ken Shamrock we had seen in
06:41World Wrestling Federation.
06:43He wanted some competition, and to tap people out with ankle locks, he was going to do it
06:48He soon returned to TNA as well, and all of this helped even more, because it was like,
06:53oh my gosh, that guy may actually kill someone.
06:56I still kind of feel that way now.
06:59And before CM Punk takes aim at WWE, obviously, I mean just go and listen to any of the stories
07:04that CM Punk wants to tell about the WWE, and really the big takeaway is thank goodness
07:09he got out of there when he did, because it was the best for his mental and the best for
07:13his physical health.
07:14We all know that his persona before he left though was that he was anti-the company, and
07:19this is basically carried on in his real life and for good reason.
07:22I mean, never forget, he was given his walking papers on the same day as his wedding, and
07:28while WWE has said this was a coincidence, well I'll just leave the information with
07:33you.
07:34This is why when he did pop up on WWE backstage, everyone was like, well how the flub is this
07:38happening, although Punk was very quick to tell us that 1.
07:42The tab was being picked up by Fox, and also 2.
07:46That he wasn't going to go hold back, and actually to be fair to him, he was very balanced
07:50on the show, but I tell you, when he didn't like something, shots fired.
07:553.
07:56Brock Lesnar Dominates The UFC
07:57From day one, WWE has told us that Brock Lesnar is a prime athlete, and whatever sport Brock
08:02Lesnar wants to go into, he would absolutely destroy.
08:06So after a few years of being on the top of the card, he did decide to leave pro wrestling,
08:10and what did he do?
08:11He went to UFC and became the Flippin World Heavyweight Champion.
08:14As soon as he had defeated Randy Couture, you kind of knew eventually he would go back
08:18to sports entertainment, and when he did, good grief, this character was already written
08:23way back in 2002.
08:24It was just like, do you remember Brock Lesnar?
08:27Well he went out and beat some people up to real, so now he is basically our end of level
08:32boss.
08:33I mean there is a reason he was chosen as the dude to end the Undertaker streak, because
08:37everybody can look at him and say, well I totally believe that dude is real.
08:40He has just been such a successful gimmick, and I've said it before and I'll say it again,
08:44to the point I truly believe Brock Lesnar to be one of the best wrestlers ever.
08:49That's right, you can go get mad in the comments.
08:522.
08:53Mark Henry Is A Strong Man
08:54When Mark Henry signed a lucrative developmental deal in 1996, he was pegged for good things,
08:59because of course he was.
09:01Look at the man, he is absolutely ginormous.
09:04As we know that didn't click as soon as some people had hoped, although to be fair his
09:07tag team with D'Lo Brown is vastly underrated.
09:10And there were rumours in 2002 that Vince McMahon had enough and was actually thinking
09:15of letting Mark Henry go, until reality stepped into play.
09:19That same year though, Henry entered the Arnold Strongman Classic and good grief, he was absolutely
09:24ridiculous.
09:25Especially if you were a wrestling fan and you tuned into this, you'd be like, oh my
09:29gosh, that's Mark Henry and he is throwing around a log like it's a flipping pillow.
09:32I mean you can see this kind of stuff on YouTube and it will blow your mind, and when this
09:36information as ever got back to Vince McMahon, he was like, oh man, well we better hold on
09:40to Mark for a while and see what we can do.
09:43And of course a few years after this, we got the legendary Hall of Pain run, so this was
09:49absolutely the right decision.
09:50It also goes to show too that you don't have to be a wrestling savant right out the blocks,
09:55sometimes we just have to be patient, because goodness is around the corner.
09:591.
10:00Chris Jericho Is A Rockstar
10:01When Chris Jericho started calling himself a rockstar in the late 90s, it made perfect
10:05sense.
10:06I mean not only did he wear his inspirations on his sleeve, but go and look at that haircut.
10:10I mean I don't care what you say, that is pure 80s metal.
10:13This then continued when he decided to start a cover band called Fozzy that originally
10:16was kind of a comedy group, when all of a sudden one day he woke up and said, well we
10:21do have a fivesome here, I like music, why don't we write our own?
10:25This is when they became a real band, to use a terrible, terrible term, and look where
10:30they are today.
10:31Not only does Chris Jericho tour the world, playing his own songs, but he even walks to
10:36the ring to his own theme music.
10:41This crossover is well known now, and no matter what gimmick Chris Jericho has portraying,
10:45this has always been at the core of all of them, which could be why he's had the crazy
10:49longevity that he continues to have.
10:52Know of any other wrestlers that proved their gimmicks outside of WWE?
10:55Make sure you let us know in the comments below and don't forget to like the video,
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