10 Wrestling Gimmicks Probably Made Out Of Spite

5. 'The Fat Chick Thriller' Mike Awesome

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Built like a tank, strong as all hell and able to do things belying his 6'6" 290 lbs frame, it seemed Mike Awesome would be a guaranteed main event star whenever he decided to jump from ECW.

When the two-time ECW World Champion showed up on WCW TV in April 2000, things initially started off okay for an Awesome who would be ranked #7 in that year's PWI 500. Upper card battles with heavy hitters like Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and DDP suggested the Canadian was viewed as a big-time player by WCW management.

Then, Bash at the Beach 2000 happened.

That July PPV was the night Hogan and Vince Russo engaged in a worked shoot promo that ended up with Hulk legitimately walking out on the company, never to return.

Russo was furious with Hogan and wanted to lash out at somebody. With Hulk's nephew Horace also departing WCW, the penny dropped that Awesome was actually a cousin of Horace's, and thus he got the wrath of Vinny Ru.

Gone was the badass monster Mike Awesome, and post-Bash at the Beach saw him handed the awful, body shaming moniker of 'The Fat Chick Thriller' Mike Awesome. Not content with giving the former FMW standout that horrendous change-up, Russo then rebranded him as 'That '70s Guy' Mike Awesome in September of that year.

From unstoppable brute to a total joke figure, Awesome's hugely promising career was stopped cold just so Vince Russo could spite Hulk Hogan.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.