10 Wrestlers Who Altered Their Body For Their Gimmick
Real American. Unreal hairline.
Whilst watching the final episode of Nitro backstage with Trish Stratus draped across his lap, Vince McMahon was suddenly brought to attention by a former charge of his, Dustin Runnels, appearing on-screen.
"That was Goldust. Now, do you know what Goldust wanted to do one time? Believe it not, he wanted to have these great big implants - breast implants! - put on his chest."
As he laid into how preposterous the idea was, McMahon soon realised who he was talking to - or more accurately, ogling at. Though the whole line may have seemed like an elaborate set up to both indulge the prurient president and undermine Dustin in one go, incredibly, it was totally true.
With his career at a complete standstill in the late-'90s, Goldust legitimately pitched doing a reverse-Rock by artificially enhancing his bosom. Thankfully, it didn't go any further. Surprisingly, it was McMahon himself who talked Runnels out of the idea.
There's an unfortunate set of other wrestlers who didn't receive such sage advice before undergoing surgery for the sake of their gimmick. Heck, some were practically encouraged.
As Vince was staring down Trish's own enhanced area, the irony was totally lost on him. Was all her own hard work or that of a surgeon's scalpel the reason she was sharing a settee with the Chairman? Sadly, we all know the answer.
10. Adam Bomb (Tattoo)
It's easy to assume Vince McMahon saw Bryan Clark's mushroom cloud tattoo emblazoned with the pun 'Adam Bomb' during their first meeting and was immediately struck with inspiration. The dreadful, even tasteless pun should tip you off; the whole gimmick was entirely Vince's brainchild.
For the first few weeks of his WWE run, the nuclear newbie could be seen sporting ink of a dragon on his left biceps - imagery entirely incongruous with the rest of the fallout fanatic's outfit. It wouldn't do, and soon enough, Adam Bomb's arm was redecorated with a cartoon depiction of a Fat Man alongside his hilarious name in ludicrous bubble writing.
Strangely, when Clark returned to WCW as Wrath, the tattoo - either the dragon or the bomb - had entirely vanished. Apparently the imprint of a nuclear explosion isn't something that can't be fixed by a painful and expensive session under a laser.