When DJ Gabriel boogied his way into ECW rings in the fall of 2008 as part of Teddy Long’s New Superstar Initiative…
…announcers were quick to note that Gabriel had the look of an ECW Superstar.
Clearly, they weren’t talking about the original ECW here, but the praise seemed misguided nonetheless. More accurately, DJ Gabriel had the look of a douchebag.
While way more jacked than WWE’s resident douchebag, The Miz, DJ Gabriel out-douched Mr. Mizanin with his dancing:
His pairing with home-wrecking wedding planner Alicia Fox certainly didn’t help matters.
The only thing worse than a douchebag was a douchebag with a hot woman, no matter how awful her dance moves.
Dubbed the “Chieftain of the Cha-Cha” and the “Temptress of the Tango”, the duo subjected viewers to everything from a Thriller-inspired line dance…
…to a shootout, complete with simulated death throes somehow more disturbing than the real thing.
Set it all to an obnoxious Autotuned nightmare of a theme song…
…and you had a full-frontal assault on the senses.
All this could maybe be excused if the duo were meant to be booed, but instead, WWE pushed DJ Gabriel and Alicia Fox as babyfaces.
Fans weren’t buying it…
…and the Batusi…
…the Curly…
…and the crab walk weren’t about to convert the audience.
DJ’s wrestling moves didn’t win fans over, either. Despite his finisher, a double knee-breaker…
…fans chanted “You can’t wrestle” and “Boring” at him. He did inspire a “USA” chant, but that’s nothing to be proud of when you hail from England.
Not that DJ didn’t have a soft spot for Americana. Just look at this lasso move…
…or these double-guns and cowboy trots.
After three weeks of squashes, DJ Gabriel finally wrestled a name talent. After hearing fans roundly reject the dancing moron, WWE could have turned him and Alicia Fox heel. Instead, they matched them up against the Incest Twins.
The gambit worked—when DJ Gabriel pulled off a surprise pin, he garnered his best reaction yet: mixed.
Fans got a lot more enjoyment out of his match with Mark Henry…
…which saw the World’s Strongest Man brutalize DJ Gabriel and hand him his first loss.
After another loss, this time to Tyson Kidd, the duo was taken off TV—in DJ’s case, permanently.
DJ Gabriel left the WWE system about a year later…
…dedicating the rest of his life to learning to walk again.