10 WWE Superstars Who Gambled On A New Look

Triple H and Drew McIntyre have something in common; one is a Scottish Psychopath, the other...

Triple H
WWE

Who is due for an image update in WWE right now?

All of them, essentially, since we're just days away from Elimination Chamber 2010. The Miz is still the same A-Lister exuding straight-to-video vibes. That's not even a joke; his work for WWE Studios is buried on WWE television. Sheamus looks different, even if he doesn't act or work much differently, but the problem is that he looks like an old-timer gangster very obviously dressed up. Randy Orton is never going to sport a pair of long tights. Man's got great legs. Also he's been frozen in time for a good decade and a half.

It would be nice if Daniel Bryan took to wearing the old burgundy scheme again, if only to create the illusion that he's still relevant. John Morrison looked dated when he dressed like Jim Morrison. He looks even older now. It's all very warped and very ancient-feeling, WWE, isn't it?

Jeff Hardy needs...something to resonate as somebody different. AJ Styles meanwhile needs a haircut. He just does.

Stale, however, is often better than hilarious; precedent yields very mixed results, for a gamble is just that...

10. Shawn Michaels Wears Baggy Pants

Triple H
WWE.com

The sartorial manifestation of a midlife crisis - or a fiercely intelligent long con?

If not those specifically, many questions were asked of Shawn Michaels' attire at Survivor Series 2002, the site of his euphoric World Heavyweight Title win at Survivor Series 2002, at which he wore drab brown tights which, in unison with a striking bob of a haircut - for a bespectacled, adorkable girl at the indie-pop disco - proved fairly distracting. It wasn't a great look, and so Michaels abandoned it very swiftly. For the next few years, Michaels continued to wear his trademark skin-tights, in colours that were not redolent of faeces, until the accumulated damage to his knees necessitated a rethink. The heavy knee braces looked noticeable, painting an inaccurate picture of a broken man, and so Michaels experimented with an early-ROH, nu metal-adjacent set of baggies.

The masterstroke here was that anything looked sharper than his Survivors garb, and it helped considerably that this version of Michaels was at his psychological peak as a legendary performer with an eternal bond with the audience.

He even pulled them off.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!