Ranking The Danhausen Curse Among WWE's Greatest Gimmicks

The New York Knicks are the 2026 NBA champions, and WWE's Danhausen is partially to thank.

Their incredible season was only helped by Danhausen casting a "curse" on the Cleveland Cavaliers during the Eastern Conference Finals last month, which resulted in the Knicks sweeping the Cavs and subsequently besting the San Antonio Spurs for their first title in over half of a century.

WWE's newest—and hottest—sensation is bound to be a part of the Knicks celebration parade this coming Thursday, leaving fans to question how much more mainstream the Danhausen curse can get.

A great gimmick can make or break a WWE Superstar's career, and for Danhausen, the curse has become bigger than anyone could have ever expected. Sometimes it's simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and many from years past can relate to the success he's experiencing at the moment.

That's not to be confused with the company's all-time best characters, storylines or match concepts. In this case, gimmicks can be short-lived or just serve as a recurring attraction over a period of time, and the celebrated curse of Danhausen is well on its way to ranking among the most iconic ever.

9. Every Day Is Rusev Day

Rusev's stock in WWE reached a new low coming out of a swift 10-second loss to Randy Orton at SummerSlam 2017. He had gone from being an undefeated, unstoppable force to a laughing stock on SmackDown.

The Bulgarian Brute wisely turned a negative into a positive by recruiting Aiden English as his manager and having him recognize the day as "Rusev Day" in a random segment on SmackDown that September.

Not meant to be anything more than a one-off originally, the Rusev Day bit became a weekly fixture with Rusev proclaiming every day was in fact Rusev Day. Rusev's natural likability turned him into an undeniable fan favorite—and a merchandise-moving machine—within a matter of months.

WWE only ever capitalized on it by putting the United States Championship back on him, albeit briefly and a year too late at that. It didn't make him a perennial main event player as it should have, but Rusev Day was at least fun while it lasted and is still occasionally chanted by fans to this day.

8. Evil Doink the Clown's Descent Into Madness

In an era of WWE full of ridiculous gimmicks and unbelievable characters, Doink the Clown stood out from the rest as being truly ahead of his time.

In theory, an evil clown wrestling shouldn't have worked, but it was Matt Bourne's execution of the gimmick that made it especially great. From early 1993 onward, he became creepier and creepier by the week, including by enlisting a doppelganger to beat Crush at WrestleMania 9.

His descent into madness, as well as his rivalry with Bret Hart heading into SummerSlam, were among the few highlights of an otherwise creatively-dire WWE product in 1993. His push was unfortunately stalled when he turned face post-SummerSlam, and even more so when Bourne was fired from the promotion at the end of the year and replaced with Ray Apollo.

The Doink character became a punchline in the years that followed, but early on, the gimmick had legitimate promise that went to waste.

7. Danhausen's Curse

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Danhausen nearly went down as one of WWE's most botched debuts in history at Elimination Chamber, solely because of how the company originally planned to present him.

It was evident from that first night that however they perceived him wasn't going to click with crowds. Thankfully, it didn't take them long to pivot and let him just be himself, as he's been everywhere he's worked in wrestling over the last decade.

He got over with the audience almost immediately in his Raw debut through his entertaining interactions with general manager Adam Pearce and Dominik Mysterio, who proceeded to lose his Intercontinental Championship to Penta after being "cursed" by Danhausen.

Danhausen's curses had never really had that effect anywhere else before, so it was wise to use that as his introduction to the WWE fanbase. It earned him exposure on Raw and SmackDown on the road to WrestleMania 42, culminating in a massive segment where he shared the ring with John Cena while embarrassing The Miz and Kit Wilson.

Whether it's his various appearances on ESPN or the part he played in getting the Knicks to clinch the NBA title, Danhausen is a hot hand right now and WWE is maximizing his momentum in every way possible. It's too early to say how far it will go, but WWE's polarizing decision to bring him in back in February is already paying dividends.

6. Hulk Hogan as Mr. America

Before Elias' hilarious attempts to con Kevin Owens into thinking he had a younger brother named Ezekiel in the spring of 2022, Hulk Hogan pulled off something similar by sporting a mask in the wake of WrestleMania 19 and calling himself Mr. America.

This was a direct result of Mr. McMahon losing to Hogan in a Street Fight at 'Mania and banning him from the blue brand in retaliation. Hogan worked around the ban by pretending he was someone else entirely, and although it's an age-old gimmick in wrestling, Hogan's take on it was extra memorable.

It led to Hogan, er, Mr. America resuming their rivalry in the months following 'Mania and Hogan's longtime rival Roddy Piper getting involved. The matches were hardly mat classics, but fans ate up everything Hogan did during that time and it was a fun angle outside of the top title picture.

We'll never know how WWE intended to end it as Hogan legitimately left the company in June 2003 without finishing the gimmick. McMahon did air footage on SmackDown of Hogan unmasking before "firing" him to explain his departure, but that wasn't the resolution it deserved.

5. R-Truth Is John Cena's Biggest Fan

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From thinking he was a member of The Judgment Day for months on end to routinely mixing up Money in the Bank matches with Royal Rumble matches, almost everything R-Truth has done since losing his mind back in 2011 could constitute as some sort of a gimmick, but being John Cena's self-proclaimed biggest fan has arguably been his best bit of all.

It started seemingly out of nowhere in early 2019 when Truth won the United States Championship and made a comment about wanting to follow in his footsteps as champ and growing up a fan of his, the joke being that that would have been impossible.

Truth went so far as to incorporate the Five Knuckle Shuffle and the Attitude Adjustment into his matches, and it made him an even more beloved babyface than he already was. John Cena made the occasional return to WWE while Truth was doing this gimmick, yet the two didn't interact in any meaningful form or fashion.

The big blow-off came on the post-WrestleMania Raw in 2024 when Truth and The Miz were in need of a tag team partner to combat Judgment Day and out came Cena to save the day. Cena performing his signature moves alongside Truth and Miz made for the perfect payoff after five years of waiting.

4. The List of Jericho

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Throughout his illustrious career, Chris Jericho has had the innate ability to get over the most nonsensical things, objects and catchphrases. Some stuck, others failed miserably, and an elite few will live on forever—like The List of Jericho.

Its origins aren't all that different from those of Rusev Day in that it started as a throwaway segment on Raw one week in late 2016 and turned into a running gag for the remainder of his run with the company.

It was as simple as Jericho holding a clipboard, clicking a pen and telling various members of the roster that they just "made the list" for anything he deemed worthy. The crowd eventually got in on the gimmick and organically turned him back babyface for a feud with Kevin Owens going into WrestleMania 33.

Jericho has always prided himself on being a master of reinvention, so when he wrapped up his full-time run with WWE in 2017, he left The List behind to explore new ventures in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and later AEW. It only just recently returned for a one-off in a segment Jericho had with Ricochet on Dynamite.

Perhaps The List of Jericho will one day resurface in WWE when the time is right.

3. Bray Wyatt's Firefly Fun House

So much anticipation, excitement and intrigue surrounded Bray Wyatt and the rest of The Wyatt Family upon their main roster debut, only for WWE to neutralize them with bad booking.

It took Wyatt disappearing for many months in 2019 to essentially start from scratch and come up with something drastically different from what he was doing before. Thus, The Firefly Fun House was born.

The Mr. Rogers persona he was portraying was such a stretch from what fans had come to expect from him that it took time for it to become obvious that it was all intentional. WWE's product was so bleak from week to week in 2019 that each episode of The Firefly Fun House at least gave viewers one thing to look forward to on Monday nights.

The gimmick gave life to The Fiend, Wyatt's alter-ago that went on to have an unforgettable arrival at SummerSlam. It also became "canon" in WWE that anyone The Fiend put down would be affected and forced to evolve.

That uniqueness is largely missing from modern-day WWE and can only be pulled off by certain creative minds like Wyatt.

2. Daniel Bryan Says "Yes!"

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What should have been a career-killer for Daniel Bryan was ultimately what earned him super stardom in WWE more than anything.

Bryan's opportunistic Money in the Bank cash-in on Big Show to become World Heavyweight champion at TLC 2011 and subsequent celebration where he annoyingly chanted "Yes!" over and over was specifically designed to turn Bryan heel.

Fans didn't quite know how to react at first, and the bizarre character dynamic did muddy the waters of his title reign, but WrestleMania 28 was the difference maker. It was there that he entered to the entire stadium chanting "Yes!" along with him, only for him to get squashed by Sheamus in 18 seconds and lose the world title.

That endeared him to the audience that much more, the exact opposite effect of WWE was looking for.

It took another two years for the company to firmly back Bryan as their top babyface, even if it was merely temporary—and give into the "Yes!" Movement as it became known as. The fans' demands for Bryan in a top spot were too much and too loud to ignore any longer.

Bryan maintained the "Yes!" gimmick for the better part of a decade in WWE before departing for AEW in 2021, though it can still be heard to this day during his wife Brie Bella's matches.

1. The Undertaker's Undefeated WrestleMania Streak

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Call it a character, a gimmick, a persona or whatever you prefer, but The Undertaker is hands down WWE's greatest original creation. If Undertaker is considered more of a character than a gimmick, then the best gimmick to stem from his success was undoubtedly his undefeated streak at WrestleMania.

His string of wins at WrestleMania went unnoticed early on, but once it was acknowledged by WWE and integrated into this annual 'Mania storylines, it increasingly became an attraction at the event. The drama of his opponents attempting to end the storied streak was enough to keep fans invested year after year.

Of the many marquee matches 'Mania has produced since its inception, Undertaker's weren't consistently the strongest, but he and Shawn Michaels did have what's widely believed to be the best WrestleMania match ever in 2009. Other bouts he had at that time were of equal excellence.

Either way, there was nothing more thrilling than "The Streak" at its peak. The gimmick could have gone down in history as never having ended and 'Taker would have retired with it intact, but because it was broken after over 20 years, Brock Lesnar will forever be responsible for WWE's single most shocking moment ever.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.