Ten Dancing Gimmicks

While it may be Rumble season, I bet you are tired of the 500 list about "Top Ten" blah blah blah of the Rumble. So to break that monotony of rehashed Royal Rumble facts. Like the supposedly little known fact that Jim Duggan was the winner of the first ever Royal Rumble. Let us dance down memory lane and look at ten wrestlers who incorporated dancing into their gimmick.

First man to spotlight is Disco Inferno aka Glenn Gilberti. Disco Inferno was with the WCW from 1995-2001. As the name implies his entire gimmink revolved around disco. He would be WCW Cruiserweight champion and WCW tag champion with Alex Wright, more on him later. He would feud with Maduse over the cruiserweight championship. As an active wrestler he would never break thru the glass celling holding up his disco ball. He and Konnan currently host the popular "Keepin it 100" podcast.

As promised here is more on Alex Wright. The Das Wunderkid joined WCW in 1994 and would remain there until 2001. His accoladed would include being the cruiserweight, tv and tag champion. His early career would see him feuding with many well known names of not only that time by this one. His first PPV opponent was Jean-Paul Levesque. THis also happened to be the Connecticut Blue Blood's first PPV also. Other feuds included Arn Anderson, Paul Roma, and Brain Pillman. In 1999, Wright would stop dancing as he became Berlyn. Today, Wright owns his own wrestling promotion in Europe called New European Wrestling Championship. He also runs a wrestling school which has thus far produced Giovani Vinci.

To hit a slightly more modern dancing stable here is Brodus Clay and the Funkadactyls. The Funkadactyls consisted of Naomi and Cameron. While the Funkadactyls started as valets they would soon join the women's tag division. Albert would join this group after his Lord Tensai gimmick failed. This group would fall apart in 2014. As The two ladies would turn on each other. Naomi has since reinvented herself as Trinity Fatu in TNA last seen losing her Women's Title at Hard to Kill 2024. Brodus Clay would be the NWA champion between 2022-2023 before retiring. He can be seen on Fox Nation.

Koko B. Ware he may be more famously known for having a pet however, the pet was part of the dance. Koko would flap his arms and bob his head along with the bird. The song they would dance to was Morris Day and the Time's "The Bird". Koko B. Ware would make his last appearance as an active wrestler for the WWE in 1999. His last official match was in 2019. Although he is a 2009 WWE Hall of Fame inductee he did sue the WWE in 2015 over concussion protocol. This suit was thrown out in 2018.

Although he is a legendary Luchador Norman Smiley never quite caught on in the United States. Smiley was known as Black Magic in CMLL where he would win their heavyweight championship. Smiley would only resonate with the fans in the US when he added the "Big Wiggle" to his gimmick. Smiley would be with the WCW until 2001. After bouncing around the independant scene and a stint in TNA, Normal Smiley would settle down in WWE as a coach at the Performance Center.

With as many WCW entires as this list has you would think WCW was just one big dancing party instead of a wrestling promotion. Ernest "the Cat" Miller was originally the karate trainer for WCW President Eric Bischoff's son Garrett. After a few gimmick changes Miller would settle on a James Brown impersonator type one. The King of Soul himself would join Ernest Miller during this period. Miller took a break (retirement) from wrestling in 2006 after being released from the WWE in 2004. During that break Ernest Miller would appear in movies such as "The Wrestler" and "The Legend of Bruce Lee." Ernest the Cat Miller has since returned to wrestling and was seen on Impact television in a six man tag back in January of 2023.

Sticking with wrestlers who were last seen with TNA Dirty Dango was a dancer before he started hating wrestling. His debut match for WWE was against Chris Jericho at Wrestlmania. This gimmick coincides with the popularity of Dancing with the Stars as the duo of Fandango and Summer Raw were a parody of that reality competition. The two would have their last dance on the July 11 Episode of Smackdown where she would turn on Fandango.

The first of the most recent hip swivels is Prince Nana of AEW. While he has been around wrestling for a while his dance has just recently set the world on fire. Nana is the manager of the Mogul Embassy.

To finish this list is the young Buffalo, New York born Daniel Garcia. A former RoH Pure champion this young Sports Entertainer has devised a simple dance that angers his opponents as much as Orange Cassidy does by putting his hands in his pockets. Holding his arms up and pulsating his pelvis is the same type of maneuver that got Elvis Presley censored to where they could only show Elvis from the waist up.

There you have it folks. That has been your break from boring rehashed Royal Rumble. If you enjoyed it don't forget to follow us on all our socials for more great content like this.