10 Great Wrestling Careers Ruined By Bad Gimmick Changes
8. Smash Becoming Repo Man
Demolition are one of the most celebrated tag teams in WWE history. Ax and Smash were the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions of all-time until the New Day took their record in December, and while they originally started life as a Road Warriors knock-off act, they took on a life of their own. Unfortunately, the Legion of Doom’s eventual WWE arrival saw Demolition’s popularity go down the drain, and neither man fared particularly well in the aftermath.
Smash’s career took the weirdest turn following the group’s split in 1991, however. For whatever reason, the former no-nonsense brute became a corny, low-level thief in a long grey coat and what looked like a Zorro mask. Repo Man was born, and Smash’s career as a high-level professional wrestler was slowly ground to dust.
Repo Man has since become one of the most widely-criticised gimmicks in WWE history. With mannerisms similar to The Riddler, Repo would use his rope to tie opponents up and steal victory, then assault them after the bell. He snuck to the ring for a memorable appearance in the 1992 Royal Rumble, where he eliminated Nikolai Volkoff and Greg Valentine, but that was about the extent of his success.
The most bewildering aspect of all this is that Repo Man was actually Smash’s idea himself. Quite why he decided to nuke his career in such a way is anyone’s guess, but he was out of WWE by March 1993.