10 Times WWE Accidentally Brought Awful Gimmicks Back From The Dead

This one is something special, as Vince McMahon brought back a gimmick so terrible it had only existed previously as a bad idea.

The idea of a wrestling gladiator was first thought up of by WCW's Jim Herd, commonly regarded as the worst executive in wrestling history. Herd simply did not understand wrestling or its fans, as seen by his idea of wanting to turn Ric Flair into a gladiator called Spartacus. Herd's reasoning - that Flair needed to"change with the times" - is as baffling now as it was then. Other than the Russell Crowe movie of the same name, gladiators have never been popular and this was years before that came out.

Unfortunately, the same devil that whispered the idea into Herd's ear visited Vince McMahon years later and this time no one was around to stop him. The results weren't pretty - former WCW champion Ron Simmons debuted as the gladiator Farooq, much to the consternation of the fans. Fortunately, Farooq was injured shortly after debuting and was out long enough to come back with a new gimmick.

That's right - the gladiator schtick was so bad that getting seriously injured was actually better for Farooq's career than carrying on with it.