20 DUMB WWE Gimmick Changes (That We Didn't Want To Admit Were GENIUS)
These sudden WWE gimmick changes were ridiculously stupid. Or...were they?
Changing a wrestler's gimmick is always risky.
Classic examples of rip-roaring success include Steve Austin going from largely mute 'Ringmaster' to hell-raising 'Stone Cold' and Becky Lynch spurning happy-go-lucky vibes to become 'The Man'. Both of those switches led to massive career upturns, but it isn't always as simple to see the genius behind such change.
If wrestling fans are being honest, we're a fickle and impatient bunch. That often makes it difficult to stomach changes, or appreciate why WWE has decided to try them on in the first place. Such experimentation is something everyone should be grateful for though, because it has created some serious pro wrestling gold that wasn't fully-valued until later on.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, eh? It filters out knee-jerk reactions (like the kind you'd see on social media) and enables one to see that sometimes WWE's creative types know best. Many of the gimmicks here were met with raised eyebrows and scoffing from fans, but they all had merit.
One stands out as unique too, because it caused a butterfly effect that created competition whilst bolstering the wrestler in question's resolve.
Dumb? Nah, genius!
20. The Boogeyman Comes To Get You (Forever!)
Imagine this: Someone pulls you aside in the summer of 2005 and says, 'Psst! The Boogeyman will be one of WWE's most enduring characters!'. You'd have laughed right in their stupid face. How could Marty Wright's cartoonish horror nonsense endure? Well, it has.
That imaginary person from '05 was bang on.
Nobody could've predicted that such an overtly silly character as this would become one of WWE's go to cameo bookings for a generation. Boogey hasn't appeared for a few years now, granted, but we're coming up to the 20 year mark since he debuted his worm-eating ploy to bag a company contract.
That's remarkable for something so one-note. It's almost impossible to name a handful of Boogeyman matches, and yet he'll likely show up again here or there in the future whenever creative needs something easy to get a nostalgia pop. Who the hell saw this wrestlecrap-worthy gimmick hanging around so long?!