10 Cult Classic Wrestling Gimmicks

With wrestling gimmicks, you never know when something will hit or not. That's one reason why, over the years, there have been so many stupid, offensive, or down right horrible gimmicks; because wrestling is a strange business, and sometimes, the weirdest things can get over with a crowd. Look at the Undertaker. Here's a guy who took the awful, awful gimmick of an undead mortician and, thanks to the crowd taking a liking to it for whatever reason, has remained in the top tier of the WWE for nearly 25 years (not that I like the Undertaker, but that's another story for another day). While that was a gimmick that was intended to get over, there have been many others that really weren't. Yet, despite it all, have become favorites among many long time fans and have also enjoyed a pretty decent amount of success.On that note, I present 10 of the best "cult classic" gimmicks that were probably never meant to get over as well as they did. While I normally rank these lists, I found it a little hard to decide who ranked above who and why. Instead, I am just presenting them in no particular order. Again, it's my blog and my list, so I'll do what I damn well please.

1. "BLACK MACHISMO" JAY LETHAL
The list starts off with the most recent cult favorite out of all of the entries you will see here. Jay Lethal was another X-Division wrestler in TNA not really going anywhere. He had all the in-ring talent in the world, but seemed to be missing something. Then one day, after receiving a blessing from no less than the late "Macho Man" Randy Savage, "Black Machismo" was born. Lethal, a long-time Savage fan, studied Savage's mannerisms, moves and speaking style until he had everything just right, and man, did he hit the nail on the head. Jay Lethal had an absolutely perfect Randy Savage impression down, even to the gravely voice and fried hairstyle. While this gimmick was probably only supposed to last a couple months, Lethal was so good in the role he ended up keeping it for a few years and developed quite a fan following in the process (as well as a handful of TNA titles). On top of that, Lethal proved he had natural charisma when given the chance to show it, and would later wind up also doing a somehow even funnier Ric Flair impersonation (dubbed "The Black Nature Boy" by some). Seriously, if you haven't seen Lethal's Flair impersonation, look it up on YouTube. You won't be sorry.

Top 10 Current WWE Entrance Themes

Writing lists are fun, relatively easy, and almost always make for some good debates (especially with people I know and talk to regularly). Even more fun than that are wrestling lists, as there's always going to be people who disagree with you. I've done a few in the past, both for my blog here and for columns over at Camel Clutch Blog and I've always gotten pretty good feedback, so I figured, what the hell, I'll do it again.

Throughout the years, wrestling has seen a lot of very memorable and catchy entrance themes. The WWF/E has especially always had some great themes. Although most of the best themes you can recall have all been written or at least produced by the extremely talented Jim Johnston, wrestlers in the WWE have also been lucky enough to be afforded licensed music thanks to Vince McMahon's deep pockets, as well as songs produced by the aforementioned Johnson, but performed by various actual bands.

While the great ones over the years are far too numerous to mention in one top ten list, what are the best ones used by the WWE today? While it seems like the great entrance themes are becoming few and far between with each passing year, I still managed to scour the roster and pick out what I consider to be the top ten best current themes.

10. "Gold-Lust" by Jim Johnston (Goldust)

Goldust has been in the WWE off and on since 1995, resulting in him re-inventing his character on numerous occasions. However, his entrance music has always stayed the same. Sure, there have been a few tweaks to it here and there, but overall, it's been the same song for the last 16 years. The song fits his character so well. Although he started his gimmick as a movie buff and it was designed to sound like the theme from a Hollywood movie (if you listen closely, it sounds very similar to the theme from John Carpenter's Halloween films), he has kept it with every tweak to the gimmick and it has never, ever felt out of place. It's dark and mysterious, much like the Goldust character itself, and it completely fits his eccentric personality. I almost didn't include this one due to Goldust seemingly retiring earlier this year, but due to him hinting at a return to the ring once his shoulder is healed, it makes the cut. However, since his future is not 100% certain, it gets the #10 spot.