20 DUMB WWE Gimmick Changes (That We Didn't Want To Admit Were GENIUS)

12. Heath Slater “Got Kids”!

Cody Rhodes Stardust Shocked
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What a trip 2016 was.

WWE brought the brand split back, and Heath Slater teamed with Rhyno to become the least-likely tag-team success in years. Their entire act revolved around Slater moaning that he had to win to feed his kids back home. Oh, Rhyno also adored squeezy cheese from a tube too, for some reason.

Heath would passionately put forward his babyface case in promos as the ex-ECW original munched cheese on crackers and stared down the lens. It was so odd, but people gobbled the twin everyman gimmick up and turned the Slater/Rhyno combo into oddball SmackDown Tag Champs.

The genius here was that Slater, in particular, had been struggling since the Nexus days. 3MB, The Social Outcasts and more weighed him down rather than lifting him up. Who could've known that something so simple as providing for his off-screen children and taking a kicking from Brock Lesnar for trying to do so would get him so over?

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.