10 Strange Wrestling Debuts That Left Fans Bewildered

7. Akeem The African Dream

Miro Kip Sabian
WWE

When John Cena recently declared he was proud to get the loudest reaction of the night - even when it was wholly negative - because it meant the audience cared about him, he was thinking about wrestlers like Akeem.

The former One Man Gang suffered one of the most inexplicable character transformations in wrestling history, as the caucasian wrestler took part in a voodoo ceremony to be reborn as the jive-talking African Dream. Rather than boo this blatant attempt at exploitation, the audience in the 80s registered their displeasure by sitting on their hands.

Seriously, go watch his debut match. The crowd remain completely nonplussed throughout the entire thing, neither cheering or booing as they watch Akeem try to make the best of a terrible gimmick.

Silence is death in wrestling, and the crowd's lack of reaction to Akeem signalled that the WWE had laid a Gobbledy Gooker-sized egg.

In this post: 
Miro
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Hello! My name's Iain Tayor. I write about video games, wrestling and comic books, and I apparently can't figure out how to set my profile picture correctly.