 In reality, he was told that his otaku gimmick was "too bubbly" for Bullet Club, which led to him adopting the Cleaner nickname, which was intended to be a reference to people who clean up crime scenes.His look as the Cleaner was inspired by Albert Wesker from the "Resident Evil" video game series as well as Sylvester Stallone's character Marion "Cobra" Cobretti from the film "Cobra".Although Smith originally intended to embody the gimmick straightforwardly, he later integrated comedy into the persona as a response to people who thought he was portraying a janitor, doing so by coming out for his matches holding a mop and a broom.