10 WWE Wrestlers Who Survived Awful Gimmicks To Become Huge Stars

10. JBL

Awful Gimmick: The big Texan was saddled with a couple of rubbish gimmicks in his early years with the company. He made his debut in January 1996 as Justin 'Hawk' Bradshaw, a cowboy/mountain man gimmick where he would 'brand' his fallen foes (in ink) with the letters JB. It was decidedly naff and didn't last the year. Unfortunately for the future World Champion, things would get worse: he became a member of the New Blackjacks, a tag team with a totally past-it Barry Windham. That moustache just looks ridiculous, regardless of what era you're in. How He Overcame It: The former 'Widowmaker's' injuries began to pile up in 1997 and the New Blackjacks never really got going as a team. Bradshaw meandered in the midcard for a while before he finally found a role/gimmick that suited him: although the Acolytes got off to a shaky start with all that Ministry of Darkness nonsense, Bradshaw and Farooq finally found their groove. As a member of the beer-drinking, barroom-brawling APA, Bradshaw was quickly becoming a star in the company. He really established himself, however, when he was re-christened JBL in April 2004, following a failed singles push on Raw and a lukewarm APA reunion. JBL, the immigrant-hating, suit-wearing, stock market-playing heel was thrust into the main event scene when Brock Lesnar decided he wanted to be an NFL star and Kurt Angle went down with yet another neck injury. Luckily for JBL, he succeeded in the role and became a bona fide main eventer. He had to bide his time and survive a load of crap gimmicks to make it there, mind.