10 Regrettable Wrestling Revamps
It takes courage to embrace change. Especially if that change is for the worse.
The business of pro wrestling has long been the home of ridiculous gimmicks, outrageous outfits, and general wall-to-wall insanity. The over the top nature of the industry is an accepted part of the product and is what keeps fans coming back for more.
However, promoters don’t always get it right when they come up with a new persona, and what looks good on paper can often be disastrous in execution. Pro wrestling has seen countless gimmicks over the years, from abbots to zombies and everything in between, which makes it infinitely more difficult to be original. More importantly, it makes it harder still for that originality to be good.
From the LOD-branded Heidenreich and yellow-toothed Gene Snitsky to making Nick Dinsmore portray Eugene and Jimmy Wang Yang becoming a Japanese cowboy, WWE have tried a lot over the past decade to repackage wrestlers under new gimmicks. However, the success is more often than not very limited.
Nevertheless, main event stars like Dolph ZIggler and Bray Wyatt are living proof that a new name and fresh look can translate to success. Sadly for the ten men in this list, that was not the case.
10. Jim Neidhart - Who
When talking dubious debuts, who better to start with? Who - that’s who! Oh forget it...
Born out of an Abbott and Costello joke gone too far (“Who’s on first?” for those interested), the masked gimmick of the man they call Who was a legitimate thing in WWF in 1996, proving once again that Vince McMahon was as out of touch as a pensioner in an Apple Store.
Who was actually former tag champion and Hart Family legend, Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart. Wearing a mask and gaudy yellow trunks, The Anvil's newest persona seemed to exist solely as a vehicle for “who?” jokes on commentary. Sadly without the aid of a crack pipe, it was clear to see that the gimmick made about as much sense as the Ultimate Warrior in a baseball hat. Oh wait...
To give an idea of context at the time, Steve Austin had just won the King of the Ring two weeks earlier and WCW would form the New World Order the very next night at Bash of the Beach 1996. All of which asks the question once again: what in name of Mantaur was WWE thinking?
Luckily, Neidhart would return the following year to round off his WWF career in style with the brilliant reformation of the Hart Foundation, and the whole gimmick was forgotten.