10 WWE Wrestlers Who Survived Awful Gimmicks To Become Huge Stars

4. The Rock

Awful Gimmick: Rocky Maivia was baaaaaaaaad. A clean-cut babyface on the plainest variety, Maivia was actually given the nickname 'The Blue Chipper'. How original. His whole schtick consisted of coming out, smiling, shaking hands and trying his damnedest to beat the baddies. He was like 2002 John Cena in 1996. Even back then, fans knew that he was a loser and didn't deserve their adulation. How He Survived It: For all his athletic pedigree, fans resented him because of his cheesy gimmick. Soon, signs of 'DIE ROCKY DIE' and chants of 'Rocky sucks'. WWE had no choice but to turn him heel, which they did as he was reborn as the leader of black power group The Nation of Domination. Although it was an improvement, things only really picked up for Rocky, now named The Rock, when he became catchphrase-spouting 'People's Champion'. He was so charismatic, the crowd turned him back babyface. He flip-flopped back to being a heel before finally finding his footing as a face. Thanks to his too cool for school attitude and unbelievable charisma, The Rock became one of the biggest stars in the industry. That would not have been possible, had he and WWE persisted with clean-cut Rocky Maivia.