Caught up on Impact, the opening promo between Aries and Roode was interesting, Aries is clearing shuffling slightly back over the line to being a face again, and the whole thing felt like it was the start of what I think will be one of the big singles programs for BFG.
Austin Aries vs AJ Styles; we wanted it, we got it, the two guys were delivering and then......
THAT finish.
The Tito Ortiz reveal was just weird, Sting looked confused, the crowd didn't react at all and Anderson seemed like he was reacting to something else altogether. Joe and Angle were the only ones who sold it.
Next week, Daniels vs Kazarian! I'm sure Bad Influence will shake hands whoever wins, like the gentlemen they are.
Hoping Joe vs Hardy is good as well, with a Joe victory to keep him chasing Magnus.
I personally appreciate it because I enjoy seeing a bunch of colorful character and gimmick types. Makes things feel less plain.
I don't mind them either, I think like Pinky said it depends on the gimmicks flexibility.
I actually prefer gimmick wrestling, I find it more entertaining than, say, that time when everyone wore the same black trunks and pretended that WWE was some MMA league or something.
A gimmick is basically a branding exercise, and it can either be limiting or empowering, depending on the branding. Mankind is the perfect example of a gimmick that had enough built-in flexibility to be used in so many different ways: from scary monster heel, to tragi-comic villain, to a carnival human pincushion, to (in Foley's own words) a man-sized Muppet. Mankind was always vague enough that he could be used in such diverse ways. To a lesser extent, Edge, Christian and the Hardys are also good examples.
Fandango will not have that advantage. His name is enough to limit him; he can't become anything other than a dancer without having to change his name, and basically reboot his character (doesn't mean the end of his career; see Dolph Ziggler).
Damian Sandow is a perfect modern example of the right way to do a gimmick wrestler. Notice his name isn't something like Shakespeare Q. Einstein or something, he is given a distinctive name that doesn't beat the audience over the head with the gimmick, and is instead charged with selling the character on his own through his words and actions. Next year, Damian Sandow can be a sadistic madman torturing people like Charles Manson, he can be a "company man" corporate enforcer, he can be a popular smartass face, and he can do all that without having to reboot himself.
I pretty much agree about the flexibility of the gimmick being key, for instance your Foley example and someone like The Boss Man, his character could go a number of different ways, but Fandango is an example of why Cena could never just stay a rapper, if he had his character would have no movement, if every promo was a rap he'd be very limited in what he could do.
Tyler Breeze is just starting out and is playing his gimmick to the hilt, and I do think he'll get a main roster call up pretty quickly, but someone needs to help him refine it as right now it's too much gimmick and not enough personality.
Bray Wyatt is going to be an interesting one to watch, he's strong on the mic but a lot of what he says is just the usual stuff about fighting the machine and other cult preacher type rhetoric, as he goes along he'll have to flesh out his purpose, motivations and goals.
Yes I've noticed and I always liked the characters. I'd like there to be a nice balance between the more "real" guys and the more cartoony/comic-y type characters.
I think it's fine as well, the trick is not to put too gimmicky a gimmick on a guy who has main event potential, because unless they have the flexibility it will prevent them from getting to the next level.
