11 MORE WWE Returns That IMMEDIATELY Backfired

Bright-eyed young rookie Shane Douglas had a fairly brief run in the WWF between 1990-1991, then he went off to make a name for himself in both WCW and ECW. His ascent in the latter promotion was more noteworthy, so it felt like a coup when the WWF signed Shane up again in 1995. They had a 'Franchise' on their hands, but they fumbled him badly.

Shane re-debuted as Dean Douglas on the 29 July edition of Superstars, and…it sucked immediately. His “Report Card” segments were as painful as the sound of nails screeching down a chalkboard. In truth, Douglas never really got going and clashed with members of The Kliq backstage, so he was gone by the end of the year. It was crystal clear from the off that this reinvention just wasn't going to click.

So to speak.

Douglas looked uncomfortable in his new guise, and he lacked the threat he'd been cultivating as a workhorse pro wrestler who could technically bamboozle enemies one minute then brawl with them the next. His raspy attitude in promos was replaced with a sneering approach that might as well have yelled "HE'S A MIDCARDER" right in your face.

There was nothing to really pin your hopes on with Dean. He didn't help himself by falling foul of Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and others (Yokozuna reportedly yelled at him for missing matches due to injury), but one of the most glaring issues with Douglas in the WWF 2.0 was that his new gimmick was hokey trash. It was never rising above Intercontinental Title level at best.