15 WWE Gimmick Changes That IMMEDIATELY Backfired
14. Lance Storm Is “Boring” Then “Finds Personality”
WWE are very careful to use adjectives like "fun", "exciting", "dynamic" and "engaging" when describing their wrestlers today. Sometimes, that can come across as a tad forced, especially when lead play-by-play man Michael Cole is quite blatantly reading from a sheet of paper in front of him and putting on his best 'excited announcer' voice.
Naturally, this has lessened under Triple H, and the commentary has a much looser/less over-produced feel. It's an improvement. So, mind you, is Hunter moving away from calling anybody on the WWE roster boring. That fate befell poor Lance Storm back in June 2003 - Raw GM Steve Austin called Lance’s matches exactly that, and he even brought out a pillow then snored into the microphone during bouts. This led to Storm enlisting “mentor” Goldust to bring out his personality.
He danced to the ring like someone's uncle at a wedding after a few too many beers from the bar, got new entrance music and more, but it was all so unconvincing. Honestly, alerting fans to the idea that someone on your roster is snooze-worthy? Yeah, not a great call. WWE gave up on all of this quickly and stuck Storm in a tag-team with old partner Val Venis that went nowhere fast.
The gig was up as soon as ‘Stone Cold’ called him dull as dishwater live on air. There was no coming back from that. Who thought spotlighting the fact our Lance wasn't exactly as electrifying as The Rock was the way to go?! His new gimmick was DOA as soon as that happened.