Good Gimmick Guide

The first think anyone taking part in a federation needs to do, is to decide on a gimmick. Making a gimmick is easy, but making a good one can be much trickier. There are plenty of decisions that can be made, so this guide is a step by step on the basics to get your gimmick running. These aren’t hard and fast rules, but should help you along the way.

Face, Heel or Tweener?
The first decision to be made, is whether you’re going to be a face, a heel, or somewhere in between. To put it simply, a face is a wrestler the fans cheer for, where a heel is one they boo. A tweener is something in between, generally a popular wrestler who still uses heel tactics. Some wrestlers spend their careers in one role, while some tend to change frequently, depending on storylines, so this decision isn’t permanent. It does, however, make it easier to write RPs with a goal in mind.

Pop and Heat.
The simple goal of a face is to get a pop (positive reaction) from the fans, where for a heel it is to get heat (negative reaction). This is a good way to judge if a role play is right for your character. Faces will get along well with fans, talk to them and sign autographs. They will also generally get on well with other face wrestlers and federation staff. Heels are often disdainful of fans, ignoring, insulting, or even attacking them. They generally get on well with other heels, though are willing to resort to most means to get victory over any opponent. It’s easy to build a character quickly with these basics in mind.

Personality.
The most important part of a gimmick, having a good idea of your wrestlers personality. For a face, are they charismatic, funny, or simply an underdog. For a heel, are they arrogant, a cheat, or just sadistic. What characteristics make your wrestler stand out? Often it is easiest to think about it in terms of wrestlers who you have watched compete, though simply copying from them isn’t as good as working to make a gimmick of your own. The most important thing though is to make it something you can write well, as it doesn’t matter how interesting a gimmick is, if you aren’t able to role play well with it.

Rounding things off.
To finish a gimmick, find a picture for your wrestler card, and choose an entrance theme music. Getting an image of your character, and theme music helps round out the gimmick, and may give you more ideas as to what you can do with it. Also at this point think about some sort of iconic phrase or gesture which may work well with your gimmick. Not all wrestlers have or need this, but many do make use of it effectively.