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 Farooq Asad
In 1996, Ron Simmons was semi retired from professional wrestling and working a regular job for Coca Cola. It was Michael Hayes who urged Vince McMahon to give Simmons a look, feeling he could be a great asset to the WWF’s roster. Simmons had made history by becoming the first nationally recognized black world heavyweight champion while wrestling for WCW. Despite all of Ron’s past success, Vince McMahon had other plans to utilize Simmons.
According to Simmons, when meeting with Vince McMahon for the first time, Vince immediately suggested that Simmons become a modern day gladiator. Simmons initially loved the idea for the gimmick and envisioned all the cool outfits to make his character stand out. Then Vince showed some of the sketches that his staff created for the gladiator gimmick and Simmons began to laugh, thinking it was one big practical joke. When Simmons saw Vince ‘s face, he knew that this was no joke and Simmons told McMahon that he thought everything looked great, even though he felt the exact opposite.
One of the worst parts of the planned outfit for his gladiator gimmick, was the leather head gear that was made to resemble a gladiator helmet. According to Bruce Prichard, the reason for the head gear, was because Ron Simmons had a receding hairline and Vince wanted to make Simmons look younger by covering it up. Vince came up with the name of ‘Farooq Asad,’ which according to Prichard was a nod at the last king of Egypt named Farouk. As Farooq Asad, Simmons was given a manager in Tammy ‘Sunny’ Sytch. McMahon felt that Simmons was weak cutting promos, but there was another reason for the pairing.
According to Sunny, Vince McMahon wanted her to be more than just his manager, but romantic interest as well. This was something that Sunny flat out refused, citing she was not attracted to Simmons and was with Chris Candido behind the scenes and did not want anything to mess that relationship up. Ron Simmons was not at all happy with the Farooq Asad gimmick, but instead of complaining, decided to make the best of it and simply take the gladiator gimmick and make it into a street thug and rough up his opponents. The Farooq Asad gimmick lasted for about four months before being altered for him to become a black militant character that formed the Nation of Domination faction.
You can read other Gimmick Table entries here