10 WWE Stars Who Were Unrecognizable From Their Early Days

2. Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw - Blackjack Bradshaw - Bradshaw Of The APA - JBL

John Layfield started in WWE in 1995 when WWE was bringing in a lot of new talent. As a former football player that worked in the indies, he had the kind of look and experience that WWE wanted on their show. Justin Hawk Bradshaw was basically a cowboy type character that WWE likely figured would be successful because he looked like a tough guy that could beat people up. While he probably could do that, the gimmick never really took off. The Blackjack gimmick started out as a tag team with Barry Windham, but at that point in his career Windham's injuries slowed him down too much. They did all they could with the team by having them dye their hair black and they grew handlebar mustaches, but it didn't really work out. He found success as part of The Acolytes tag team with Faarooq from 1998 to 2002. Originally they were just two power wrestlers that were part of The Undertaker's Corporate Ministry group. Then they turned into likable babyfaces that drank beer, played poker and beat people up after other wrestlers paid them to do it. His solo run as Bradshaw wasn't that exciting. The role that allowed Layfield to stand out was when he became John Bradshaw Layfield in 2004. It was such a contrast from what he was in his other roles. Instead of being a cowboy or a beer drinking tough guy, he was a rich snob that bragged about how much money he had and he was a lot more successful too. He became a WWE Champion as well as a consistent main eventer. The gimmick suited him perfectly. It's hard to think about JBL in any role other than that one, but he showed a lot of perseverance in overcoming all of those different looks to find himself as JBL the main event level performer.