15 WWE Gimmick Changes That IMMEDIATELY Backfired
11. The Godfather Becomes A Goodfather
By his own admission, The Godfather couldn’t stand Stevie Richards at the time or his Right To Censor faction. He thought it sucked, so imagine his horror when WWF chiefs told him he’d be joining RTC on the 24 July 2000 Raw. In storyline, Godfather agreed to give up on his erm...vocation as a pimp if he lost to indoctrinated Richards underling Bull Buchanan, which he did. After that, colour drained from his character and he was all in on censorship.
At least in front of the cameras.
Look, Godfather was never going to crack into the main event scene or anything, but he represented raunchy levity on the midcard during an era when that was trendy, and fans loved his act. Taking it away in favour of a strait-laced ‘guy who wrestles in shirt and tie’ persona that the man himself hated was always going to be a challenge. It did generate heat, but people bemoaned the lack of Godfather overnight and his heart wasn’t in it.
If anything, the artist formerly known as Papa Shango and 'Supreme Fighting Machine' Kama fancied leaning on traits from his UFC rip off character to smack Stevie about a bit. It was his worst nightmare to become part of the dude's new group, but that's exactly what the WWF wanted to do. Like a good soldier, Godfather turned to The Goodfather and went along with it.
He was never happy though, and it showed in his mediocre performances. Eventually, returning to The Godfather and becoming more of a cameo artist proved to be the ideal trajectory for him. Internally, he could've done without the Right To Censor speed bump along the way, and most fans thought the same.