• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

The Gimmick Table: The Origin of The Genius

Posted: Aug 14th 2024 By: Brian Damage - RingTheDamnBell.Wordpress.com

A gimmick is something that is intended to hook the attention of fans to a wrestler. They may be outrageous or steeped more in reality, whatever the case may be…some have succeeded and many others have failed. The Gimmick Table takes a look at the origins of some of your favorite and not so favorite gimmicks of professional wrestlers.

Today we browse the gimmick of The Genius

‘Leaping’ Lanny Poffo had been working as a babyface undercard wrestler for a few years in the WWF. That all changed in March of 1989, when Vince McMahon held a meeting stating that the company was low on heels. Poffo saw this as an opportunity to try something different with his character and volunteered to turn heel. WWF agent Chief Jay Strongbow laughed at the idea saying that Lanny was too good looking to be a heel and that nobody would buy into it. Poffo quickly came back and said that Strongbow was a babyface for over 30 years and he was ugly as hell…to which garnered laughter in the room. Vince McMahon gave Lanny Poffo a shot to see if he could work as a heel at a house show at the Boston Garden.

Lanny Poffo came out to the ring in his typical fashion and read a complete heel poem that went as follows…My name is Lanny Poffo and I always know what’s up. The Bruins haven’t got a chance to win the Stanley Cup. The Red Sox haven’t won in years and I hope they never do. The Celtics are a travesty; the Patriots are too. After finishing his heel poem, two fans rushed the ring and Poffo was escorted backstage by Boston police. Vince McMahon stood up and clapped for Poffo and decided to give him a chance to work as a heel. Vince gave him some time to come up with a gimmick to fit his new persona. Lanny said he worked with WWF ring announcer Howard Finkel on the development of a new character. Poffo returned to Vince’s office and suggested he be nicknamed Lanny Poffo…Boy Genius. McMahon thought about it and decided to drop the Boy part of the name and just simply call him ‘The Genius.’

Lanny would add to the character by wearing a cap and gown much like his father Angelo Poffo did in his days as a wrestler. He grew out his hair and beard and modeled the Genius after wrestlers Gorgeous George and Ricki Starr. The Genius gimmick lasted for the next three years as both a wrestler and manager which saw Poffo’s biggest achievement in defeating WWF champion Hulk Hogan by count out on Saturday Night’s Main Event.