10 Totally Unnecessary WWE Gimmick Changes
7. Akeem (Street Fighter > Fake African)
Work this one out.
Imposing tough guy biker the One Man Gang embraced his erm...African roots to become Akeem in late-1988. As a rib on Dusty Rhodes (Bruce Prichard claims it wasn't a joke, but it definitely was), the WWF nicknamed him the 'African Dream' and had their new gimmick rap promos in a familiar style.
The problem? For starters, Gang was ideal heel foil for rampaging megastar Hulk Hogan. He, like King Kong Bundy, Andre The Giant and countless others before him, had the necessary size to believably pummel Hulkamania into dust and giggle about doing it. Then, boom! Suddenly, he was dancing with Slick.
No-one has ever stopped to properly explain why this happened. Prichard, via his podcast, has defended the idea as entertaining, but his reasons always seem half-hearted. The WWF took a street-fighting bouncer and had him dad dance as his manager waffled on about some ridiculous heritage story.
Christ, it's even worse in retrospect.