Brian James' initial run in WWE was as Jeff Jarrett's roadie. Backwards baseball cap, fingerless gloves, white towel tossed over the shoulder. Standard stuff. Skip ahead to 1996, though, and Jesse James is approaching his final form: hardcore fish in a hardcore pond. His southern charisma has acquired a nu-metal glaze, traditional spandex attire making way for baggy slacks and his sensible hairdo morphing into the kind of shaved-in braids favoured by teenaged suburban Korn fans of the time (also the Attitude Era's target demographic, strangely enough). Road Dogg and Billy Gunn (formerly "Rockabilly") left their so-so singles careers behind, becoming the New Age Outlaws, engaging in brutal brawls with Terry Funk and Cactus Jack, and eventually joining D-X. Would it have happened without Jesse's swirling braids and anti-authority bucket hats? Seems unlikely.
