15 WWE Gimmick Changes That IMMEDIATELY Backfired
8. The ‘Fake Diesel’ & ‘Fake Razor’ Debacle
It'd be easy to imagine that Shawn Michaels looked down on the WWF's cosplay version of his pal Razor Ramon's gimmick, but Rick Bognar once revealed that HBK was actually pretty helpful. In fact, at one stage, Shawn was willing to help Bognar learn some of Scott Hall's mannerisms. Who knew?! The whole concept was doomed to fail from the off, right enough.
Glenn Jacobs and Bognar became Halloween versions of famous WWF characters on the 30 September 1996 Raw. Their debut was all part of a crappy rebellious heel run for Jim Ross, and it was also Vince McMahon’s way of getting back at WCW for hiring Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. He’d show those idiots down south that anybody could play the Diesel and Razor Ramon gimmicks! Except, they couldn’t, and that became obvious within seconds of them appearing on-screen.
Meanwhile, the real deals dripped cool as part of the vibrant nWo on the other channel.
Ross looked like a moron for claiming that he’d coaxed the pair back to the fed, and fans thumbed their noses at McMahon’s hackneyed tribute show-style acts. These were the kinds of things fans expected to see from various dress-up indy feds who aimed to give families "WWF style American wrestling" on a budget, not the market leader itself.
If the WWF wanted to prove that anybody could play their characters, then that didn't say very much for their creations in the first place. Sure, why bother paying Bret Hart millions of dollars to be one of the best wrestlers on the planet when some dork in pink visor shades could become the 'Hitman' instead?
Thank God they didn't go further with this.