10 Terrible WWE Gimmicks That Were One Tweak Away From Perfection

9. The Prime Time Players

Marc Mero
WWE.com

"Millions of dollars, millions of dollars, millions of dollars" was the sort of goofy sh*t too good not to get over in the grey and grim early 2010s WWE landscape, yet a bizarre insistence on never truly committing to the Darren Young/Titus O'Neil team as a team ultimately put paid to their enjoyable act.

There's a misconception that every tag team has to reach an end destination and spit out singles stars, but both Young and O'Neill never looked as good as when they could elevate each other. Their time together on misfit broadcast NXT Redemption was a bizarre and brilliant success in an environment engineered to craft nothing but abject failure. Their two runs on the main roster between 2012 and 2015 were axed with nominal rationale - on both occasions, the characters coming out of the double act were weaker than the ones portrayed within it.

A "tweak" is only ever really the smallest of changes, but it was this WWE couldn't resist with O'Neill and Young. From over to very-f*cking-not-over, their trajectories were twice tanked as a result.

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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