00:00They've become something of a lost art, but once upon a time, the pre-debut vignette
00:04was a very effective way for WWE to introduce a new character to their universe.
00:10In eras gone by, fans would get a taste of a new gimmick through a series of short videos
00:15that played over the course of several weeks, or even months.
00:19Some of these vignettes are now considered legendary in and of themselves, but we've
00:24covered those already, so it's only fair we take a look at the ones that were legendarily
00:28bad.
00:29I'm Sam Driver from Cultaholic Wrestling, and these are the 10 Worst WWE Debut Vignettes.
00:36Join us!
00:3810.
00:40Thurman Plug
00:41The WWE's new generation era had its positives, mostly Bret Hart, but the early to mid-90s
00:47were responsible for some of the downright cheesiest material that's ever aired on WWE
00:53television.
00:54And Thurman's sparky plug was up there with the very corniest.
00:58Played by the man who would go on to have much more success as hardcore Holly, old Thurman
01:03Plug was a neon-soaked racecar driver who was just so gosh darn excited to come to the
01:09WWF, by golly!
01:10Robert Howard had actually done some racing and even won the 1993 International Speedway
01:16in Mobile, Alabama.
01:17So, in an era of occupational gimmicks, that's the one he was given.
01:22Which is all well and good, but the trouble was WWE wanted him to be a smiling, charismatic
01:27babyface who loved the fans, while in real life the man himself only smiled at the misfortune
01:33of others and only loved roughing up rookies.
01:36Thus, they rang false.
01:39Holly didn't like doing the vignettes, which featured the line,
01:42My name's Thurman Plug, but my friends can call-
01:45My name's Thurman Plug, but my friends call me Sparky, and you can call me Sparky too!
01:53But he was hardly going to turn down the gig, lame as it may have been.
01:569. The Stalker
01:58One of WWE's, or at least Vince McMahon's, big things when acquiring a piece of talent
02:03that had already been successful elsewhere was to remake them in his own image.
02:08Which is why you had the American Dream Dusty Rhodes transform into a polka dot wearing common
02:12man, and Diamond Alice Page as a stalker lusting after the Undertaker's wife.
02:17Speaking of stalkers, WWE's big idea for Barry Windham when he returned for another WWE run in 1996
02:24was to make him THE stalker. Only, he wasn't going after a top star's wife,
02:29but rather stalking his prey in the woods. Not even something impressive like a bear or Bigfoot,
02:36but rabbits and deer and that kind of stuff.
02:39This whole thing came about because Windham had mentioned that he liked the outdoors during a
02:44meeting, while the new camouflage outfit was Vince's way of covering Big Baz up after his weight had
02:49ballooned. As far as the vignettes were concerned, they were silly and cheap and
02:54utterly unconvincing, because most wrestling fans realised that the stalker was Barry Windham
02:59in some daft face paint. Windham self-admittedly couldn't figure out how to play the character,
03:05something that certainly came across in his pre-debut vignettes.
03:088. Steven Regal
03:11Moving out of the new generation and into the Attitude Era of the late 90s,
03:15WWE programming may have been altogether a lot edgier, but it could still also be really naff.
03:22Take the real man's man, which was WWE's bright idea for Steven Regal, as a glowing example.
03:28Once a blue-blooded English snob, Regal was now a hard-nosed blokey bloke who did super-manly
03:35things like chop down trees, mix concrete, operate heavy machinery, and shave with a straight razor.
03:43Hell, the grizzled bastard even squeezed his own orange juice and then drank it all down,
03:47including the pulp. These scenes played out as a voiceover emphasised just how manly these feats
03:54were, as Regal, strung out on drugs and in no fit state to be doing much of anything at the time,
03:59did his best to look as manly as possible. Yes, they were tongue-in-cheek and clearly
04:04spoofing stuff like the brawny paper towel lumberjack guy, but that doesn't necessarily make them good,
04:10does it? Regal himself later noted that he hated doing the man's man gimmick, which he called
04:16truly ridiculous.
04:177. Ludwig Borger
04:20We've seen plenty of foreign men as heels in WWE over the decades, from sneaky salt-throwing
04:27Japanese villains to Middle Eastern boogeymen. One of the most puzzling, however, was Ludwig Borger,
04:33who, based on his introductory vignettes, was an apparent environmentalist from Finland of all
04:38places. At the same time that Lex Luger was being built up as the all-American hero, the Hellraiser
04:44from Helsinki attacked the US of A by pointing out poverty, neglect, and flaws in the country's social
04:51system. The bastard! I hope the total package makes him pay dearly for this. Not only was this a somewhat
04:58weak way to get heat on a heel, but the way the vignettes themselves were produced left a lot to
05:04be desired. A single shot with no music, while Tony Hallamer talked in his very monotone, heavily
05:10accented way, was hardly thrilling stuff for the man WWE had envisioned as their version of Ivan Drago.
05:17In an era where vignettes, good or bad, routinely showed a lot of imagination and creativity,
05:22the ones hyping the impending arrival of Borger were strangely lacking in both.
05:276. Men on a Mission
05:30The massive new generation tag team of Men on a Mission weren't everybody's cup of tea,
05:34but they were undoubtedly impressive in their own way and got over big in time. Which is a testament
05:40to them, really, because Mabel, Oscar, and Moe's introductory vignettes were absolutely awful. A
05:47lot of stuff from that time has aged about as well as your average pair, as the early to mid-90s had a
05:52very particular aesthetic and vibe. And that aesthetic and vibe were on full display for M.O.M.'s
05:58vignettes, which featured rapping frontman Oscar spitting some lukewarm rhymes, while the three of
06:04them collectively stood in front of a green screen that showed generic footage of an inner city.
06:09MTV was all the rage back then, in case you weren't aware, and this was exactly what a bunch of middle
06:14aged white dudes who worked for a professional wrestling organisation based in Stamford, Connecticut,
06:19would assume the kids were down with. That's what the kids say, isn't it? Down with? Did I get that
06:25right? Anyway, the vignettes were whack, again, that's what the kids say, isn't it? When they should have
06:31been both dope and fly. 5. Kazani
06:35Whenever a prospective talent is hoping for a call-up from the developmental system to the main show,
06:40they'll typically say yes to whatever gimmicks pitched to them, even if they were secretly dying
06:45inside at the thought of it. Sin Bodhi had that sinking feeling when Vince McMahon told him he was
06:51going to play an old-school Kani who spoke Kani and was called Kazani, which is Kani for Kani.
06:58Good lord. Bodhi can't have felt any better about his prospects when the vignettes for the character
07:04began to air on Smackdown either. The 30 second spot saw Kazani go about his Kani business while
07:10speaking in Kani slang the entire time, apart from the beginning and end when he would say the killer
07:15catchphrases, my name is Kazani and I am Kazani. A million t-shirts were sold. These vignettes ran for
07:24an age and only served to make Kazani, the supposed babyface, come across as incredibly annoying,
07:30which is something you very much do not want for your supposed babyface to be. Tis Otole Bozolix,
07:36as if Yazoo is Ask Mazee. 4. Emelina
07:41Kazani may have been a lot of hype for very little payoff, but it paled in comparison to the debacle
07:47that was Emelina. Lovable NXT standout Emma had been on the main roster for about a minute when she
07:53suffered a back injury that required surgery, presenting WWE with the perfect opportunity to
07:58give her a fresh coat of paint upon her return. In October of 2016, vignettes began teasing the
08:04makeover of Emma to Emelina. No longer a somewhat goofy plain Jane, Emma was now going to be gorgeous,
08:12captivating, irresistible, glamorous. Yes, these were all words that literally showed up on the screen
08:20during her vignettes, which comprised of little more than professional modelling photos WWE had
08:25taken of Tennille Dashwood laid over the top of some grating dance-pop music. Not only were the
08:30vignettes really poor, they went on for an eternity, which was seemingly an inside joke.
08:36The kicker? After literal months of these teasers and at least one scrap debut,
08:41Emelina announced that she was reverting back to Emma during her one and only appearance as
08:46Emma Lena, reportedly because WWE felt she couldn't pull off the whole sex kitten thing.
08:51Cue the Emma vignettes!
08:533. Michelle McCool
08:56Michelle McCool first showed up on WWE screens all the way back in 2004 as a contestant on the Diva
09:03Search. Though she didn't win the competition, McCool was signed to a deal anyway and did this and that
09:08while the creative team figured out what to actually do with her. A roaming fitness trainer helping SmackDown
09:14Stars to stretch wasn't it, and neither was playing the sexy teacher-manager of KC, James and Idle
09:20Stevens. No, what they really needed was to find the essence of Michelle McCool.
09:26What made her tick? Just who was she? What did Michelle McCool really enjoy doing?
09:32Turns out, Michelle McCool simply loved life.
09:36Yes, it didn't matter if it was running on the beach, swimming in the sea, or rollerblading,
09:44or even more leisurely pursuits like shopping for clothes, because if it was life, then McCool was
09:50loving it, as we all found out via an insufferable series of vignettes that ran on the blue brand in
09:552007. Look, I get that they were trying to market her as the all-American girl and getting her into a
10:00bikini or a pair of really small and tight white shorts was paramount for the time, but the vignettes
10:05were a whole load of nothing. 2. Hirohito
10:11In 2004, WWE had a very bad idea. I mean, the company had a lot of bad ideas in 2004, but this
10:18one was very, very, very bad indeed. And while the idea never came to fruition after cooler heads prevailed,
10:25well, at least one cooler head, the fact that it got as far as it did means that we simply have to
10:31include it here. Hirohito was the original name and gimmick for Kenzo Suzuki, who was going to debut
10:37on the Raw brand as a top-level heel pegged for a program with then-world heavyweight champion Chris
10:42Benoit. And if the name Hirohito sounds familiar, it might be because you're a history buff and know
10:48that Emperor Hirohito ruled Japan during World War II. And if it didn't sound familiar to fans when this
10:54vignette aired on the April 19, 2004 edition of Raw, well, WWE were going to give you a very quick
11:01history lesson with a bunch of stock footage and a menacing voiceover. It was, let me stress again,
11:06a very, very, very bad idea that could have done WWE some serious reputational damage in a major market
11:14had Suzuki not refused to do it. And as it is, it was simply one of the most ill-conceived vignettes in
11:20the promotion's history. 1. Beaver Cleavage
11:26When headbanger Thrasher went down with an injury, his tag partner Mosh finally got the chance to fly
11:32solo. To fly solo directly into the sun, that is, because the gimmick he was given was a potential
11:37career killer. Repackaged as Harry Beaver Cleavage, this new, wholly lamentable character was introduced
11:44via a series of black and white vignettes that parodied 1950s sitcom Leave it to Beaver.
11:50Harry Cleavage was presented as an overgrown man-child who, through a series of hammer-blow
11:55subtle sexual innuendos, it transpired had a thing for his own mother, the voluptuous Mrs. Cleavage.
12:02Craving mother's milk and finding comfort in her bulging bosom, Beaver Cleavage would wiggle his
12:08eyebrows when looking directly into the camera to let the audience know that all these mishaps were
12:13actually intentional. Unsurprisingly, these hilarious vignettes did not lead to a sustained
12:19run on TV, and the character was scrapped after just a single match. Mosh later noted that beyond
12:24the vignettes and the match, he didn't know where the Beaver Cleavage character was going to go.
12:28And to that we can answer, in the toilet, Mosh. The answer was always, in the toilet.
