10 Most Radical Wrestler Attitude Adjustments
9. Brian James
Sticking with WWE’s internal framework, a move from NXT to SmackDown Live! offers talent the chance to migrate from the kayfabe authority of William Regal to the very real one of the former Road Dogg.
The latest figure of hate for many fans looking for a creative avenue to complain towards (something he’s at times welcomed with some misguided and misunderstood Twitter rebuttals), James has unexpectedly risen to a significant position in WWE’s power structure despite finding himself almost permanently on the outs a little over a decade earlier.
An embittered split from WWE in 2001 saw ‘BG James’ arrive in TNA with a chip on his shoulder and some hefty beef with those he’d left behind. A part of the company for much of its early run, James’ embarrassing lowest points were almost all alongside Attitude Era partner Kip ‘Billy Gunn’ James. The two spent 2006 calling out Shawn Michaels and Triple H following their WWE reunification as the original D-Generation-X, in yet another example of the Orlando outfit small-timing themselves for the sake of controversy that never particularly created any cash.
Shoot interviews from around the time reflected how real the bile being spouted was, but fences were clearly mended in order for James (and later, briefly, Gunn) to return to the fold.