TNA: Impacts of Gimmick Change in Wrestling

Most professional wrestlers attract fans with a blend of charisma and athleticism. Additionally, having a gimmick—regardless of how unusual it may be—is a surefire way to capture the wrestling world’s attention, whether for good or bad reasons. Over the years, many Impact Wrestling stars have made significant changes to their gimmicks or appearances.

These transformations have either revived their careers during periods of mediocrity or elevated their status in ways that were previously unimaginable. In this article, we’ll explore five wrestlers from Impact’s past and present who have greatly benefited from adopting a new gimmick or updating their existing persona.

5. Laurel Van Ness

Laurel Van Ness (real name Chelsea Green) worked with the company from 2016-18, during which she spent the first few months as a member of Maria Kanellis-Bennett’s all-female faction known as ‘The Lady Squad’.

LVN’s gimmick during the early days of her Impact run was pretty much a by the number spoiled rich girl persona who hanged around with other snobbish but pretty females whilst making the lives of other ladies in the Knockouts locker room absolute hell, but that all would change following the events of February 23, 2017.

On this date, Laurel was set to marry Braxton Sutter in order to spite Allie, an assistant to Maria who in the previous months was picked on by all of the other ladies in the squad and who also had feelings for Sutter. When it came to time for the wedding, Sutter made it clear at the alter that he loved Allie which left LVN upset, sobbing and drinking out of a large champagne bottle and this is where it all began.

As the story has it then creative consultant for the company, Dutch Mantel, liked Laurel’s performance following Sutter’s rejection of her and suggested that she should record some material that could be used for future episodes. While she didn’t believe that anything impressive would come out of the recently shot footage, Green would be shocked to discover that the footage became so popular to those watching it on TV and the internet.

And thus Laurel would adapt the crazy bride gimmick complete with messy make up and lipstick, fizzy hair and wrestling barefoot whilst occasionally drinking alcohol before matches.

The gimmick continued to get over as the weeks and months followed thanks to her storyline relationship with Grado and LVN’s dedication to the gimmick which would eventually see her become Knockouts Champion by the end of 2017.

Highlights:

4. Jay Lethal

One of the most decorated names to come out of the X Division, Jay Lethal started his run in TNA/Impact back in 2006 where he wrestled names like Samoa Joe, Chris Sabin, Matt Bentley and Petey Williams while at the same time interacting with legends like Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett and Team 3D. Lethal was and is still known for his high flying style of action and determination inside of the ring but he didn’t have a character that allowed him to get over, sure he could wrestle but sometimes the most memorable names tend to be over the top characters.

Jay’s opportunity to get over the top came when Paparazzi Productions (made up of Nash, Alex Shelley and Johnny Devine) took several X Division wrestlers and put them in several hilarious segments with Lethal taking part in a memorable segment parodying American Idol on the February 15th 2007 edition of impact.

During the segment, Nash tells Jay to do an impression which leads to Lethal wearing a pair of sunglasses and doing a spot on ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage impersonation to the approval of Kevin Nash and would lead to the birth of Jay Lethal’s new persona: Black Machismo.

As Black Machismo, Lethal would sound much like the Macho Man when he spoke, wearing outfits similar to war Savage would have worn back in the day and even include the diving elbow into his arsenals of wrestling manoeuvres; The impression was so good that even Randy Savage himself gave Lethal his blessing to keep on doing the Black Machismo character and so he did for much of his TNA/Impact Wrestling career which included Six X Division title reigns and a one time title run with the Tag Team Titles back in early 2009.

Lethal would play the Machismo gimmick up until the summer of 2010 when he began his feud with ‘The Nature Boy‘ Ric Flair and started to impersonate Flair much to Flair’s annoyance on-screen, but his delight off-screen; The gimmick would make one more appearance back in 2018 at the All In event where Black Machismo would defeat Flip Gordon in an impressive match.

Highlights:

3. Abyss

An undeniable legend in the history of Impact Wrestling, Abyss has been literally sacrificing his blood, sweat and tears for this business much to the horror and amazement of fans the world over.

Impact Wrestling (TNA) News: Abyss on backstage morale in the company, new management, Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode's success in WWE

Impact’s resident monster was known for his matches that revolve around unique or unorthodox stipulations that we never short on the violence and gore; However due to the shoddy booking of his character under the early years of the Hulk Hogan/Eric Bischoff regime plus the amount of wear and tears his done to his body left the Abyss persona began to feel stale among other things, so when the time came for an update or a gimmick change to Chris Parks’ character it was well needed and surprisingly well-received.

On the March 8th 2012 edition of Impact, cameras picked up footage of a large man in a suit wearing glasses entering the Universal Studios building with many wondering as to who this person was and the answer was none other than Joseph Parks, a lawyer from Chicago Illinois who also happens to be the ‘brother’ of Abyss.

Following Abyss’ victory against Bully Ray at Genesis 2012, ‘The Monster’ would disappearance from the company after an attack by Bully and this leads to Joseph Park starting his own investigation into the whereabouts of his brother much to the anger of Bully Ray, who challenged the lawyer to a series of matches (after signing some documents that absolved Impact from any legal action).

At that year’s Slammiversary pay per view Bully Ray took on Joseph Parks in an Anything Goes Match which resulted in the surprise return of the Monster to help his ‘brother’ out and defeat Bully in the middle of the ring. Of course, it would later be revealed during a match in 2014 that Joseph Parks and Abyss are on in the same however the company has managed to look past that moment and continued to portray the two of them as different people up until his departure from the company in January of 2019.

Highlights:

Interview with Impact Wrestling champ & WWE alum Eric Young | Miami Herald

2. Eric Young

Eric Young can best be described as a ‘Jack of All Trades’ as his being able to play the role of heel and babyface so well that his evolution in TNA/Impact Wrestling has helped to make him one of the all-time best in company history.

Starting off in TNA as a timid but energetic member of Team Canada, Eric Young would spend much of the mid to late 2000s as a loveable goofball who’d get picked on by fellow wrestlers like James Storm and Bobby Roode while using his underdog status to become a man of the people for the Impact fanbase and winning a number of titles along the way.

In 2009, Young would turn heel and become the leader of the anti-American faction known as ‘World Elite’; While sporting a shave heading and a business suit to match, Eric Young presented himself as a calculating evil genius whose intensity could be felt in his promos, unfortunately, this persona didn’t last long (Hogan and Bischoff) and by the early 2010s EY would play the goofball role once again in his partnerships with Orlando Jordan, ODB and his feud with Robbie E for the Television Championship.

By early 2015, EY would turn on Bobby Roode (who was a babyface at the time) and this would begin his turn as ‘The World Class Maniac’, An intense and ruthless mercenary who would sadistically attack various parts of his opponent’s bodies to injury them to make a statement or just to get some sick pleasure out of it.

Highlights of Eric Young’s barbaric nature as the World Class Maniac include dropping Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy on their head and neck region with some piledrivers, cutting off part of Bram’s beard, yanking out military hero turn pro wrestler Chris Melendez’s prosthetic leg and using it as weapon numerous times, repeated attempts at re-inuring Rich Swann’s leg and of course attacking his boss and former head coach of Team Canada, Scott D’Amore.

Since returning to Impact in 2020, EY has continued his work as the World Class Maniac while also combining his shaved head and calculated demeanour from his World Elite days to become one of the most diabolical wrestlers in recent years.

Highlights:

Matt Hardy is Revolutionizing what it means to be a Wrestling Show | by J. King | Casual Rambling | Medium

1. Matt Hardy

Perhaps the most well-known person on this list to benefit from a gimmick change would have to be none other then Matt Hardy, who’s different personas allowed him to reach a level of success and popularity in his career that he was never able to achieve.

Debuting in early 2011, a dreadlock wearing Matt Hardy spent the first few months of his time feuding with Rob Van Dam as a member of the supergroup known as “Immortal”; Giving himself the nickname ‘Cold Blooded’, Matt Hardy would go on to wrestle names like AJ Styles, Beer Money Inc. and Crimson before being released from the company in August of that same year following a DUI.

Matt Hardy would return to Impact after getting his life and wrestling career in order and would go on to team with his brother Jeff for a little bit before making a run for the World Championship in 2015; On the January 16th 2016 edition of Impact, Matt Hardy would become a two time TNA World Champion after defeating EC3 in the last man standing match but in doing so, Hardy turned heel and began to start his new persona as ‘Big Money’ Matt Hardy.

Hardy’s Big Money gimmick saw Matt coming out in expensive suits, constantly flashing his wealth, reading the mean tweets of internet trolls and even got a brand new theme song that literally starts off with the words: I..AM..ICONIC!!!

While the gimmick was itself was enjoyable, the whole I’m richer, more talented than you gimmick is nothing new in pro wrestling and has become commonplace in the sport, but thankfully for Matt, his greatest gimmick change was just on the horizon. After a gruelling and hard-fought I Quit match with his brother Jeff on the April 19th 2016 edition of Impact, Matt Hardy was written off of TV but would return to continue his feud with his brother but with a brand new look that included uncombed hair with a big white streak in it, a black and white-coloured beard and new ring attire that closely resembles pyjamas.

This was the beginning of ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy, an unstable version of Matt Hardy who would talk with a pseudo British accent, a fondest for the theatrics and frantically chanting the words ‘Delete’ and ‘Wonderful’ everywhere he went and well to say this gimmick got over would be a huge understatement. From 2016-17, Matt Hardy and his broken universe became the most talked about thing in all of professional wrestling with many fans loving the absurd antics of The Hardy Brothers, King Maxel, Senior Benjamin and Vanguard One while wrestling purist found the gimmick to be an abomination to the sport.

In the end, the gimmick got people talking and watching Impact to see what this was all about and considering the condition Impact was in at the time, this was a great thing for both the company and Matt Hardy himself and considering the success of the Final Deletion and the Broken Hardy Universe would lead to the more cinematic style of matches in Impact Wrestling going forward, it’s hard to not see this as one of the best examples of an Impact Wrestler benefitting from a gimmick change.

Highlights:

Tags: Impact Wrestling

Reinvented: 5 Impact Wrestling Stars Who Thrived After Gimmick Changes

5. Laurel Van Ness

4. Jay Lethal

3. Abyss

2. Eric Young

1. Matt Hardy