10 Most Radical Wrestling Makeovers
New look, new man.
While the ability to captivate the crowd in the ring is all-important, it's impossible to imagine any wrestler - particularly in today's era - ascending the mainstream ranks without a character with whom fans can connect.
Finding the right character, incidentally, is easier said than done. Virtually every possible archetype - from deranged dentist to the stars (and Jerry Lawler) to tortured burn victim who absolutely hates the date May 19 - has been used at this point, and that's just Glenn Jacobs.
As such, it's not exactly surprising to find that even some of the biggest names in the industry's history have had to go through two (and, in some cases, three or four) guises before they stumbled on one that worked. Unless you strike gold on your debut, it's pretty much inevitable.
Generally, wrestlers tend to go from A to B. That is, they portray a series of characters all with a unifying theme (both of Jacobs' gimmicks were sociopaths, for example). But, every now and then, they go from A to Z, performing a complete 180-degree turn and ending up with a character that couldn't be more different to their first.
10. Bradshaw To JBL
Granted, there were one or two personality traits shared by APA heavy Bradshaw and John "Bradshaw" Layfield, the smug self-made millionaire who arrived in the ring via a limousine with decorative bull horns attached to the hood.
They were both to some extent Texan stereotypes, they both loved a practical joke, and they each had a wicked mean streak (although, to be fair, that last one is probably to do with the Clothesline From Hell, a move you can't execute unless you're seriously angry).
But there are also glaring differences which one can't overlook. The Bradshaw of old was supposed to be a no-nonsense every-man. The character who replaced him, on the other hand, was smug and elitist; the kind of guy who talks up his patriotism while insisting he got where he is all by himself.
And, to be fair, it was his resemblance to many of the world's most polarising public figures that made him such an exceptional heel. Few wrestlers this side of the 21st century have attracted such levels of hatred, and fewer still did it after years a good guy.