The current landscape of professional wrestling sees WWE and AEW as the major promotions that most wrestlers in North America want to work for. WWE is still running three unique brands with Raw, SmackDown, and NXT all having their own products. AEW is one year into its inception with impressive growth and a roster that only gets deeper with time.
Various wrestlers for both companies have either grown stale or just need a huge change to resurrect their careers. The level of competition makes it difficult for wrestlers to break out if the gimmick is failing them. Certain names instantly stand out when looking at what is holding them back right now. Find out which names badly need a gimmick change from each promotion to save their careers.
10 WWE: King Corbin
The WWE heel king gimmick has flopped quite a few times with Sheamus and Wade Barrett each struggling due to it. Baron Corbin winning the King of the Ring tournament in 2019 saw him as the latest generic heel to get the gimmick.
WWE has struggled to find the right role for Corbin after his feud with Roman Reigns ended. The king moniker wore out its welcome and Corbin badly needs a new character to return to relevancy. WWE should also take it as a sign to ditch the heel king character for the foreseeable future.
9 AEW: Dustin Rhodes
Dustin Rhodes was one of the WWE stars to make the move to AEW when a position was made available to him by Cody Rhodes. The run in AEW so far has seen Dustin doing more than he did in WWE at the end of his tenure there, but he’s still struggling to find a role.
AEW is using him sparingly due to his older age and lack of an important on-screen role. A gimmick change may be ideal to give him a newer appeal since he’s essentially just part of his brother Cody’s entourage right now.
8 WWE: Lars Sullivan
The return of Lars Sullivan saw him playing the exact same character as before his injury. Sullivan shows little emotion when walking to the ring and destroying whichever wrestlers are in his way and on his target list.
Fans have shown little interest in Lars on the main roster with an outdated gimmick of little depth. Many things have worked against Lars who needs a drastic change to have any chance at success on the main roster moving forward.
7 AEW: Serena Deeb
The signing of Serena Deeb gives AEW an experienced talent who has worked with many great wrestlers on the independent circuit and helped train future stars at the WWE Performance Center. Deeb has had a few impressive matches so far putting over others.
AEW’s women’s division clearly needs a few more stars for the depth and Deeb has shown enough to warrant a bigger push. Serena would need a gimmick change after the generic face character suffered losses to start her run.
6 WWE: Peyton Royce
The split of the IIconics has seen Peyton Royce and Billie Kay now moving to separate brands after losing the ability to team. Royce is reportedly the bigger prospect to WWE management with hopes of making her a top heel for Raw.
The recent history of losing almost all of her important matches have hurt her standing and a change will be needed to rebrand herself. Royce has huge potential, but a new character would put her over the top to start a new chapter of her career.
5 AEW: Christopher Daniels
The veteran role of Christopher Daniels sees him working backstage as a producer and competing in the ring as part of the SCU tag team. Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian have been the higher priorities of SCU with Daniels rarely getting much of a push.
Daniels is among the oldest members of the AEW roster, but he still has something left in the tank. Even if they chose to make him a manager, a deeper character could utilize the skills of Daniels in a more impressive manner moving forward or it’s time to get him off screen for good.
4 WWE: Sheamus
Sheamus’ recent character with the old school fighter look added confusion to fans watching him return following a lengthy absence after ending his tag run with Cesaro. The run of Sheamus has seen him having lackluster feuds with Jeff Hardy and Big E.
WWE moving Sheamus to Raw placed him in a new role, but he still is stuck with the lackluster gimmick. Sheamus has struggled to find the right character since coming to WWE and the issue is once again holding him back from an ideal spot.
3 AEW: Wardlow
The pairing of MJF and Wardlow made sense at first, but the time for them to split up has clearly come. Wardlow was blamed by MJF for his loss to Jon Moxley and has a lot of potential as a singles star that got him hired from the start.
AEW could benefit more by having MJF on his own and Wardlow getting the chance to become a bigger part of the roster. The time is now to split them while fans still have a desire to see them face off in a singles match.
2 WWE: Shorty G
WWE giving Chad Gable the Shorty G gimmick was one of the dumbest moves from the company in recent memory. Gable looked great in the King of the Ring tournament before falling short to Baron Corbin in the finals.
The decision to make fun of his height in future promos led to the new nickname. Gable has been struggling since then to figure out a path to relevance. WWE must change his gimmick up before his run completely ends without ever getting to witness his potential.
1 AEW: Miro
The debut of Miro in AEW as “the best man” hanging out with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford created excitement in the first move after leaving WWE. Fans always felt Rusev was underutilized in WWE and it seemed like the perfect fit for him.
Miro has had some fun moments, but it feels like a waste to have him in a secondary tag team. AEW will be better off ditching the best man gimmick and just pushing Miro as a top heel on his own. The potential for success is obvious if they plan out an effective push.