10 Attempted WWE Repackages That Failed Miserably
5. Tony Atlas To Saba Simba
Tony Atlas really did have an up-and-down wrestling career.
While personal demons prevented him from ever reaching his true potential, Atlas had all the tools required in a top-level professional wrestler, and is rightly seen as a trailblazing figure for African-Americans in the business. At his peak, Atlas was in incredibly high demand among promoters and a proven draw who, if he was a little more refined on the microphone, would be remembered as one of the all-time greats.
He and Rocky Johnson were the first pair of African-Americans to win WWE’s Tag Team Titles after unseating The Wild Samoans in 1983, and while Atlas took some time away from the company towards the end of the decade, he returned in late 1990.
Atlas wasn’t competing under his original monicker, oh no. Instead, he was reborn as 'Saba Simba', a Ugandan tribal warrior that was distasteful at best and straight-up racist at worst. Accompanied to the ring by tribal drums, wearing a headdress and carrying a spear, it’s one of the most offensively crass gimmicks in WWE history, and it went down as such.
Saba Simba was, fortunately, short-lived, and as terrible as it was, Atlas credits his WWE return with saving his life. The WWE Hall of Famer was homeless and living on a park bench when he got the call from Vince McMahon, and coming back to the business helped him rebuild his broken life.