10 Terrible WWE Reinventions

When reflecting upon his largely successful career, the late, great Leon 'Vader' White nevertheless tended to dwell on his biggest professional regret: that he didn't allow Vince McMahon to completely repackage him in his own vision.

On the one hand, you can't really blame him. Carved by the chairman's chisel, the likes of Mick Foley, Mark Calaway and Steve Austin all emerged as prosperous Pygmalions, the industry's most cherished ornaments as it hit its boom period. Vader - or rather, 'The Mastodon', could have been one of them.

D'autre part, his trepidation is likewise understandable. Here he entered the promotion with a glittering résumé as 'Big Van Vader', a significant body of work which should have established him as a star immediately. Giving that up was surely bonkers.

That, basically, was the problem. Pushing Vader as Vader meant accepting wrestling's Mensa expanded beyond a solitary office in Titan Towers. White, then, gradually declined into a "fat piece of s**t", proving - even if the evidence was penned by the researcher - that only one man's ideas were worthy.

Vader's career was more than respectable, but his lament lasted until his death. If he'd peered a little closer, he may have had a different opinion. Studying any of the following makeovers at the hands of Stamford's superstar surgeon would have revealed that, you know what, maybe he made the right decision all along.

When Barry Windham returned to the WWF in 1996, he did so on increasingly wobbly knees. Years on the road and multiple surgeries had left his body somewhat worse for wear, so a killer new gimmick to help mask his ailing mobility was just what the doctor ordered (though not any medical ones, who probably would have advised packing it in).

Well, he got that 'killer' gimmick. Kind of. As The Stalker, Windham was disguised in camouflage facepaint and a jaunty beret to help him blend into the environment (from which he was billed), as he hunted WWF superstars. In particular, the former 'Widowmaker' was to make a widower out of Marco Mero by kidnapping Sable and then, presumably, murdering her a bit.

As you might imagine, Mero wasn't massively keen on the idea of his wife being slaughtered, and rejected the angle. The Stalker debuted as a babyface instead. A do-gooding stalker, hiding in plain sight. Or standing in plain sight, since he was patently obvious.

Mankind debuted around the same time; Foley told how McMahon seriously believed Windham's new persona was going to be a merchandising moneyspinner.

It wasn't.