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 ‘The Ravishing Russian’ Lana
Before signing a WWE developmental deal in 2013, CJ Perry worked as a dancer, model, singer and actress. Once she arrived in developmental, Perry pitched several ideas for characters for her to portray, but none of them caught the attention of Dusty Rhodes who was in charge of creative. Perry decided to do something a bit different during her turn in promo class. She did an entire promo speaking in Russian, as she spoke it fluently due to her living in Latvia when she was younger. It was at that moment, when a light bulb went over Rhodes’ head and came up with an idea for a character for Perry.
Dusty suggested that she be paired with fellow developmental wrestler Alexander Rusev and become his manager/spokesperson. Dusty paired the two up and began working together on promos and presentation. Triple H approached the two and requested that they watch Rocky IV and draw inspiration from the villains in that film. While Perry came up with the name ‘Lana’, it was Dusty Rhodes who christened her with the ‘Ravishing Russian’ nickname. Instead of being called a manager or valet, Perry came up with the title of being Rusev’s “social ambassador.”
Triple H wanted a specific look for the Lana character and worked with Perry on different outfits and looks. Perry showed Triple H a picture of herself from a role she had in the movie ‘Picture Perfect’ where she played a member of the all female acapella group the The Barden Bellas. The picture had her and others with their hair up in buns. Triple H loved the look and told her that is what he wanted Lana to look like with dress suit. Triple H also told her that while he liked that she spoke fluent Russian, she needed to speak English for fans and to work on her Russian accent. The Ravishing Russian Lana remained with WWE until 2021 when she was released. According CJ, she owns the rights to the name Lana and not WWE. She says she has every right to use the name in any other promotion she works for, although she used the name CJ while competing briefly in AEW.
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