WWE Gimmicks That FAILED The HARDEST Every Year (1985-2025)
30. ‘Fake’ Razor Ramon & Diesel (1996)
'We have Razor Ramon and Diesel at home'.
Watching Rick Bognar and Glenn Jacobs waltz into view pretending to be firm WWF favourites was akin to 'getting a PlayStation' for Christmas 1996 only to realise that grandma doesn't know anything about gaming and bought you a Sega Saturn instead. She can pass the sprouts to herself come dinner later on after that stunt.
Seriously though, this was one of the worst calls Vince McMahon ever made as head of WWF/WWE. His lieutenants backstage had to be alarmed that Vince believed cosplaying 2 of his most high profile characters just because they'd bolted to WCW and were part of the cool-as-hell nWo was the right thing to do.
Fans disagreed, but not loudly. They gave "Razor" and "Diesel" the silent treatment as Jim Ross droned on about how they didn't have artificial body parts (or whatever it was he was dribbling about at In Your House 12 mere months into the pair's run) on commentary. There's no defending this, and it ranks as 1996's biggest flop by a mile.
Scott Hall and Kevin Nash literally laughed all the way to the bank when WCW top brass worried they were heading back to the fed. Ignoring the fact they were tied down by contracts and couldn't do that, the Atlanta braintrust gave both a raise to fend off WWF suitors. What a place World Championship Wrestling was.
Meanwhile, over on Raw, guys were dressing up like it was Halloween and doing poor imitations of gimmicks fans had adored. Say hello to the bad booking.