10 Wrestlers Who Saved Their Careers By Turning Down Gimmicks
4. Rob Van Dam - Glacier
As Rob Van Dam was gathering momentum as a singles competitor over on Paul Heyman's vibrant ECW show back in the late '90s, the 'One of a Kind' performer found himself at something of a crossroads.
At this moment in time, the WWF and WCW were the two big dogs in town and the latter were very much interested in bringing the then-ECW World Television Champion into the fold. Yet, Van Dam wasn't entirely convinced by the promotion's pitch for him going forward.
Instead of allowing the star to exude the laid back authenticity he had done inside of The Land of Extreme, WCW wanted to throw Van Dam into a Mortal Kombat-esque gimmick. As it turns out, the character of Glacier that was eventually played by Raymond M. Lloyd was once handed on a silver platter to 'Mr. Monday Night'.
Even when Lloyd took up said role, WCW were still adamant there'd be a spot in their new line-up of Mortal Kombat-like characters for RVD. But the ECW man resisted this anything but tantalising offer and continued his historic TV title reign before roundhouse kicking the WWE doors down.