10 Wrestlers Who Became Successful After Getting Repackaged
7. CM Punk
Punks entry on this list is based off two separate incidents of his gimmick getting repackaged. The first one was in 2009, when he became the leader of the Straight-Edge Society. Despite having several accomplishments in WWE prior to this turn, he was still considered a bit of a middle of the road character, one who wasnt meant to get the top spot despite his skill and fan support. Adopting a better-than-you mentality, Punk drew on some of the traits that made him a massive heel on the independent scene, which usually involved insulting the crowd and his opponents on a very personal and emotional level. To further amplify fan hostility, he stated in his DVD Best in the World that this character was based off of American televangelist preachers. In other words, he was trying to portray himself as a straight-edge, wrestling Jesus Christ, which naturally ticked off a lot of people in the Christian United States. Though this gimmick got him a lot of attention, it wasnt until over a year later that he would really become white-hot. His second repackaging was when he turned into the anti-corporate rebel after his infamous promo against WWE. Speaking from the heart about what he perceived to be serious problems with the state of affairs in WWE, Punk became a hero for everyone who was tired of seeing the same old product from Vince McMahon. Blending theatricality with reality in a way that had not been seen since the Montreal Screwjob, the Summer of Punk was, at first, the most exciting thing WWE had going at the time. Punks character was essentially an extension of his real-life personality that he had not been able to express up until that point. This in turn led to Punk winning the WWE Championship from John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011, which served as the final stepping stone needed to establish Punk as a main-event Superstar. Both of these instances of Punks popularity exploding were the results of Punks character undergoing a repackaging. The first was from good guy who happened to be straight-edge to better-than-you straightedge messiah, and the second was from leader of the New Nexus to anti-corporate rebel. If there was ever a good example of what can happen when you repackage a Superstar, its CM Punk.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
