This year marks the 35th anniversary of Nintendo’s Italian plumber taking the world of video games by storm. From Donkey Kong to the silver screen all the way to this year’s Super Mario 35, the series has inspired generations of people in all walks of life. Therefore, it’s not surprising that Murphy (then known as Buddy Murphy) would have pitched something from Shigeru Miyamoto’s Mushroom Kingdom for the world of wrestling.
Speaking on After The Bell with Corey Graves, Murphy recalls several out-there gimmicks for his “Dubstep Cowboys” teaming with currently forgotten Forgotten Son Wesley Blake and Alexa Bliss. Murphy originally wanted their team to become “Tron guys” with light-up masks, comparing it to a gimmick that Ali brought to SmackDown years later.
However, that was nothing compared to the Super Mario-inspired idea where the two wrestlers would be covered in invisible paint that only showed up under a black light. When either one of them got a hot tag, the lights in the arena would change and they would perform like Superman (or Super Mario with a Star power-up) and not take any bumps. Later on, they would be cut off, the lights would come back up, and they would shift to normal. The pair would have also donned masks under this gimmick, but it never made it past the planning stages.
Eventually, the team split up, with Bliss surprising the NXT faithful by becoming the most successful out of the trio. She also currently has the most over the top gimmick, performing alongside the fiend while Murphy is currently in a more down to earth on-screen relationship with Aalyah Mysterio. However, since his storyline with Seth Rollins seems to have come to an end, perhaps he can inject a bit of gaming flair into whatever comes next.
