I'm a wrestling fan; I don't think I've made any secret of this. However, TNA's product hasn't exactly hooked me; it reminds me far too much of the old World Championship Wrestling promotion. And now, their new promo for their next pay-per-view, Sacrifice, has only further cemented that image in my mind.

About a month ago, Game Informer revealed how the promotion managed to take a character who was created specifically for the video game, and implement him in their programming. Now, however, it seems they're repeating the concept, at least in part, as AJ Styles dresses up as Marcus Fenix from Gears of War:



I'm hoping that this is as far as that sort of gimmickry goes, because the last time a wrestler tried to be a video game character? Things didn't turn out so "hot" for him.

In April of 1996, WCW began to run promotional videos for the upcoming debut of a new wrestler: Glacier. However, thanks to the introduction and rise to glory of the New World Order (nWo), his debut was pushed back from July to September, drawing the ire of fans.

He made his first appearance on one of WCW's C-shows, "WCW Pro," before confronting Big Bubba Rogers on the company's A-show, "WCW Monday Nitro." The prolonged debut was worked into the story, with Bubba mocking the newcomer, as you'll see here:



Everyone knew it before he even stepped into the ring, but yes, Glacier was effectively designed to capitalize on the popularity of the then-huge video game/movie franchise, Mortal Kombat. His extravagant entrance, which featured blue lights, lasers, techno music, and artificial snow cost nearly half a million dollars, while the Sub-Zero-ish costume he wore cost $35,000.

Only four matches in, however, the character was put into hiatus, wherein the costume and blue lights were scrapped. I've seen no confirmation, but one can only assume that perhaps Midway's lawyers were not pleased by the homage rip-off.

One might suppose that Midway wasn't entirely put off by this, however, as WCW's parent company, AOL Time Warner, would go on to air Mortal Kombat: Conquest following Nitro a few years later.

As for Glacier, his look and theme were refined, but the gimmick was still very much the same. In fact, upon his return, he was given a custom group of nemeses to deal with in Mortis and Wrath:



That one didn't go so well for Glacier, really. Fans just weren't buying into it. So what does WCW do to get the most out of their investment?

Feed him to hot new up-and-comer Bill Goldberg on Thunder:



However, at least two good things came out of Glacier's run: The first is that it introduced the world to Chris Kanyon, who was the man behind Mortis' mask. Once that gimmick was gone, he enjoyed a decent amount of popularity among fans, many of which were at a loss to provide an answer to his catch phrase "Who betta than Kanyon?"

The other is that the feud between Glacier and Mortis introduced us to this man:



Ernest "The Cat" Miller proved to be one of WCW's most entertaining personalities. You may also have seen him in the Mickey Rourke film "The Wrestler" as The Ayatollah, in-ring nemesis of Rourke's Randy "The Ram" Robinson.

In the end, however, Glacier wound up as little more than a memory, and a bad one at that, depending on who you speak to. One would hope this has led any wrestler not working the indy circuit to think twice before dressing up as a video game character as part of their gimmick.

...though a wrestler whose gimmick was to come out as a different video game character each week would be kind of cool.