15 MORE Wrestling Gimmicks That Got Weird Rip-Offs
5. Sunny (Tammy Lynn Bytch)
The most Paul Heyman idea with the most Paul Heyman name and even the most Paul Heyman spelling, Dawn Marie's introduction into Extreme Championship Wrestling as "Tammy Lynn Bytch" was just about as of-the-time as wrestling could be.
Her 1998 ECW debut positioned her as Lance Storm's valet and a direct rival of TAFKA Sunny, Tammy Lynn Sytch, who was back alongside Chris Candido in Philadelphia after her WWE run fell off a cliff amidst all manner of personal problems.
Extreme Championship Wrestling was many things, and misogynistic in its treatment of women was one of them, down to how both were portrayed here. For better and worse behind the scenes, Sunny had been a transcendent discovery in the mid-1990s, while Dawn Marie's charisma was instantly obvious and would eventually power her far beyond the "catfights" and race-to-the-bottom edgelord comedy inserted to buffer Candido and Storm's often-excellent work.
The painfully 90s and naff name thankfully wasn't to last. "Tammy Lynn" was soon shifted to Dawn Marie, and the overdue removal of "Bytch" eventually freed her of having to be thought of as just a parodic figure rather than a key component in the presentation of the critically lauded Impact Players.