10 Wrestlers We Had To Hate Before We Could Love

4. Xavier Woods

In NXT, Xavier Woods did not work. When he translated to the main roster, Xavier Woods still did not work. The whole gimmick that he was trying to push was intended to be a version of the disco hepcat, which is bad enough - but the fact that it was a middle-aged white guy's version of the disco hepcat made everything so, so so much worse. The WWE crowd may not have all worked it out in their heads in exactly that way, but they came to the same conclusion, and the conclusion was: f*ck this guy.

The real life Austin Watson didn't deserve that kind of reaction - but his character damn sure did. Luckily for Watson, he caught a break - a break he really shouldn't have gotten as a member of the McMahon-controlled main roster, because the New Day gospel babyface gimmick was so bad that it took the horrendous Xavier Woods character and managed to drain all the fun out of it.

When Big E, Kofi Kingston and Woods began being allowed to do their own thing with the gimmick, the whole focus changed. Making them heels allowed them the creativity to be really, really silly, and suddenly Woods - the least valuable wrestler in the stable - became the MVP of the faction. His posturing and hectoring outside of the ring became the best part of every match. He brought a trombone to ringside, and got it over with the crowd. That's the mark of true greatness, right there.