10 WWE Careers That Were Transformed In One Year
1. The Undertaker - 1996
Jim Ross had to do all sorts of begging to convince Vince McMahon that Mick Foley was absolutely worth the hire in 1996. If he'd known what he was about to do for The Chairman's favourite ever character, Cactus Jack might have been singing "New York, New York" a good year earlier.
The Undertaker was battered and - more importantly - beaten by Mankind so many times in 1996 that he had no choice but to blow away the cobwebs that had formed around the purple covers on his boots. He lost matches because of 'The Deranged One', he lost matches to him and he even lost Paul Bearer along the way.
The world and its evils were moving far beyond the force of goodness that had previously had little trouble in despatching them, forcing through a meaner, keener version of the persona. A version, not coincidentally, that would go on to become WWE Champion again just months removed from a spectacular November reinvention.