Is The Art of "The Gimmick" Lost On Today's WWE Superstars

World Wrestling Entertainment has been the home to some of televisions most intriguing characters over the years.  From Doink the clown to Mankind to the Undertaker to The Boogieman the WWE has had some of the most interesting entities in entertainment.

Today's WWE landscape looks a lot different.  While there are still wrestlers with Gimmicks, they are more or less exaggerated versions of a real life person rather than an over the top character that has no basis in reality.

Wrestling is staged, let's just get that out of the way.  But that does not mean it is not fun as hell to watch.  I grew up putting my friends in sharpshooters and giving them flying elbows because the WWE made it seem fun with all their crazy personalities.

Some, if not most of WWE's fantasy characters have been failures.  By fantasy, I mean someone who would never exist in real life.  A guy like MVP is a very real person, I have met a lot of people who act just like him, but characters like MANTAUR are so over the top that they fail horribly.

The Berzerkers were a team that looked like they had been thawed out of an Ice block by two high school kids and dressed up to fight.

Kane and The Undertaker are arguably the last two character gimmicks that are not based in reality. 

Remember when the WWE was full of cowboys, country singers, demons and Duke "The Dumpster" Drosey?  I do.  I remember watching these characters make the concept of wrestling a reality.

I feel that the reason Pro wrestling has lost a lot of its popularity is its lack of originality.  Sure, guys like Jericho dont need a gimmick because they are that damn good, but when you have 80 percent of the roster all dressing in trunks and plain boots, it starts to lose its appeal.

The WWE is trying to be more kid friendly these days, which is why it is even more surprising that they are not coming out with the kinds of characters they did in the 80's and 90's when children world wide loved wrestling.

I'm not saying I want Vampiro in the WWE or anything, I am just saying that it is getting stale and boring to see the same kinds of guys out there each week.

Who is your favorite over the top gimmick?