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 The Diamond Studd
After wrestling on a tour of Germany in 1991, Scott Hall was looking to sign a contract with a major promotion. His then wife was pregnant and Hall needed a steady income. The problem was, nobody was interested in his services. Hall said he was so desperate that he considered quitting the wrestling business and getting a regular 9 to 5 type job. In a last ditch effort to get work as a wrestler, Hall reached out to his friend Diamond Dallas Page who was working as a manager in World Championship Wrestling.
DDP initially said that WCW wasn’t interested in Scott Hall who last wrestled for the company in 1989 as a blonde nicknamed Scott ‘The Gator’ Hall. It was Page who suggested that Hall change his look and presentation to try to get work with WCW. He convinced Hall to shave off his trademark mustache, dye his hair jet black and slick it back and grow a dark five o’clock shadow much like actor Rob Lowe. Hall agreed and once the transformation was complete, WCW was intrigued by his new look. He was offered a one year deal with the company and was repackaged under the management of Dallas Page as ‘The Diamond Studd.’
While eating at a Waffle House in Georgia, DDP grabbed a couple of toothpicks after their meal. It was then that Page had an idea for both he and The Diamond Studd walk to the ring with toothpicks in their mouths to make them look cooler and bad. DDP had the idea to flick the toothpicks at the camera before the bell rang. The problem was, DDP was cutting a promo walking towards the ring and his toothpick fell out of his mouth. The Diamond Studd still followed the direction of Page and flicked his and that immediately became a part of his gimmick for the rest of his career.
The night after his TV debut, Hall received a phone call from WWF executive Pat Patterson. He loved the new look and wanted to bring him up north to the WWF. Unfortunately, Hall was already locked in to a one year deal, but after it expired in 1992, Hall made his way to the World Wrestling Federation and eventually did a version of the Diamond Studd gimmick as we all know as ‘Razor Ramon.’
You can read other Gimmick Table entries here
Kyle Prescott
Scott was a “family man” at this time in his life, living in a medium sized home he built outside Orlando in Oveida. He was very cordial to his neighbors and a semi local celebrity before his career blew up as RR. A cautionary tale of what celebrity, money and drugs & alcohol can do to any of us.
RIP Scott, you certainly entertained us for years.
Luke
The funniest thing here is when WWF would sue (or warn, I don’t remember) WCW a few years down the road for Scott Hall’s look being too similar to Razor Ramon’s when Ramon was basically a ripoff of Studd with a fake accent…
177613735
Great point.