10 WWE Wrestlers Who Survived Awful Gimmicks To Become Huge Stars

7. William Regal

The Awful Gimmick: Regal's most successful gimmicks have been variations of the snobbish, well-spoken brit. Much better as a villain than a blue-eye (that's English talk for babyface), Regal is a master of getting crowds riled up with his snooty, holier-than-thou promos and mannerisms. He's not a bad hand in the ring, either, which of course helps. After several years of playing the blueblood in WCW, he signed with the WWE in mid-1998 and after a stint at the training camp to get into ring shape (where he broke his ankle and leg), he was ready to be called up to television with a brand new gimmick. The gimmick was that Regal was a 'Real Man's Man', a hybrid builder/lumberjack who enjoyed doing MANLY things, like chopping wood, hunting and shaving with a straight razor. His debut was hyped with some unspeakably cheesy vignettes and he came out to music which proudly proclaimed 'he's a man, a real man's man'. How He Survived It: His stay as the Real Man's Man would not be a long one, as Regal was suffering from substance abuse issues and was let go after just a few months in the role. After a forgettable spell in WCW, Regal cleaned up his act and was re-signed by the WWE. This time, the company sensibly brought him in with a gimmick similar to his early-90s WCW one. He was Commissioner Regal, a snivelling (yet undeniably vicious) Englishman who sucked up to authority figures. Regal was soon headlining episodes of Raw and Smackdown against The Rock and Steve Austin.