5 Scary Gimmicks That Failed in WWE and WCW

The Yeti (WCW)

If you’re going to have a supernatural creature be the basis of a new monster to join your company’s roster, maybe you should do some research before sending a plan to the costume department.

Ron Reis was selected to portray the Dungeon of Doom’s “insurance policy” back in October 1995 for a championship match between the Giant and Hulk Hogan at Halloween Havoc, he came down to the ring to attack Hogan with commentator Tony Schiavone yelling “It’s the Yet-tay” – however Reis looked more like he was wrapped up in toilet paper at the last minute.

Not sure if anyone in WCW’s creative department had a chance to see the costume design before the show started, but maybe someone should have looked at Reis as he was putting on a costume and realized “Hey, this looks more like a mummy.”

At that point, there might have been a Chewbacca costume at a nearby Halloween store that could have been modified and would have at least passed with a C-minus with a teacher’s note saying “Good effort.”

Helping bear hug Hogan with the Giant looked more like he was convulsing while standing in the ring. The Yeti would only make a few more appearances and had some changes to his attire before being officially repackaged as the “Super Giant Ninja.”

This was one of the types of gimmicks in WCW’s history that one can pull up if they really feel like the current creative team at WWE is doing a poor job. Just remember folks, it could be a million times worse. It could be a character billed as the ninja formerly known as YET-TAY!

[Note: Skip to 2:11 to see the “Yeti.”]

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