Every Tuesday, we take a look at an outlandish character from wrestling’s days gone by. Sometimes laughable, sometimes revolting, but always preposterous, they’re part of what makes pro rasslin’ so great. Ranging from slightly peculiar to downright ludicrous, these are the wrestlers that time has rightly forgotten.
WCW had plenty of gimmicks that were worse than Ray Lloyd’s Glacier character, but I’ve spent the past few weeks playing Mortal Kombat 9, and it’s put me in mind of this icy schlub. See, the original Mortal Kombat was released in 1992, but it really hit the peak of its popularity in 1995 with the release of a theatrical adaptation. Naturally, WCW was looking to cash in on the multi-media phenom, thus Glacier was born. Glacier was a blatant rip-off of Mortal Kombat’s Sub-Zero character, wearing a mask that bore an unmistakable resemblance to his video game counterpart and performing martial arts displays before his matches. After several weeks of hype videos, Glacier debuted in WCW with an extravagant ring entrance that featured blue lasers and synthetic snow falling from arena roofs. His entrance attire, which was fictionally over 4,000 years old and passed down to him from his trainer, reportedly cost WCW $35,000 to produce, according to an interview with Glacier after the company’s close. Unfortunately, no amount of money could buy Glacier success. I most fondly remember Glacier as part of a tag team with Ernest “The Cat” Miller. The pair seemed to be eternally locked in a feud with Wrath & Mortis, perhaps to decide whose gimmicks were worse. During his less-than-stellar career, Glacier also served to pad Goldberg’s win streak more than a handful of times. Eventually, he sold his ring gear and rights to his entrance to Kaz Hayashi & his former partner Ernest Miller before disappearing into deeper obscurity. Since the close of his wrestling career, Glacier has appeared in the B horror movie River of Darkness, but unfortunately failed to use his Cryonic Kick or Ice Pick thumb spike on any of his fellow cast members.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qycr3lXVGtY]
clearly remember bobby the brain selling the thumb like a true professional.
[…] last week’s edition of Ghastly Gimmicks, we remembered Glacier, WCW’s attempt to cash in on the Mortal Kombat phenomena of the […]
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