Shane Thorne has revealed that the new gimmick he debuted prior to Friday Night SmackDown this week was actually his own creation.Taking to Twitter, Thorne explained that he took inspiration from Nikki A.S.H, who create her new superhero gimmick, and decided to pitch the character to WWE higher-ups.The gimmick, which seems to be inspired by Australian zookeeper and TV personality Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin, is said to have all been Thorne's idea.In a subsequent tweet, Thorne said he took inspiration from not only Steve Irwin and Nikki A.S.H, but also from John Cena, Paul Hogan and former RETRIBUTION stablemate T-Bar.

Shane Thorne last appeared on WWE TV on the SmackDown before WrestleMania 37 in April in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Despite RETRIBUTION splitting up the month prior, Shane Thorne appeared in the match under his SLAPJACK gimmick, but has been wrestling on house shows as Shane Throne since July.

As of right now, there is no word on when Shane Thorne's new gimmick is going to debut on TV, but the fact that he appeared with it before SmackDown this week suggests it could be imminent. 

This comes after videos emerged on social media this week of Keith Lee debuting his new 'Bearcat' name prior to WWE Raw this week, which you can read more about by clicking here.

For any additional information on WWE stars debuting new gimmicks on dark matches/house shows over the coming weeks, make sure you stay tuned to GiveMeSport.

You can watch every single episode of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown live over here in the UK on BT Sport.