Gimmick (professional wrestling)

In professional wrestling, a gimmick is slang that refers to a wrestler's on-screen personality.

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The nature and plausibility of gimmicks vary widely. In recent years, the emphasis has been on more 'realistic' gimmicks where the wrestler is portrayed as being an actual person, albeit with exaggerated personality traits, as opposed to previous years where gimmicks could be best described as 'cartoonish' (most of the World Wrestling Federation product in the 1980s and early 1990s fits this category).

Related Topics:
World Wrestling Federation - 1980s - 1990s

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Note that gimmicks can be described as heel or face. A "face gimmick" is one that can be described as being designed to be popular with crowds, often through adopting babyface mannerisms. A "heel gimmick" is one that is designed to be hated by crowds, usually to make the face look more popular in any storyline they may be both involved in (for example, pretending to betray a trusting face). A tweener gimmick falls between the two extremes.

Related Topics:
Heel - Face - Storyline - Tweener

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Over a wrestler's career, they may be expected to portray many gimmicks, most of which may be implausible and inconsistent (see kayfabe). It is not uncommon to see a wrestler to undergo a complete on-screen personality change from one week to the next.

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Promotions will often recycle past gimmicks, giving them to newer wrestlers. Typically, a promotion will wait several years before trying to recycle a gimmick in order to allow fans' memories to fade. This is especially easy for WWE to do, because it owns its wrestlers' gimmicks and stage names.

Related Topics:
Promotions - Stage names

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