8 WWE Stars Who Worked (By Not Working)

"Thank You, Strowman..."

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WWE.com

WWE can claim all they like that age-old guidelines governing whether a wrestler is accepted as a popular babyface or despised as a hated heel have less importance in the modern era, but the promotion still focus on creating clearly defined characters they either want to be cheered or booed by the audience.

For example, the company desperately want people to cheer for Roman Reigns and aim boos the way of Braun Strowman. Problems crop up when the audience rebels against these wishes.

Neither Reigns or Strowman are over for the reasons WWE would like them to be, and yet they remain valuable parts of the current product. These aren't isolated cases either, something a look through history proves.

On occasion, even those wrestlers who found their characters didn't work out as planned managed to organically become success stories, thanks to an audience shift that revealed a new path was open to them...

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Contributor

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.