10 WWE Superstars Who Gambled On A New Look

5. Robert Roode Goes Full Rick

Triple H
WWE.com

You've gotta love Vince McMahon.

Despite having Bobby Roode under his auspices for a couple of years, he didn't grasp that Bobby Roode took inspiration from a certain superstar of yesteryear, and booked deeply entertaining heel NXT Champion Bobby Roode as a babyface because fans enjoyed Bobby Roode's entrance theme. And then, two years later, an epiphany: he thinks that inspiration was called 'The WWF Superstar with the last name that described his personality'.

Robert Roode was born in 2019, and he shaved his beard down to a moustache to echo the legendary shagger. The new look inspired more memes than hope, and WWE dashed any hope fans may have had by abandoning his singles push after a single episode of RAW.

Subsequent to that, Robert Roode was very similar to Bobby Roode: mostly ineffectual until he bagged a tag team partner from out of nowhere, after which they became experts and Champions in the field after honing an unbeatable chemistry over a few weeks or so.

The gamble did not work, but that's probably less to do with the "moustache" and more to do with "directionless booking".

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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 current Undisputed WWE 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!