Super Heroes To The Rescue!!! Professional wrestling has been around in the world, in some form or another, since the 19th century. It was incredibly popular as a sport in Europe and later on became more of an attraction at circuses around North America. It was this iteration that caught on and has grown into what we see around the world today.
Regardless of what area of the world that professional wrestling has inhabited over the past century there is one thing that has remained the same. The story of professional wrestling centres around the battle of good and evil. This concept has been central to all wrestling organizations. It is what they have used to sell their product to the masses and it has worked incredibly well for over 100 years.
In the process of telling these stories, there are very interesting characters that can develop. These characters can range from realistic fighters to more outlandish gimmicks. Both sides have had their success over the years. The realism in most gimmicks is what is needed for wrestling, but the outlandish gimmicks have had their place as well. The out-there gimmicks provide much-needed comedy to the product and none are more famous than the superhero gimmick.
Since the beginning of wrestling, the superhero gimmick has been an easy one to create. It is a way to instantly connect with the younger fans while providing some good-to-great comedy moments for everyone.
These gimmicks have been able to achieve great heights in professional wrestling. Specifically, The Hurricane gimmick is one of the best. During his time in WWE, Shane Helms took what could have been a death sentence and ran with it. He got huge pops from the crowd when he sailed down to the ring.
His promo skills were great and his back and forths with The Rock made for some fantastic television. He was able to take the superhero gimmick and turn it into one of the best parts of Monday Night Raw. Eventually, Rosey and Mighty Molly came along as hit sidekicks and they were great additions. On their own, they wouldn’t have amounted to much but partnered with Helms they were able to pull off some fantastic comedy.
The Hurricane was not the first foray into superheroes for WWE but it was most certainly the best. Mr America and The Blue Blazer missed the mark entirely and they were never characters that were taken seriously. Also, we will mention Super Eugene for the sake of inclusion but let’s not sully ourselves by discussing him any further.
WWE has recently had Nikki Cross morph into Nikki A.S.H. Cross has the charisma and energy to play a superhero but the reaction she has gotten from the crowd in the past is not promising. Having her win the Money in the Bank match was an interesting direction and could blossom into some good television. However, having her cash in so quickly may have hurt her character more than helped it. Raw Women’s Champion Nikki is over-exposed and she hasn’t been allowed to flush the character out further. This could hurt her development down the line as she will have to be in a program with the likes of Charlotte, Rhea Ripley, and a returning Becky Lynch. She is not in the same league as these three women, yet.
WWE is not the only company to dip its toe into the superhero pool, but it is the only one that has achieved success.
WCW has had a very checkered past when it comes to superhero characters. There was the Arachnaman character that showed up in WCW. Brad Armstrong was without gimmick so he was given a cheap Spiderman knockoff as an idea. This was incredibly hard to take seriously from the beginning and the character did not last long.
Impact Wrestling has also ventured into superhero territory. The versatile Eric Young has donned the cape and cowl as Super Eric for a time. It was partially successful and the crowd responded well to it but there was nothing more than comedy to the gimmick. Super Eric was going to go no further than the mid-card.
The superhero gimmick is one that easily fits into the wrestling world. With the battle between good and evil being the base of every wrestling angle the superhero gimmick was an easy write-in character. As we have seen the gimmick will never reach beyond the comical but that is alright. Comedy has its place in wrestling and this gimmick is the perfect thing to achieve a laugh.