The use of a gimmick change can help or harm one’s career when trying to find more success. Almost every major name has had a character change throughout the years. The 2000s decade featured quite a few talented performers trying to make their mark in WWE or beyond. Not every gimmick shift worked to find more success.
Some of the names during the ten-year period suffered immensely for their characters taking a hit. The instance of weak booking or bad placement can lead to the talent involved never recovering. History would see the wrestlers in question never recovering from taking a risk. The following talents changed gimmicks in the 2000s decade and fell off the map.
10 Shawn Stasiak
The entire career of Shawn Stasiak saw him trying different gimmicks that never seemed to work out. Stasiak’s greatest success came at the end of WCW as part of the Natural Born Thrillers and later adding Stacy Keibler as his manager.
WWE brought Stasiak back into the fold after buying WCW and didn’t have him revert to his older Meat gimmick from his previous time there. However, the Planet Stasiak character may have been even worse with WWE making him play a comedic idiot always getting embarrassed.
9 Naked Mideon
WWE found a role for the former Phineas Godwinn as Mideon in the Ministry of Darkness faction. Mideon contributed to the faction as one of the first members doing the bidding for The Undertaker and playing a spooky character.
The end of the group led to many wrestlers involved having to make changes. Naked Mideon was the new gimmick for Mideon getting to tap into a comedic persona of streaking. The gimmick change never took off before he fell off the wrestling map.
8 Heidenreich
Heidenreich received an interesting introduction to WWE managed by Paul Heyman and having an intimidating heel character. The Undertaker was Heidenreich’s main rival before WWE realized they wanted to make a change.
A face turn was already going poorly for Heidenreich, but the change to team up with Road Warrior Animal in the new Legion of Doom was an awful move. Heidenreich suffered from the bad idea making him look bad and never had another push again once it ended.
7 Mike Awesome
WCW was guilty of giving bad gimmicks to wrestlers that hurt their career in 2000. Even though they only had a year and some change in the 2000s decade, WCW witnessed Vince Russo booking some brutal gimmick changes.
Mike Awesome may have endured the worst of it when losing his badass persona from the ECW days. That 70s Guy and The Fat Chick Thrilla were two outlandish gimmicks that each ruined Awesome’s career. Things never turned around as Awesome lost his name value before heading to WWE in the Invasion.
6 Rellik
Former WWE and WCW talent Johnny the Bull looked promising at the start of the 2000s decade. WWE tried to create their own version of the FBI faction, but it didn’t work out. Johnny was released as part of the aftermath and tried to change his career in future years.
TNA hired him under the new name and character of Rellik with a weird mask. Johnny wanted to create his own horror character gimmick, but it turned into fans laughing at him and Black Reign. The risk of pivoting to such a wild character failed and saw him becoming a forgotten name in the business.
5 Diamond Dallas Page
WWE buying WCW should have made it easy to use what worked for the top WCW stars joining them. Diamond Dallas Page was the only established WCW main eventer outside of Booker T to come over for the Invasion storyline.
This didn’t stop WWE from falling into the pattern of ruining WCW legends with their creative missing the mark. DDP debuted in WWE as the stalker of Undertaker’s wife Sara instead of the character fans loved from WCW. Things went poorly in WWE and Page left WWE the following year.
4 Charlie Haas
The tag team success of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin saw fans wondering if they could become the next legendary duo. WWE however didn’t even let World’s Greatest Tag Team last two full years before splitting them up in the draft.
Benjamin received a solid mid-card push, but Haas struggled to find the right role. WWE eventually had the strait-laced Haas utilize a comedic character doing impressions of other wrestlers. It was cute for a few weeks before Haas just looked foolish to end his last chance at relevance.
3 Chuck Palumbo
WWE witnessed Chuck Palumbo having a few different characters throughout the years. Palumbo was a part of the Invasion storyline, teamed up with Billy Gunn, and joined the FBI faction. Unfortunately, none of those ideas had long-term success to keep him comfortable.
The final push for Palumbo came later in the decade when having a biker gimmick riding his motorcycle to the ring. Palumbo bullying Jamie Noble as the heel biker didn’t provide much interest from the fans. This chapter of Palumbo’s career was the end of the road before he was released and retired.
2 Perry Saturn
Perry Saturn joining WWE with the other three members of The Radicalz gave him a bigger introduction than he would have received on his own. WWE pushed Saturn in the mid-card picture for a few months winning the European Championship and Hardcore Championship.
There was chemistry between Saturn and manager Terri Runnels to hope they’d have a longer run together. WWE decided to change that by punishing Saturn for almost injuring a local talent by working stiff. Saturn fell in love with a mop named Moppy shortly after and fell off the map for years after it flopped.
1 Dean Malenko
Another member of The Radicalz to undergo a gimmick change drastically different from WCW was Dean Malenko. WCW pushed Malenko as a no-nonsense technical wrestler in the cruiserweight division to great success.
WWE did not have the same vision for Malenko when his lack of charisma held him back. Malenko received a womanizer gimmick often harassing Lita for a huge character shift. The gimmick didn’t work and made Malenko look foolish before his time on screen ended.