10 Incredible Transformations From Jobbers To WWE Champions

5. Kane

Kokina Yokozuna
WWE

'The Big Red Machine's staying power shouldn't have surprised anybody really - it was Kane that finally broke the trend of Undertaker feuds that typically ended when 'The Deadman' rolled a sorry monstrous soul into a casket ready for somebody else to steal his urn, or beat up a gravestone, or whatever else went into the Daft Undertaker Ideas machine that booked most of his mid-1990s feuds.

Clicking as the burned brother of the company cornerstone, Glenn Jacobs unlocked remarkable charisma from behind a mask that obscured his entire face, having struggled to do the same wearing another wrestler's visage a year prior.

Fake Diesel could have been a career killer (Fake Razor Ramon pretty much was), but the man that had also been a dentist and a human Christmas tree in previous years had the patience and perseverance to cling on for something more. His King Of The Ring 1998 win over Steve Austin was a surprise, but not a shock - few others in the company looked as dominant at that level, and it was years before the gimmick descended into the parody of itself it ultimately became.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett