Doink the Clown (Matt Osbourne)
Babyface or heel, is irrelevant, Matt Osbourne rocked the Doink the Clown persona to a tee. Whether a practical joking face or an evil cackling lunatic, Doink was a steeple in 90’s pro wrestling. The portray-er of the unique character made this work due to one central premise, a clown could be made to work if executed properly. Put it this way, one thing people love is a good clown. A world wide common phobia? A fear of clowns. So either way if Doink was face or a heel, WWE had an angle to go on. In order to have Doink be taken seriously the clown received some legitimate foes. Randy Savage, Bam Bam Bigelo and The Big Boss Man among others. While Doink had other stars under the face paint, the late Matt Osbourne, and the person said to be the innovator of the character Road Warrior Hawk (also port-humus), deserve credit where credit is due on this once in a lifetime attraction.
Disco Inferno
Glenn Gilbertti may not go down as the greatest wrestler of all time. What he will be remembered as is a guy in WCW who made a seemingly awful gimmick an awesome one. As a singles competitor, a tag team competitor (alongside the great Alex Wright), or a stable member with the NWO, Disco Inferno is a character that was special to WCW’s product. It takes real talent for a guy wrestling in the 90’s to portray a character from the Disco Era, and still be taken seriously. He was also killer on the mic and really did look like a disco machine week in and week out on WCW programming. When WWE purchased WCW, Gilbertti worked both on camera and off camera (under his real name) for TNA Wrestling. Since then, not much has been seen of Gilbertti. One thing is for certain however, he deserves mad respect for bringing a gimmick to life that would of had many other talents fall flat on their faces.
“Adorable” Adrian Adonis
I chose this picture of Adonis for a reason. Would you be afraid of this guy? He looks like an effeminate weirdo doesn’t he? Well that effeminate weirdo would of dropped anyone reading this with a beautiful DDT so quick, you’d think you were in Parts Unknown. He was a dangerous, dangerous man. Who cares what he looked like he was a 300 pound plus man and a very sound performer. Clearly he took inspiration from one of the all time greats Gorgeous George. When Jesse “The Body” Ventura cut back on in ring competition, Adonis dropped the generic biker saga, for this unique character, “Adorable” Adrian Adonis. He was also utilized as a talker with the “Barber Shop” subbing for the absentee “Piper’s Pit”. I use the term subbing as you could never replace Piper’s Pit, just ask the host of the second most must see talk show in WWE history, The Miz. Unfortunately, though the character had some memorable rivalries before returning back to the AWA, what followed next is a car accident that took a great performer way too soon. I must be truthful about my motives for putting Adonis on this list over some other, longer running, gimmicks. Adonis will always be in my top five favorite wrestlers of all time. And I wish I could of had the opportunity to meet him one day. All I could do born in 1991, is revisit this great talents shining moments. Just like Gorgeous George may have inspired Adonis’ character there’s no denying he inspired the next performer on this list.
Tyler Breeze
So should a man going around referring to himself as Prince Pretty be taken seriously? Hell yes! The guy has been a prominent figure of the NXT roster for how long now? At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn he had the privilege of squaring off with the legendary Jushin Thunder Liger. He did not pick up the win that night but he proved just how bulletproof he is to a loss, even if it was to Liger which is an understandable loss and booking decision, but also how much faith the brand has in their most egotistical of heels. The selfie-stick is good shtick, everything about him grinds the gears of the NXT crowd, but you still can’t help but love him. Why? Because aside from excellent ring work, great promo abilities and a killer look, he is truly a talent who maximizes his gimmick.
