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 ECW Zombie
In 2006, WWE revived Extreme Championship Wrestling after a few years being defunct. The WWE’s version of ECW would premier on the Sci Fi channel. According to reports, Sci Fi executives asked Vince McMahon to try and incorporate science fiction and/or supernatural characters to the broadcast to get regular viewers to tune into this new wrestling show. Paul Heyman came up with an idea to create a Martian who would face ECW original the Sandman. The idea was to have this space alien brutalized at the hands of Sandman.
When Sci Fi got word of what was planned, they balked at the idea feeling that an alien getting beat up would insult sci fi fans and it was scrapped. Heyman and Tommy Dreamer then came up with a zombie instead and was approved. The wrestler originally chosen for the zombie gimmick was a developmental wrestler named Chad Collyer. He reportedly went AWOL and disappeared before the show started. As Heyman scrambled to find another wrestler to do the gimmick…an independent wrestler Tim Calkins who was working dark matches volunteered.
Heyman instructed Tim on how to walk, act and talk on the mic. All the zombie did was grab the microphone and start grunting and groaning. This was to get fans who were accustomed to the old ECW to get angry and boo the gimmick and then explode for the appearance of the Sandman. While the match only lasted a few seconds…it was arguably the most talked about and most remembered part of the entire show. Whether that was completely good or bad, it gave Tim ‘Arson’ Calkins a gimmick that he used repeatedly on the independents for years after until his untimely death in 2015. Tim talked with us about the gimmick and how he appreciated the opportunity to become the Zombie in his last interview before his death….here.
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David Fullam
The moment we all knew, this was not going to be real ECW.