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 Waylon Mercy
In 1995, after touring All Japan, Dan Spivey met with Gerry Brisco and Vince McMahon in Tampa, Florida. Vince wanted to bring Spivey back into the WWF. Spivey was physically broken down after years of wear and tear in the ring. What interested him most about returning to the WWF, was the idea of playing a character for the first time in his career. Spivey knew his limitations due to his injuries and felt that a catchy gimmick could prolong his career.
The idea McMahon had for Dan Spivey, was a character based on Max Cady from the movie Cape Fear. The name of the character would be a play on words…Waylon Mercy…as in he would beat you up so bad you will be wailing mercy at him. McMahon advised him to watch the movie to draw inspiration for the gimmick. It was Vince’s idea to have Spivey dye his hair jet black and dress in a Hawaiian shirt with white pants and boots.
Bruce Prichard filmed several vignettes for Waylon Mercy’s introduction to the WWF. Prichard credits Spivey with coming up with the promos that were filmed and for him to speak in a soft-spoken voice instead of yelling. Spivey said he was so committed to the gimmick, he was willing to get a tattoo on his forehead…just as long as he could have it removed once the gimmick ran its course. The gimmick only lasted four months, as Spivey’s health had deteriorated to the point he had to retire from wrestling.
One of Spivey’s biggest regrets of his career, was not being able to go with the Waylon Mercy character farther than it did. Bruce Prichard added that if Waylon Mercy had debuted just 10 years earlier, he believes the character would have main evented shows with Hulk Hogan. The fact that the gimmick only lasted such a brief time, it was said that Vince was committed to reintroducing the character at another time, he just needed the right person to portray it. Of course, Windham Rotunda aka Bray Wyatt eventually took pieces of that gimmick and made it his own years later. Wyatt created a buzzard puppet named ‘Mercy’ in honor of the original gimmick and used Spivey as the voice of it.
