10 Times WWE Bastardised Wrestling Royalty
1. 2 Cold Scorpio
This comically bad PSA-inspired promo not withstanding, the 2 Cold Scorpio character was an aberration of the wrestling mainstream early nineties - it was cool. 2 Cold Scorpio was a revelation - an African American performer who wasn't confined by racial stereotype.
His progressive form in the character department - not even an association with Marcus Bagwell could taint his aura - carried itself into the ring. Scorpio in his prime was a maverick - though he didn't innovate the 450 splash, he popularised it, and the sight was made all the more breathtaking given his heavyweight proportions. He found a fitting home in Paul Heyman's ECW - that counter-cultural league was perfect for Scorpio's trendsetting oeuvre.
In the WWF, he was repackaged as the retrograde Flash Funk - devolving two full decades in the process.
Dressed as a caricature of a pimp, his look may have worked, if one squinted - but the unmistakeable sight of those thigh-high boots, a mirror image of those worn by Julia Roberts' Pretty Woman prostitute character, entirely compromised what already was dangerously naff ring attire.