10 Gimmicks That WWE Dropped Without Explanation

1. 'Bareknuckle' Wade Barrett

Wade Barrett was Raw Underground years before that was even a thing.

In 2012, vignettes started airing of a topless Barrett slugging fools in some gritty underground fighting ring. They were eye-catching, largely because there was nothing even remotely as violent or abrasive on WWE TV at the time. Hopes were high that Wade would be able to parlay this new character into a proper main event run.

It didn't take long before these videos dried up, and The Wrestling Observer reported why: TV executives at SyFy were concerned by the vicious nature of the beatdowns and were worried a flood of complaints would follow. On screen though, WWE decided not to explain why Barrett was no longer England's answer to Tyler Durden.

He moved back into a more traditional heel role quickly and the vignettes were never spoken of again. WWE's announcers did still talk about Barrett's history as a "bareknuckle boxer" (they'd been doing that before anyway), but the bloodthirsty vids were a no-no.

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What other gimmicks did WWE drop without explanation? For more like this, check out 10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 1996 and 10 Things We Learned From Jerry Lawler On Stone Cold's Broken Skull Sessions Podcast!