10 Times WWE Bastardised Wrestling Royalty

Wrestling promotion is a tough game. Ideas that work incredibly well on paper sometimes fail to translate.

Look at Alberto Del Rio: he entered WWE in 2010, a year in which the company struggled desperately for unique and marketable stars. Promoted with an intentionally alienating gimmick as an entitled and moneyed villain, Del Rio was also credible and very talented between the ropes. For reasons which continue to mystify - though chief among them was trademark horrendous booking - the act failed to live up to its gigantic promise.

Sometimes, though, proven talent will find itself nuzzled sweetly in Vince McMahon's lap - only for him to kick the cat violently out of the room. Possibly because it sneezed, if that insane-but-entirely-believable rumour holds much weight. It's a wonder the company grew to be as gargantuan as it is today when one revisits the countless occasions on which it hired a money-drawing talent - and proceeded to alter it beyond recognition.

Imagine the world's most successful football manager filling a striker vacancy with a goalkeeper. You couldn't, because it wouldn't happen. That would be mental - but, analogously, it's really not that far removed from what Vince McMahon has attempted over the years...

Rhodes was one of the most popular babyface headliners in the territory era because he was the consummate avatar for the common man. Heavyset and dripping with charisma, the vaunted "hard times" promo from his Mid-Atlantic days remains one of wrestling's most enduring because its universal, timeless theme was delivered with frighteningly realistic conviction.

Rhodes however was bastardised before he even set foot in the doors of Titan Towers - the entire character of Akeem, a white man appropriating what was perceived as African culture, was conceived as a rib at Rhodes' expense. Rhodes' speech affectations were the source of much amusement to the WWF.

He was literally not a good fit for the Federation, who valued superhuman muscle men over his flabby like, whose "belly was just a little big". So, to slot him into the DayGlo environment, Rhodes was infamously dressed up in black and yellow polka dotted garb and saddled with Sapphire, a comedic caricature of a valet. The act had a midcard flavour - and that's where Rhodes would remain.

The term Flanderisation explains the phenomenon of a television character slowly becoming consumed entirely by one overarching trait. It was named after The Simpsons' Ned - but the practise existed well before Homer's next door neighbour was first rendered.