5 WWE Superstar Repackagings That Worked (& 5 That Didn’t)

In wrestling, a promoter is always trying to get a star over. Expect to see a talented athlete tried as either a good guy or a bad guy, to see which one works and gets them the most over with the fans. That's just smart booking, as they say in the industry.

But what happens when neither option pans out?

This situation happens from time to time, where a star, as constituted, just can't get over. Especially if that individual is otherwise talented, what's to be done? They get re-packaged. This happens often enough in WWE. Sometimes it works incredibly well, while other times it ends up being quite regrettable. Now, here are five times it worked, and five times it failed.

10 Did Not Work: The Ringmaster

Sure, we all know that Stone Cold Steve Austin is one of the most memorable WWE Superstars ever. There's a reason he closed the most recent RAW Reunion. It was his brash attitude that basically defined the Attitude Era.

He was a strong worker in WCW as "Stunning" Steve Austin too, for what it's worth. But when he moved from Extreme Championship Wrestling to WWE, he first became...The Ringmaster. None of it fit. Looking back, it was like trying to force a square peg in a round hole. Fortunately someone figured it out, and the rest, as they say, is history.

9 Worked: Stone Cold Steve Austin

Here's one that worked, and worked amazingly well. There are plenty of examples of Superstars who grew into different roles throughout their careers until they found "the one" that worked best. Perhaps they were most comfortable in it, or it connected with fans the best.

For Steve Austin, the Stone Cold persona checked all the boxes. It was believable, it was relatable, and fans of that era (and still today) love that Superstar.

In case you needed proof, keep in mind this: any time a Superstar is floundering on a segment and fans unleash the "what?!" retorts...Stone Cold is to thank for that.

8 Did Not Work: Stardust

This was sort of a tough call to put out there, because surely there will be fans of this character. It also gave us a nice tag team run where the Rhodes brothers got to team up, so it was not completely bad.

That being said, this one earns it's spot because, well...look at Cody Rhodes before. Look at him after. That man is supremely talented and did not need a silly gimmick and outfit and face paint for any reason.

Sure, it was a nice run for a bit, but in hindsight, we could have been fine without it.

7 Worked: The Rock

This was absolutely a re-packaging, and it was a brilliant one. For those who don't recall who Dwayne Johnson was before he was The Rock, rest assured, that persona made this list too.

But, at some point many years ago, someone got the bright idea to change the image and presentation of Rocky Maivia, and The Rock was born. No one at that time could have predicted or expected (OK, maybe a few did) that The Rock would grow into such a massive star that he became too big for WWE.

Sure, we get the occasional WWE appearance still, but The Rock is a worldwide movie star now.

6 Did Not Work: The Viking Raiders/The Viking Experience

Too soon to judge? Perhaps. But we will anyway.

Why are these guys here? Perhaps it's more a rebranding than a complete re-imagining, but it was completely laughable that WWE had them work in NXT for a year as War Raiders (after they'd been War Machine internationally), only to bring them to the main roster and change the names of the wrestlers AND the tag team. Twice, in the case of the tag team.

Raiders is better, but not by much. Unless they had some trademark issues (which presumably would have popped up even in NXT?), this one just seems like a head-scratcher.

5 Worked: JBL

Hands up if you remember Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw. No? How about John "Bradshaw" Layfield? The New Blackjacks? It's OK if you don't. JBL might actually prefer it.

Sure, Bradshaw had a nice run as one of the APA alongside Ron Simmons, and that's still fun to see whenever WWE trots that out. But JBL got the world championship push. JBL became a multi-time titleholder. JBL was also a big figure on the WWE announce team following his in-ring career.

It took the man a few iterations to get things to click, but once things landed on JBL, there was no looking back.

4 Did Not Work: Rocky Maivia

There will be good and there will be bad on this list. Rocky Maivia is one of the bad ones. To be fair, it wasn't a horrible gimmick-not like WWE made him a garbage man-but it was something fans didn't care about.

We heard about his lineage, but he had a pretty boy look. He was too clean cut. As we were on the cusp of the Attitude Era, with the culture-changing and things like grunge rock starting to get big, fans were not interested in a babyface like Rocky Maivia. Fans turned on Rocky.

In hindsight, that turned out to be a good thing. That all made The Rock possible.

3 Worked: Typhoon

This one was actually a good one. Considering what the wrestler formerly known as Tugboat wound up doing in WCW (Shockmaster anyone?), we really can't be down on one half of the Natural Disasters.

It was a decent departure from the fan-friendly sidekick of Hulk Hogan that was Tugboat. paired with Earthquake, the duo was one of the more formidable tag teams, during a period of time in WWE where fans actually got decent tag team wrestling.

Perhaps the re-packaging of Tugboat to Typhoon isn't the most remembered change, or even the first one that comes to fans minds, but it should be considered as it was sneaky good.

2 Did Not Work: Emmalina

There had to be at least one female Superstar that had a re-packaging, right? There were a few, but this one is perhaps the most recent and most notable.

Emma was a strong enough talent on NXT. If anything, she was ahead of the curve. She missed out on the Women's Revolution, which perhaps she could have taken advantage of. It's interesting to wonder "what if".

Instead, she got saddled with the weird Emmalina persona. The entire experience was a disaster. Fans suffered through a prolonged period of vignettes, teasing her arrival...only to have them effectively disappear. Not long after, Emma wasn't on the main roster, and now she's completely out of the company. WWE did try to re-use that gimmick, under a different name, with another talent, but Emmalina will be forever bad.

1 Worked: Kane

This one might be one of the best re-packagings ever, to be quite honest. If you didn't know, when Kane was first introduced to WWE fans, he came as one of two cringe-worthy characters. This guy got to play the fake Diesel, and before that, he played Isaac Yankem, DDS. Talk about two really bad gimmicks.

Once those were out of WWE's creative arsenal, however, he became Kane. As The Undertaker's storyline relative, he enjoyed working with and feuding against The Phenom. That persona garnered him numerous main event programs and world championship reigns, among other positives. To say the re-packaging to Kane was a success would be an understatement.

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