Ranking The Top 20 Best Characters, Gimmicks In Wrestling
2. Joey Ryan: Lucha Underground, PWG, Others
One of the founders of PWG, Joey Ryan is one of wrestling’s most interesting and outlandish characters, and that’s saying something. But when a guy’s penis is so powerful that he injures those who try to hit an atomic drop on him, let’s just say the man is something special.
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If the wrestling business didn’t pass Jim Cornette by, maybe he’d have some more respect for a guy who makes a decent amount of money off his gimmick. Ryan isn’t one of the most brilliant wrestlers around, but his tag team work with Candice LeRae as part of the “World’s Cutest Tag Team” is quite good. Furthermore, it takes a certain level of competency to pull off some of the stuff he does in the ring, because even though it is naturally hokey, it strikes the right balance between silliness and purposefulness.
Ryan does the male pornstar schtick even better than Val Venis did, and I’m not just saying that because his mustache and chest hair game are on point. But Ryan also has to be perfect with his character, because, again, there isn’t a great margin for error.
When someone like Mick Foley is praising your work and putting over the “penis flip”, you know you’ve made it big.
I know a lot of people hate Ryan’s gimmick, but, well, that kind of proves its effectiveness. Some of these people are either prudes, or it just isn’t their cup of tea. Which is fine. But people still talk about it, and it gets hella over during live shows. And that’s all that matters.