Wrestling With Vampires

Wrestling has experimented with vampire gimmicks on a number of occasions but none of them have ever reached the main-event and they have all faded away (with the exception of Edge and Christian who dropped that part of their gimmick).

Poor Paul Heyman was laughed at when he suggested a vampire character for Kevin Thorn but it turned out that he was way ahead of the curve as vampires soon became a key part of popular culture thanks to the likes Twilight, True Blood and Being Human.

So is there room for supernatural characters outside of The Undertaker and Kane?
Probably if they’re done correctly however I don’t think that there will ever be a successful vampire character in mainstream wrestling for the following reasons:


Blood

The main problem is that WWE have banned the deliberate use of blood, it would be tough to get a vampire character over if you take away the main part of their mythology. Even if they’re allowed to use fake blood you still have the problem of an opponent accidently busting themselves open, in such a situation you either have a dedicated performer ignore the health risks and drink the blood or they look equally stupid by pretending that it never happened. Even in a normal situation they’re likely to be presented with prone prey at some point and the suspension of disbelief would be ruined if they didn’t take advantage of it. Maybe a vegan vampire portrayed by Daniel Bryan would work but otherwise a bloodless vampire is pretty pointless.


They Don’t Like The Sun

Every now and again a wrestling event is held outside in the dazzling sunlight and that would cause a huge problem for any wrestling vampire, they'd either die, sparkle or be weakened to such a severe degree that even the Brooklyn Brawler could defeat them and those options don’t appeal to anybody but Steve Lombardi.
Even if they’re not booked to appear on such shows most wrestlers will be seen outside at some point even if it's just travelling to the show, it would take one hell of a dedicated performer to never be seen in daylight.

In order to keep kayfabe the poor wrestler portraying the vampire would have to be pale which would be a huge problem for notoriously tan addicted wrestlers, can you imagine an untanned Hulk Hogan? That said Sheamus could pull off the look easily and already seems to have super strength.





Religious Symbols
Vampires are repelled and/or weakened by religious symbols. Guys like HBK and Reverend D-Von have their entire characters revolve around religion, many others wear crucifixes (possibly made from deadly silver) and Colt Cabana often sports the Star of David.
Most importantly Rey Mysterio has a cross tattooed onto his body and any vampire is going to look silly running away from little Rey.





They Have To Be Invited In
Another kayfabe problem, everywhere the wrestler goes they’d have to wait for an invite before crossing the threshold.


They’re More Immortal Than Hulk Hogan 
Humans age, vampires do not, therefore a wrestler portraying a vampire would only have a window of a few years before people notice that they're getting older thus ruining the suspension of disbelief.


Super-Strength
A vampire should be near unstoppable due to their super strength, if they can't pick Mark Henry up with the greatest of ease they're in trouble.

Healing
There’s also the problem of healing, how do their opponents keep them down when they can shrug off any injury? Plus what happens when the poor guy portraying them gets injured for real, he can’t exactly be seen limping around on crutches.


Crossing Water
Wrestlers have to travel but vampires can’t cross flowing water so they wouldn't be able to go on any international tours.



Garlic
OK I’m running out of ideas but wrestling sure does like stereotypes so the introduction of a garlic eating Frenchman isn't completely out of the realms of possibility, surrendering to a French guy would be even worse for a vampire’s credibility than running from Rey Mysterio.


They Don’t Show Up On Film
Probably the biggest problem they face, although watching Santino wrestle an invisible opponent could be great entertainment it’s not going to work more than a couple of times.
The vampire wouldn’t be able to work for any company that sells DVDs or has a TV deal which would severely limit their career.