10 Strangest WWE Re-packagings Ever
Sometimes a gimmick change is a pretty terrible idea.
The big news (I guess you could call it that) coming out of SmackDown this week is that Darren Young, formerly one half of the Prime Time Players and bronze medallist in the 2016 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, is getting re-packaged somewhat.
Mr. No Days Off has acquired Bob Backlund as his 'life coach' in a quest to 'Make Darren Young Great Again'.
Wrestling history is littered with individuals being taken off of television for a while in order to return with a totally different persona, a totally different gimmick. There can be a whole host of reasons for this, either the performer has grown stale in their previous role or a certain pop culture trend has caught the eye of Vince McMahon.
Re-packaging a wrestler can be incredibly successful. Before becoming the Devil's Favourite Demon Kane was an evil dentist and a Fake Diesel. Luke Gallows is now something of a big man botty booter, but before this he was a mute redneck that would come alive at the sound of the ring bell.
Despite the successes, many re-packagings do little more than cause the finger to head to the scalp and commence scratching. Here are 10 of the strangest re-packagings in WWE history.
10. Leo Kruger Becomes Adam Rose
I'll start with one of the most recent re-packagings.
Leo Kruger was something of a staple in NXT, and had seemingly been in WWE developmental forever. Kruger was a big game hunter and mercenary, albeit one with questionable mental facilities. His entrance in NXT was particularly enthralling; a close-up of his wide-eyed gaze as rain fell all around.
The Kruger gimmick wasn't gaining any traction however, and the decision was made to tweak it somewhat. The logical route was taken, and the South African Big Game Hunter became a Russell Brand-esque Party Animal called Adam Rose.
The former loner was now accompanied by the Exotic Express, and the gimmick was wildly popular for all of ten minutes.
How you go from South African mercenary to a British party animal I don't know (colonialism maybe?), but Rose (real name Raymond Leppan) now finds himself suspended under fairly questionable circumstances.