Most wrestlers will need to have a few different chapters in their career. The likelihood of having one character that works and never needs to endure a change is almost impossible. Companies and wrestlers most suggest changing things up at some point. There are often huge projects of wrestlers being repackaged and given a new opportunity to succeed. The ideas can see a wrestler change everything associated with their character. It can lead to a great change with the fans viewing the wrestler in a different light that leads to success. Other instances can see the change completely damage the wrestler and hurt their chances of finding the goal of a new character sticking with the audience.
We will look at some interesting examples of both success and failure when it comes to repackaging a wrestler. The good examples led to wrestlers having significantly better careers due to getting the change. Bad instances will show you just how badly things can fall apart and damage a wrestler’s career if it does not work. This will continue as it is a nature of the beast in the wrestling business. You can never figure out what will be a guaranteed hit or flop. Find out which wrestlers benefited and were hurt most from the changes. These are ten repackaged wrestlers that were massive hits along with ten that were huge flops.
20 Hit: Crow Sting
Sting’s original gimmick with the “Surfer Sting” face paint found success in the early 90s. Many viewed Sting as WCW’s version of Hulk Hogan with the success as a pure babyface character. However, the industry shifted during the Monday Night War when the New World Order became the hottest act.
Sting needed a gimmick change to find momentum. It worked when he started portraying the “Crow Sting” character with the black and white face paint. Fans fell in love with the repackaging of Sting as the mysterious loner that watched from the rafters. Sting became the one man able to oppose the nWo for the hottest angle in WCW history.
19 Flop: Diamond Dallas Page
WWE was criticized for repackaging the WCW wrestlers joining the company in a way that hurt them. Diamond Dallas Page was arguably the best example of this when he chose to give up money to take a smaller contract and join the WWE for the Invasion era.
WWE repaid Page by giving him a horrible new character to portray. DDP was revealed as a follower of The Undertaker and his then-wife, Sara. It felt like a completely different person than the wrestler fans fell in love with as the breakout star of WCW. The career of Page was never the same and the flopped repackaging led to a flopped run in WWE.
18 Hit: JBL
JBL had one of the most successful repackages in wrestling history. The veteran was known for being a tag team wrestler as one half of the APA tag team along with partner Ron Simmons. No one ever viewed Bradshaw as a noteworthy performer until he turned heel and received a huge push as the new character JBL.
The new character of an arrogant and wealthy heel made JBL WWE Champion right away, as he held the title for almost a year. JBL even changed up his look losing the long black hair for short blonde hair, so fans wouldn’t associate him with the Bradshaw days. The repackaging changed JBL’s career forever and is how fans remember him today.
17 Flop: Stardust
Cody Rhodes is currently one of the most important people in wrestling thanks to his role as one of the Vice Presidents of new promotion All Elite Wrestling. This may have never happened if Rhodes did not get upset at how WWE was booking him. Cody always showed potential as a singles star, but WWE repackaged him as Stardust based on his brother, Goldust.
Stardust had a few fun moments, but it was viewed as a huge failure. Fans gave it zero credibility and WWE stopped booking him on television. Cody was so unhappy that he requested a release once WWE turned down his ideas to ditch Stardust.
16 Hit: Rikishi
Many fans forget just how many different gimmicks Rikishi had in WWE before becoming the Rikishi we all know and love. Between his time as a tag team wrestler in the Headshrinkers, his "Make A Difference" gimmick, and his heel work as The Sultan, none of them allowed him to break out in a major way.
Rikishi would find success when repackaged as the fun-loving big guy that wanted to dance and have fun after matches. The face character became one of the most beloved wrestlers in early 2000. Rikishi made up the Too Cool faction with Brian Christopher and Scotty 2 Hotty joining him. If not for this repackaging, Rikishi might not have made it into the WWE Hall of Fame.
15 Flop: Mike Awesome
Mike Awesome was one of the hottest acts for ECW when hitting the free agent market. WCW made the move to sign Awesome during his reign as the ECW Heavyweight Champion. Despite the great skills shown in ECW, WCW was not impressed with Awesome in his first few weeks.
Vince Russo made the call to completely give up on Awesome’s prior push and repackage him. The new character featured Awesome playing That '70s Guy, a gimmick meant to parody the popular sitcom That '70s Show. Awesome dressed in '70s fashion and used old lingo. It was an embarrassment that essentially ruined his career.
14 Hit: Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt is currently missing from WWE television and has struggled over the past year, but that doesn’t mean that the repackaging wasn’t a huge success. The prior run of Wyatt as Husky Harris featured him failing to stand out and desperately hoping he would not get released.
He would get repackaged as Bray Wyatt, leading The Wyatt Family in NXT. The act was unique enough to win over the audience and find success later on the main roster. Wyatt would even go on to win the WWE Championship in 2017. Despite the current issues, Bray’s repackaging is one of the best in recent memory.
13 Flop: Brodus Clay
The size of Brodus Clay was always his biggest strength in the wrestling world. A wrestler like him will visually stand out to catch the audience’s attention and get a chance. Clay started in WWE as the enforcer of Alberto Del Rio, but that did not last too long.
A repackaging would feature months of vignettes showing an intimidating Brodus ready to come back. However, it was a swerve, as the repackaging would feature Clay playing a dancing face character referred to as the Funkasaurus. The new act did not help him find much success as Brodus would not get it over and was released by WWE within a few years.
12 Hit: Scott Steiner
The end of WCW was a tough time for fans trying to continue watching the sinking company. One of the very few instances of something positive happening featured Scott Steiner becoming a top singles star. Steiner turned heel when he betrayed his brother Rick Steiner to join the New World Order.
The chance to play a singles heel for the first time led to Scott completely changing everything about his look and persona. Steiner now sported short blonde hair and facial hair, with a similar presentation to Billy Graham. Big Poppa Pump was created in the repackaging as an unpredictable loose cannon. This is still how fans view Steiner to this day.
11 Flop: Adam Rose
Adam Rose is among the biggest flops to get repackaged in NXT and make it to the main roster. Prior to this gimmick, he was known as a bounty hunter named Leo Kruger. This was a more mysterious gimmick with potential with the right booking. However, it just did not work at the time, and he was repackaged to play the Adam Rose gimmick.
This featured Rose becoming a party animal with a huge entourage wearing wild costumes and outfits dancing with him to the ring. There was some charm to it, but the gimmick flopped big-time on the main roster. Rose lost all relevance as no one took him seriously, while a lot of his "Rosebuds" (Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Braun Strowman) went on to much bigger things.
10 Hit: The Rock
The Rock is viewed as one of the all-time success stories in professional wrestling for good reason. However, it wasn’t a completely easy journey for him to rise to the top of WWE. The first year was horrible for him playing the clean-cut babyface known as Rocky Maivia.
A heel turn allowed Rock to join the Nation of Domination faction and get repackaged. He played an incredible heel character that had an ego unlike anyone else in WWE. The new name of The Rock featured him talking in the third person and showing his charisma. Sometimes all a great prospect needs is the right repackaging to showcase their skills and become a star.
9 Flop: Reverend D-Von
The Dudley Boyz are in the conversation when looking at the top tag teams in wrestling history. Bubba Ray and D-Von have won tag titles from WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, NJPW, and other promotions. WWE, however, tried to find singles success by splitting them up in 2002 with the original brand split.
D-Von received a drastic repackaging as Reverend D-Von. He played a heel reverend preaching against the fans and face wrestlers on the roster. Batista would join the main roster as his enforcer, but the pairing did not work out. D-Von was not taken seriously as a face and moved back to Raw to reunite with Bubba a few months later. Batista luckily joined Evolution to see his career get to the next level.
8 Hit: Raven
Many wrestling fans remember Raven first for his work in ECW. However, that was a repackaging that allowed us to forget about his prior days in WWE and WCW. Neither promotion used him well with disappointing gimmicks as Scotty Flamingo and Johnny Polo.
The repackaging came from Raven’s mind with Paul Heyman adding to perfect it in ECW. Raven tapped into society at the time by playing a mysterious character delving into grunge culture like Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain. Other elements like leading his own cult and turning families against each other added to the gimmick. Raven was the best thing in ECW for quite some time thanks to the character change.
7 Flop: Big Daddy V
There were many different chapters for the career of Big Daddy V in WWE. He first played Mabel in the 90s before becoming Viscera as part of the Ministry of Darkness and later returned to the company as the World’s Largest Love Machine. WWE repackaged him in 2008 on the ECW brand with hopes of new success as Big Daddy V.
Matt Striker was the manager of Big Daddy V with the new role of a muscle for hire. Instead of coming off as intimidating, Big Daddy V was viewed as a joke by most fans. The new look featured him wearing a more revealing gear that came off as silly. Big Daddy V also struggled to get momentum as a character as it ended his final WWE run in disappointment.
6 Hit: Umaga
The success of Umaga was not what most fans expected when the gimmick was introduced. Jamal found slight success in the early 2000s teaming with Rosey as the 3-Minute Warning tag team. Injuries would end their time together as both men tried to find singles gimmicks.
Jamal was repackaged years later as Umaga. The monster character worked as he brought the intensity in the ring to make a potential silly gimmick work. Umaga would become a legitimate challenger to John Cena’s WWE Championship, and the two had one of the greatest matches in Royal Rumble history against each other. Fans remember Umaga fondly, thanks to the repackage working out perfectly for him.
5 Flop: Berlyn
Alex Wright showed great potential in the early '90s when joining WCW. Ric Flair, Kevin Sullivan and a few other veterans with influence felt that Wright could be the future of the promotion as a top star. This did not work out, as Wright become a comedic character known for his dancing when all the top spots were held by legends coming in for big contracts to start the Monday Night War.
WCW tried to repackage Wright in 1999 when looking to finally build new stars. The Berlyn gimmick featured him playing an anti-U.S. heel looking to get fans to hate him. Berlyn even had a bodyguard known as The Wall. It flopped badly, and Wright shaved his head for nothing, as the new gimmick was dropped within a few months.
4 Hit: Kane
The man behind the mask is only remembered fondly for the Kane character since it became a Hall of Worthy gimmick. However, it took him a long time before he found the right character in WWE. Prior runs as the fake Diesel and Isaac Yankem, DDS each ended in failure to land a full-time roster spot.
The idea of The Undertaker having a long-lost evil brother was made and Jacobs was hired to play Kane. This repackaging instantly worked to success, as fans were captivated by the story. Kane became one of the top stars in WWE and lasted for over two decades as an iconic character.
3 Flop: Dusty Rhodes
WWE treats the legacy of Dusty Rhodes with huge respect today, for good reason. Rhodes is one of the all-time great performers with promos that are still quoted by fans and wrestlers today. Vince McMahon, however, did not appreciate the talent of Dusty back in the '80s when signing him.
Rhodes was repackaged to play a different character in WWE from the prior days of success in the NWA and beyond. Vince reportedly wanted to embarrass him for his past work as a booker for Jim Crockett Promotions. Dusty wore ridiculous gear with polka dots and had a love interest/valet named Sapphire. We missed out on a potential main event run of Rhodes in WWE due to Vince’s pettiness.
2 Hit: Hollywood Hogan
Hulk Hogan was by far the biggest star and most beloved face in wrestling history around 1996. No one ever expected Hogan to turn heel or ditch the Hulkamania character that brought him and the industry success. However, fans started to grow tired of it in WCW as the ratings were not impressing.
Hogan would take the bold risk to completely reinvent himself with a new heel character of Hollywood Hogan leading the New World Order. The inception of Hollywood Hogan put the nWo over the top as the hottest act in wrestling. It took WCW to new heights and ushered in a new boom period for the entire wrestling business again.
1 Flop: Emmalina
A recent instance of a repackaging failing featured Emma getting booked in a strange manner. Emma was always considered one of the most underrated women on the WWE roster. The great in-ring work would never get pushed since people in WWE felt she lacked the character to get over.
Emma was repackaged into playing a new heel character Emmalina, playing into her modeling side and using her looks as the main incentive of her character. It was supposed to be like Sable’s late '90s character. Months of vignettes ended with Emma revealing that Emmalina was gone before she arrived as she returned to Emma. WWE realized Emma could not portray the kind of character they wanted and it led to a huge disappointment.