5 Money Gimmicks You May Have Forgot

WWE's annual Money In The Bank PLE is this weekend. Money In The Bank sponsored by Cashapp (great partnership marketing by the way), got me thinking about money gimmicks in wrestling. One of the oldest gimmicks in the industry, the smug, arrogant, rich heel is so easy to craft and get fans to hate. However for every Ted Dibiase, JBL, Alberto Del Rio's and more recent rich guy gimmicks like Cameron Grimes that people love and adore. There are similar personas that have just fallen by the wayside of time. Here we are with 5 Money based gimmicks you forgot about.

 V.K. WallStreet

In he mid-90's WWF Mike Rotunda was Irwin R. Schyster, the tax man coming to collect his debts. When his time was up there and he moved to WCW. They decided to make his gimmick more realistic, but retain the money aspect of his persona. And one V.K. Wall Street (Vincent Kennedy) was born. He piddle paddled around the mid-card and eventually VK was dropped, for Michael Wall Street and he still didn't rise up the card. He then joined the nWo at the end of '96 but that went nowhere either, and no one really remembers V.K. WallStrret.

Ted Dibiase Jr.

After Legacy disbanded in 2010, the WWE decided to repackage Ted Dibiase Jr. with the same gimmick his father held. He was gifted the million dollar championship, and after searching for a sidekick his own "virgil" so to speak. The original Virgil returned to the WWE to be by his side, until he kicked him to the curb in favor of Maryse. Well none of that worked for Dibiase Jr. mainly because he did not have the charisma or promo work of his father. The gimmick was dropped and he just tolled around until leaving the WWE in 2013. 

Ethan Carter III

                                

Let's be honest Ethan Carter III was a better character than EC3. The "nephew" of TNA owner Dixie Carter, Ethan Carter the third played the role of a arrogant spoiled man child to perfection. Debuting in TNA in 2013, up until his departure in 2018 he was one of the best acts in TNA/Impact at the time. Unfortunately during that time, the promotion's popularity and good fortunes with the wrestling crowd had dwindled. Not to mention they bounced between many networks mainly second rate ones, during this time. So alot of fan's did not get to experience this greatness, and only know the testy persona seen today.

Mean Street Posse

Shane O' Mac's boy's from the rough neighborhoods of Greenwich, Connecticut the Mean Street Possee. Debuting in 1999 as Shane's backup in his feud against X-Pac and D-X around Wrestlemania XV. Originally featured in interview segments , then they conducted a beatdown on X-pac to show how "street" they were. Rodney and Pete "Gas" were legitimate friends of Shane McMahon, while 3 other guys played members of the group. I'm not really sure if they were actual friends or wrestlers, then Joey Abs a trained wrestler and longtime friend of The Hardy Boyz joined the unit. He primarily did all the ring work, but Rodney and Pete eventually came into their own as wrestlers. Once they separated from Shane and tried to do their own thing, they faded away. Shockingly many today don't remember this unit.

Bobby Roode

Before was Glorious and before he had some Beer Money, Bobby Roode was CEO of Robert Roode Inc. and you probably don't remember that. That's right in 2006 after Team Canada disbanded, Bobby Roode went off on his own and was repackage as a businessman of sorts. His first order of business was to find a manager to help him run his empire. Legends like Bobby Heenan, Col. Robert Parker, and Sherri Martel appeared on TNA TV to become business partners with Roode. He eventually hired Traci Brooks to help him manage his portofolio, and engaged in several low to mid card feuds. Never really experiencing success as a singles wrestler around this time, he quasi disbanded the gimmick when he joined forces with James Storm to form Beer Money. That's when people really took notice of Bobby Roode and unfortunately have forgotten the era of Robert Roode Inc.