Personally, I really don't like it when someone is cribbing an existing character. Especially when they then use that character as their avatar (not saying you do this, but I see a ton of people do it). I've always felt that starting with "I wanna be like so and so" is always a bad, bad start. Anyone with any degree of wrestling knowledge and reading comprehension will probably pick out what you're doing pretty quick. And in past feds that I judged in, if you were aping an existing character it was a huge strike against.

That being said, I've played face characters with mental illness twice, once early on in my career and once much later. The second one was better. He was somebody delusional who thought he was someone else, was totally oblivious to it, and was so folksy and down to earth as that persona that he was very lovable despite being crazy.

The first one was more maudlin and ham fisted, but still alright. He was a talented young kid who was involved in a car accident that gave him nasty facial scars. He wound up with depression and PTSD, had some suicidal tendencies. But I think the thing I did right with him was that despite some dark times it wasn't always about his mental illness and he was able to have some fun too. I also gave him a heelish manager as a foil, which conidering he was a face and a good kid who wanted to do the right thing it created some funny scenarios. Take away though is that mental illness is fine, but don't make it central to who the characer is. They shouldn't just be a diagnosis.