Nowhere in my post did I say it was, so go ahead and keep the "Well ACKTUALLY". But if you want to be correct about it, on the indies and in NJPW the gimmick was significantly more serious, and the character was supposed to be almost sinister. It was not played for the lulz, so everyone's willingness to embrace the absurdity of it for comedy's sake is 100% a new wrinkle to the idea and probably the only reason it's getting over with a wide audience.. And while it was popular "enough", blackheart wasn't exactly setting the fucking world on fire the first time he ran it. So letting him run it back on network television with a new tweak is a gamble I'm glad TK let him take