Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
A gimmick is something that is intended to hook the attention of fans to a wrestler. They may be outrageous or steeped more in reality, whatever the case may be…some have succeeded and many others have failed. The Gimmick Table takes a look at the origins of some of your favorite and not so favorite gimmicks of professional wrestlers.
Today we browse the gimmick of Battle Kat
In 1990, Vince McMahon had an idea for a super hero like character that donned a mask. According to Bruce Prichard, Vince had an obsession with the cartoon ‘Mighty Mouse’ and always wanted to create a character in wrestling based on that. The idea was a gimmick where the wrestler wore a cat mask, cape and was fast and very agile. The name of the character was ‘Battle Kat’ and all that while the gimmick was already created…they just needed a wrestler to fill the role.
The wrestler chosen, was Dean Peters who had previously worked in the WWF in the late 1980’s as ‘Brady Boone’ the kayfabe cousin to Billy Jack Haynes. Brady Boone had a small push, but usually worked on the undercard and was mostly used as enhancement talent. He was selected for the gimmick due to his vast background in gymnastics which was perfect for the gimmick of Battle Kat. The gimmick was initially tested on untelevised house shows finally making his TV debut in September of 1990 defeating enhancement wrestler Bob Bradley.
Dean Peters would portray the character for another month, before being dropped from the gimmick and released by the WWF after a reported incident involving a bar fight. After Peters release, instead of scrapping the gimmick, Vince gave the gimmick of Battle Kat to the wrestler who Dean Peters version of the character defeated in his TV debut in Bob Bradley. Bob Bradley was very agile himself, but was also well versed in martial arts. While they continued to push Battle Kat, at this point the incident involving Peters had soured Vince and wasn’t as enthusiastic about the gimmick and it was ultimately scrapped.
To Browse other entries of the Gimmick Table…Please Click Here.