10 Wrestlers Who Turned Their Backs On Former Gimmicks
About face-turns.
Sami Zayn and El Generico are not the same person.
Sure, they share a moveset, physique, facial hair even (and face, for that matter, or so it's rumoured). What's more, they've never been seen in the same room. But that proves precisely nothing. Hitler was never seen in the same room as Father Christmas: doesn't mean they're one man operating under different aliases (though what a swerve that'd be!).
Not to say Zayn is totally independent of Tijuana's finest. Before hanging his boots up in 2013 (to help save orphans in his homeland, naturally), Generico trained a certain Canadian protégé in his exact image. That explains the similarities, then. Case closed (sadly, Generico later passed away in his pursuit of philanthropy).
This might also explain the image which adorns this article, in which Zayn, confronted with a supposed spectre of his past in the audience some years ago, symbolically turned his back on the masked fan. This wasn't just a repudiation of his fan-favourite history, but a complete and very public rejection of it - a way of putting over his new role as a heel, in other words.
This was the subtlest example of a wrestler turning their back on an old gimmick. Others have been quite a bit more direct.
10. Dustin Rhodes
The problem with Seven is that people thought he was a paedophile. As adequately spooky as the introductory vignettes for Dustin Rhodes' new WCW character - a bizarre creep under face paint (plus ça change... ) - were, the implication of him stalking a child's bedroom, and beckoning the youngster to come with him, were plain for all to see.
At least, they were to Turner Standards and Practices, who, somewhat concerned about the level of noncery being promoted by their network, put an immediate kibosh on the whole affair. When Rhodes next appeared on Nitro, he launched into a scathing diatribe against the 'powers that be', claiming he wanted to be "just me", whilst denouncing the child-catcher Seven schtick.
Symbolically removing his wide-brimmed fedora, Rhodes rechristened himself the 'American Nightmare', a play on his father's famous nickname. Of course, the whole thing was scripted - this was a month into Vince Russo's era of semi-opaque 'reality' - but there's little doubt 'Seven's comments came from the heart.