Ranking The Top 20 Best Characters, Gimmicks In Wrestling

These days, match quality matters more than ever in professional wrestling, but no fan can truly get invested into a match if the characters aren’t either relatable or unique. Although wrestling outside of WWE gets a bad rap for being less focused on characters, hopefully this list convinces you that this simply is not the case.

Professional wrestlers have to accomplish some incredibly difficult feats of athleticism inside of the ring. Top-rope hurricanranas, standing shooting star presses, and effective chain wrestling aren’t easy, yet these talented women and men must make it look smooth.

In addition to this, wrestlers must also craft a character for themselves, and they must make every effort to protect this character at all costs. Could you imagine what would happen if the Undertaker started cracking weird jokes, or if The New Day stopped cracking weird jokes? How far would Dusty Rhodes have gotten in his career without the impassioned promos and his ability to connect with literally every single member of the audience?

Characters matter, and most characters come with a gimmick. Whether that’s the Undertaker as a “Dead Man” or Dusty as, well, an “Every Man”, gimmicks make it easier for the audience to sense a character. Some of the gimmicks on this list of 20 are more subtle than others, but all of these characters are able to effectively draw in the audience.

This list includes wrestlers in WWE, Impact, Ring of Honor, NJPW, PROGRESS and other promotions throughout the world. Because wrestling isn’t just about the WWE, and some of the best characters exist outside of the publicly-traded juggernaut.

There were several talented wrestlers, such as Maxwell Jacob Feinstein and Candice LeRae, who were left off of the list, and I won’t pretend like it was easy to narrow it down to 20 – let alone sort them in order.