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- Wrestling vampire, Gangrel
- Nobody wanted to be a vampire, not back then
More than 20 years after it came to an end, countless wrestling fans still look back on the Attitude Era and claim it was one of, if not the, best periods in wrestling history. professional. A block of a few years in WWE when it felt like literally everyone was watching. They all talked about it at work, and while the kids probably shouldn’t have been watching, they all talked about it at school, too. Iconic fighters like Stone Cold and The Rock provided unforgettable moments. Austin surprised Vince McMahon, drove a beer truck into the arena, and helped Mankind win the WWE title. Man, The Texas Rattlesnake really was responsible for a lot of that success, huh?
Some fans still won’t admit it, but not everything that happened during the Attitude Era was must-see gold. Go back and watch almost any episode of Raw that aired between 1997 and 2000 and there will be quite a few things in there that were terrible then and are still terrible now, or have aged terribly. Considering some of the tricks we’ve seen over the years, probably more of the latter. Pro wrestling tends to be a bit behind when it comes to catching up with the rest of the world on what is and is not okay to do and say.
Wrestling vampire, Gangrel
The Attitude Era also featured a fighter dressed as a vampire. Yes, I’m talking about Gangrel, and I’m not about to commit him to either side of the Attitude Era pros and cons list. Though Gangrel continues to wrestle to this day, his WWE star wore out relatively quickly. His run in the Attitude Era lasted only three years, and he led The Brood for only a third of that. The impact the stable had made it seem like they were around for a lot longer, and the men that Gangrel introduced to the wrestling world at large as part of The Brood is one of the reasons he wasn’t a major issue in the WWE.
Yes, the lead vampire of The Brood may well have been the founder of the group, but it wasn’t long before it became apparent that he wasn’t the most talented of the trio. While no one could have predicted the heights Edge and Christian would reach as a team and individually, WWE realized that they would be better off without Gangrel after a relatively short period of time. The Brood parted ways for the sake of Edge and Christian, furthering their careers and the WWE tag division. Gangrel’s career as a vampire in WWE was already languishing.
Nobody wanted to be a vampire, not back then
There was problem number two. The guy was a vampire. I was nine years old watching Gangrel walk into the ring and spray what was supposed to be blood into the air, and I vividly remember thinking it was too much. Also, if he were a vampire, shouldn’t he be drinking the blood? Still, a pretty wacky gimmick smack in the middle of an era where the most successful wrestlers were just amplified versions of themselves. Going back to Stone Cold once again, the man was the epitome of everyone watching and wishing they could punch his boss in the face because The Bionic Redneck was downing a few beers and he really was.
Gangrel was a wild character wrestler a few years after wild character wrestlers were what WWE was after. Of course, vampire isn’t an occupation, but when wrestlers were given tricks like hockey player, garbage man, and, yes, rooster, a wrestling vampire might have had a better chance at success. Supernatural characters were shown to work in WWE through The Undertaker and Kane, which begs the question: is WWE on quota for that sort of thing? An undead guy who fights his burned brother who can summon lightning and fire. Yeah, when that’s already on the show, maybe throwing a vampire into the mix was too much.
Suffice to say, the demographic WWE was going after at the time was tuning in to Raw every week to see a heel beat up his boss, and the women left very little to the imagination. If Gangrel had gotten the vampire gimmick a few years earlier, or maybe even a few years later, when Twilight and The Vampire Diaries meant bloodsuckers were “in,” Gangrel would have enjoyed more success in WWE. Considering the man is still wrestling today and has competed in almost every available venue throughout his career, he’s probably not so out of date that things didn’t go better for him in WWE during that time. short period.
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