Top 10 Radical WWE Wrestler Evolutions
For better or worse, these lads looked in the mirror and thought its time for a change. Welcome to Watchmojo.com and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 Radical WWE Wrestler Evolutions.
#10: JBL
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When you hear those three letters you probably think of the notorious businessman who made the locker room a living hell for some of his peers. But its quite easy to forget that he spent most of his attitude era days alongside Farooq as the Acolytes, a couple of gothic gits, before becoming the acolyte protection agency…with the best shirts ever like that one that said “always pounding ass”… Double entendre much? Though you might have enjoyed the APA run more, his character shift brought him huge success including a rather lengthy world title reign.
#9: The Godfather
If you’re a big time pimp, you’ve got to know how to cater to people from all walks of life. And man, does this guy know some weird lifestyles. Starting the company as a dark and deadly voodoo practitioner, Papa Shango, possessions, spells and hexes were his forte…but not for long. A less characteristic run in the million dollar corporation and then nation of domination followed, until he landed in his most comfortable role with his beloved hoes. Less said about that right-to-censor schtick the better…
#8: Stone Cold Steve Austin
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There’s no character that epitomized the attitude era more than the rattlesnake, but it took him some time to get there. In his early days he aligned himself with the million dollar man working under the persona “The Ringmaster”. But it just wasn’t clicking, so he revived the character he was working on in Extreme Championship Wrestling, shaved his head, grew some facial hair and the rest is history. Amazing how much tougher you seem when you’re bald, eh.
#7: Triple H
The Cerebral Assassin, The King of Kings, The Game. Trips has many a handle but the whole intense sweaty guy persona seems to stick to him throughout. Surprisingly though, before he rolled with this he was known as the Connecticut Blueblood – a posh fella with a really, really, really bad fake British accent. It was a gradual change, but by time he aligned himself with D-Generation X, who were pretty much the anthetisis of his former gimmick, he dropped the blueblood thing all together. Funny how they never bring this up, though.
#6: Batista
While the transition from a Dudley Boy to a reverend was pretty wacky, we’re looking at D’von’s sidekick, a bloke known as deacon Batista. Yep, during his early days the animal would assist the villainous holy man and walk through the crowd collecting donations. Alas, The dastardly Dudley would eventually get on the bad side of this beast, and the two clashed leading Batista to go solo before landing a gig with Evolution. From there it was up, up up…. And now he’s a guardian of the bleedin’ galaxy. Fancy that.
#5: Dolph Ziggler
Two words: Male. Cheerleader. Need we say more? Me thinks not.
#4: The Rock
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He’s arguably the biggest character in pro wrestling history… but before that he was ickle Rocky Maivia. Yes, wholesome as could be the fresh faced boy took on the names of both his father and grandfather and the fans weren’t too interested in him… Then came his first major change, joining the militant faction “The Nation of Domination” where he adopted “The Rock” moniker and began referring to himself in the third person. Essential. It wasn’t long though before he became the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.
#3: Cody Rhodes
When this guy started he was pretty much Dusty Rhodes’ son in the form of a create-a-wrestler template. He was promising but, even when he aligned himself with Randy Orton, he really wasn’t up to much. It was time for a change so why not try the tried and tested gimmick of guy-who-reckons-he’s-well-handsome. It wasn’t a bad change, but something was still lacking until he flipped As great as the gimmick was it wasn’t the type that could last forever, and so he took a couple steps back until…Stardust. Yeah. Thankfully, now he’s back to his old ways in companies like ROH and NJPW as the American Nightmare. Phew.
#2: Mick Foley
When you think multiple wrestling personas you think of this fella. Whether he was the grooviest of hippies, Dude Love, the bloodthirsty hardcore westerner, Cactus Jack, or the unstable masked freak, Mankind, Mick Foley breathed life into each of his characters enough for them resonate with the audience to this day. But when it was all over, the name Mick Foley holds just as much weight to it, as one of the most lovable faces in the history of professional wrestling.
#1: Kane
You can’t really name anyone who’s changed as much as the big red machine. Masking and unmasking and masking again on the drop of a dime, Kane’s character changes at a breakneck pace to the point where sometimes its unclear if he’s a heel or a face. But if you think he’s changed radically from the day he ripped off the hell in the cell door… jump waaay back and you’ll meet his first ever persona; Isaac Yankem…an evil dentist. Lovely.
