10 Beloved Wrestlers With One AWFUL Gimmick
Remember when one of the biggest wrestling stars of the modern era did a little jig?
While just about every wrestler bumping across the planet would likely give their right arm to spend their entire career playing a hugely successful villain or hero, history has shown that even the most loved megastars have had to endure a rather dreadful creative spell at one point or another.
Often this sort of absolutely horrendous gimmick can act as a much-needed catalyst for change, with fed up wrestlers opting to completely start again in a bid to salvage any credibility they had left.
And had the following utterly terrible characters not found a way onto television at various points over the years, then there's a good chance that everything from the hottest wrestling promotion on the planet, to some of the most adored gimmicks currently blowing the roof off of arenas wouldn't have actually been born.
Things may have seemed bleak for these beloved or soon to be treasured names at the time. But not even silly purple lighting & thrones, ridiculous outfits, or absolutely disastrous rebranding could keep these gifted individuals from earning or keeping a special place in your heart.
10. Seth Rollins (Monday Night Messiah)
It may have taken a staggering 10+ years, but it finally feels like Seth Rollins has forged the sort of undeniable organic connection with the audience that most wrestlers dream of possessing.
In truth, though, his current 'Visionary' schtick, equipped with increasingly self-indulgent sing-a-long interludes, likely all stemmed from arguably the one-time Shield man's worst-ever character change.
After his last babyface run ended with a Fiendish whimper in 2019, Rollins underwent a heelish change of heart which saw him shift to calling himself the 'Monday Night Messiah.' His new mission was to "sacrifice" his rivals for the "greater good." And it was often about as painful and uninspired as that very sentence would suggest.
But if it wasn't for those long 2020 months of preaching and aimlessly leading numerous followers in the form of the Authors of Pain, Buddy Murphy, and Austin Theory, then Rollins likely wouldn't have had the opportunity to further explore the obnoxious and arrogant attitude that would eventually evolve into the flamboyant, cackling persona currently found dominating on the red show.
And this often hit-and-miss chapter in Seth's story also at least gifted fans with the madness that was his Eye for an Eye showdown with Rey Mysterio.
So, it wasn't all bad... some of it was just hilariously silly.