10 Times WWE Turned Trash Into Treasure (... And YOU Didn't Notice!)

6. Leif Cassidy Finds Out What Everybody Wants, What Everybody Needs

Chelsea Green
WWE.com

In all honesty, the majority of credit here must go to Al Snow and Paul Heyman, but WWF certainly upgraded on Leif Cassidy when Snow returned to the promotion in the summer of 1998.

Prior to that return, the Ohio native had been utilised as Power Rangers knock-off Avatar, ninja henchman Shinobi, and as one half of the New Rockers during his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation.

Thankfully for the real-life Allen Sarven, he was afforded the opportunity to (no pun intended) head to ECW in August '97. Upon agreeing to loan the talent to the Land of Extreme, WWF allowed for Sarven to develop a new character.

Of course, that new character would be Al Snow, a name used by the wrestler before signing with WWF, but this time portrayed as a schizophrenic figure who was forever accompanied by a decapitated mannequin head from whom he sought advice and used for projection purposes.

Safe to say, Al Snow caught fire in ECW, becoming a hugely popular part of the Extreme product, complete with the ECW faithful regularly waiving Styrofoam mannequin heads as they chanted "Head!" at this once-rejected WWF star.

When Snow returned to WWF ahead of King of the Ring '98, he immediately became a favourite of the market leader's fanbase. So while WWF didn't directly chose this path for 'Leif Cassidy', by allowing him to head to ECW and find his feet as a new character, the company had inadvertently turned trash into triumph.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.