The Corparate Kane gimmick destroyed Kane's credibility, he's the reason why I got into wresting all those years ago. It pains me to see that this generation of young wrestling fans will remember him for his slacks :'(
I only remember Kane as when he wore the mask and after he unmasked the first time and also for losing at Hell in a Cell last year ending the Corporate Kane gimmick then guess who wanted to be the GM of Raw. P.S. I was born in 2002
I actually liked Paul Burchill pirate gimmick too and his tag team partner for a while was William Regal and I absolutely loved that tag team at that time as a kid.
Now in no way am I saying "Demon Kane < Corporate Kane" But I do feel like Corporate Kane was a play on the idea that authority figures or corporations = Satan/evil. After all, who better to portray evil, than Kane. And the face of evil takes many forms, like a clean cut business man. So because of that idea, I never hated Corporate Kane, I prefer "Demon Kane" better, but I can live with it. There's a word for what I'm trying to describe, but I can't think of it.
Eric Justice I will own the fact that I didn't watch a lot of the PG era, so I missed 2008-2014 So all I saw of Corporate Kane was him giving Rollins shit.
I think that Corporate Kane was a great decision. This way he can have fewer matches (his in-ring skills didn't get better with age) but still remain on TV. He's a great talker and a great actor. He couldn't show that with the regular Kane gimmick. Corporate Kane didn't at all destroy any character, the Daniel Bryan storyline prior to it did, if it even matters. Not everything that worked 15 years ago works today and I think that that is a good thing. Changing it up is the better way than just doing the same stuff over and over again. Randy Orton does the same stuff for 10 years now and that's why many people are really bored by him. It was the same with Kane. His now pretty limited in-ring ability (not that it was all that great to begin with) doesn't help with that. A drastic change in character kept people from getting bored by him.
you aren't. people forget how utterly stale deadman taker was when he left with injury. he was teaming with the big show and had all but abandoned the deadman gimmick anyway.
+Thomas Jenkins I remember a quick 5 second clip heading into commercial where Taker, Paul and Show arrived at the venue and he was wearing a sleeveless T t-shirt, bandana and sunglasses. Two or three months before he even left.
This is from Cody's recent shoot interview. From Cody's perspective, the McMahons' have no issue with the Rhodes family. However, people close to Vince have told Cody that Vince still holds a huge grudge against Dusty, because of Jim Crockett Promotions, and it extends to his kids."
From what I remember Taker wanted to step away from the deadman bit at least for a while given how truly dark the lord of darkness stuff was. Looking back it was things deep into cult type culture with drinking blood and sacrifices. Mark, being a pretty old school laid back Texan didn't really like it and sort of saw his injury and subsequent return as a way to kind wash away some of the darker stuff The Undertaker did in his recent past. I personally enjoyed the Big Evil/American badass gimmicks, especially some of those intros, but the deadman is what I see the Undertaker as and I couldn't have been happier when I watch WM 20 and saw those druids come out, pure bliss.
Oh the gimmick was great! The change itself was terrible. If I remember, there was zero build up to it, too. It's like if in Game of Thrones Hodor came back and suddenly became a pastry chef with a fascination for reciting Shakespeare. Yeah it would be awesome, but the change would be jarring to say the least.
Yeah, it wasn't the gimmick itself. It was the complete culture shock of him being a borderline Satanic zombie.....and then he's a biker. Because...reasons? There wasn't even an explanation or buildup. Just...showed up and that was that. Personally, I think the AB Taker gimmick was golden, and would've been absolutely LEGENDARY, if it WASN'T a follow-up of the Deadman. Like if he'd gone back to WCW and did that gimmick there. Or if he came into the WWE in 1990 with a gimmick that didn't tie him to the supernatural. Like if they built his entire career from the start, off of the "Mean Mark Callous" name, and just let him start showing up in jeans and leathers, on a motorcycle. It would've gone over a lot better, because it wouldn't have been so confusing. It probably would have been his ultimate character, that would've carried him the rest of his career.
Angel Bowfinger dude shut up....he was off for like 8 months to recovery from injury....and there were a few segments in 99 where u can tell he was starting to transition to the aba taker...it was done perfect
They? Age is not a person or people, it's a thing. It's something people can't stop. Definitely not after decades in the hardest business in the world.
Aaron Jake I meant they as in the WWE, what does age have to do with The Big Red Machine being unmasked, getting married in the ring and walking around in a suit as a CEO.
What the fuck? I stopped watching wrestling in the early 2000s. I'm glad I wasn't around for "Corporate Kane." Holy shit, what a stupid idea. My vote for worst gimmick ever is Perry Saturn when they made him into a mentally handicapped man who was in love with a mop. "Moppy!!!"
Squid Jones That gimmick was actually a punishment for legitimately attacking Mike Bell, after he botched a move that made Saturn land on his head. The funny thing is, it was his most memorable gimmick in WWE.
Yea I stopped watching when Edge retired. Tuned back in after a long time, saw Kane in a suit talking like a human, turned off my tv, left the room for the rest of the night and didn't watch wrestling again until last night.
You're lucky that you missed it. Before that, Kane was involved in a story where he was forced into anger management. The anger angle killed him, but Corporate Kane was just flaming shit on the doorstep.
The American Badass gimmick to me is better than the Deadman gimmick by a mile. Don't get me wrong, he had his best matches as the Deadman. But the American Badass gimmick brought some personalities in Taker.
I would ask when did you first start watching The Undertaker, cause original Deadman Undertaker was great, Ministry Taker...may have been a sort of terrible dead end & american badass basically just sort of abortioned the this guy is dead now he's a full fledged actual human being, realistically the American Badass was just used as a vehicle to cash in on new viewers & bring in Fred Durst
+MViLe but the biker character let them actually kill Taker when he switched back in the buried alive match. Plus, Taker had already started acting humanly in '97 and left the need for the urn for power gimmick behind
He could have held on to that gimmick for a good long while, considering Johnny Depp's still relevant and they're still making POTC movies to this day.
+stick figuratively Pair Roman up with Baron Corbin. Makes sense to me both of them have Canid themes with Roman's Hound of Justice and Corbin's Lone Wolf moniker (I honestly thought he'd be given a werewolf gimmick based of his NXT My Kind Promo)
That was more Reigns not having enough charisma to pull off such a gimmick, than it being a bad gimmick. Plus, most of the shittiness of that run is just the booking, and not actually the gimmick of being The Man Who Would Become The New John Cena.
he was so aggressive, he was always on the mic, i loved how he was ruthless and he was a heel that didn't follow all of the heel clichés he'd get punched into a corner then come out swinging like crazy and man, the last ride was amazing i loved seeing it.
+Bilal C Mae Young giving birth to a hand? Val Venis getting his penis cut off? The poor representation of female talent? Nawe, Attitude Era is a little overrated.
The "Attitude" era was awful. You say "everything" about the Attitude era was great? Let's start with The Godfather, a man who never had one above average singles match (in fact, every singles bout I saw from him was dreadful), never had one hot feud, couldn't cut a decent promo (his mic work was ALWAYS the same--awful) and didn't have one hot move in his arsenal. And this idiot was on Raw almost every week. And how does he end up in the Hall of Fame? Fuck the HOF. Also, Mark Henry was the drizzling shits. Again, no wrestling skills, no hot moves, never had a good singles match, and was a lousy promo guy. But for some reason, 20 fucking years later, he's still around. Don't even get me started about the women's division. Read what Penny Banner has to say about "Moolah's girls". Moolah is largely responsible for making US women's wrestling what it is today, and that's not a good thing. Take a look at women's wrestling in Japan and Mexico, then look at the shit WWE has today. That all started in the Attitude era, when seemingly any plastic bimbo could get a job as a "wrestler". The Attitude era was the period of two minutes matches that ended with DQ run-ins. The problem is, a lot of fans started watching wrestling in the Atttitude era and don't know any better. I lost count of the number of people who always said "WWF rules, WCW sucks", and when you asked them, they'd tell you they'd been watching wrestling for six months (yes, they would actually say "six months", as if it was something to be proud about). I've said it before and I'll say it again: the fans today aren't the same fans from 25 years ago. In fact, they're not even the same from 10 years ago. WWF "Attitude fans" always mocked WCW, but at least WCW at that time was showcasing top notch wrestlers in decent matches on Nitro. WWF appealed to the lowest common denominator in the late 1990s. Now look at the sorry state of US wrestling. WWE rules the roost and there isn't a major league alternative (and I refuse to classify TNA as "major league").
I love the fact that a white dude from South Carolina pretended to have African heritage considering South Carolina was the first state to secede because they couldn't own black people and starting the whole american civil war. And south Carolina tried to secede about 30 years before the civil war.
Are you implying Jake "The Snake" Roberts was bad too? Or anyone else who used the DDT as a finisher? What about Dean Ambrose, with his double underarm hook DDT?
Maybe the hair makes him kinda look like Jillette. But I think he looks more like Drew Carey in the face. vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/prowrestling/images/4/43/Drew_Carey_%26_Kane_2001_Royal_Rumble.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140911044348 just take off Drew's glasses from this pic and you have Kane.
"killed his career" a bit of an exaggeration if I've ever heard it. His career is far from dead and the stardust character wasn't so bad that it would cripple cody to the point where he's obsolete. I honestly like the Stardust gimmick, I just think they went about it the wrong way. Stardust could have been a great villain if WWE writers were worth a damn..which they aren't.
Other Dishonorable Mentions: - Tito Santana to El Matador - Tony Atlas to Saba Simba - Barry "Demolition Smash" to The Repo Man - Too Cold Scorpio to Flash Funk - Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart to "Who" - Bob Backland's psychotic Presidential Candidate gimmick - Greg "The Hammer" Valentine's Rhythm 'n' Blues gimmick - The Sheepherders to The Bushwhackers - Shane Douglas to Dean Douglas If we include WCW: - Brutus Beefcake's numerous gimmick changes - Tugboat/Typhoon to The Shockmaster - Earthquake to Shark (R.I.P. John Tenta) - Dustin Rhodes to Seven - The Sandman to Hak
Bushwhackers chose their gimmick. BW Luke has said, time and time again, that they knew they needed to have character and personality. Things fans could attach to. They were successful.
I know it was already mentioned in the vid that plenty of people liked the american badass gimmick and I'm one of them. I liked it in particular when it altered it a little and turned heel/tweener as "Big Evil" and basically became a bully. It was a nice change up for the couple years there so the deadman persona stayed fresh.
Tony Atlas to Sabba Simba Issac Yankem to Fake Diesel (probably worse than Kane to Corporate Kane) Matt Morgan, Heyman henchman to Stuttering Matt Morgan. William Regal's "Man's Man" gimmick was pretty sorry.
_"idk about you guys but biker undertaker is 10 times scarier than regular undertaker_" Not for me at all. The Big Evil heel version would be intimidating in person but didn't really feel 'scary' on screen, that's the closest I'd say personally. What I'll always attest is/was/forever will be scary is Undertaker's _original_ incarnation in the funeral parlour vignettes - not the interview segments on the stage (called The Funeral Parlor) but the short scenes of Undertaker building coffins while Paul Bearer spoke. Between that and putting his deafeated opponents in body bags (which terrified me as a kid), that was actually morbid whereas his later Satanic stuff just came across as cool to me as a teen.
Yeah, Old School Undertaker actually made me question if wrestling was real. When he was in the ring, I was like, 'wrestling IS fake, right?' His demeanor and the way he was effing people up and this 'imperviousness to pain' he had was considerably scary.
I know the general consensus is that the dead mean gimmick is scarier than the biker one but looking back Taker had a bigger mean streak as a biker than he did as the Deadman. He was a total dick as a biker. Remember how he beat the shit out of Maven just for getting elimimated? He was a bully lol I agree.
Biker Taker was really good Also I think Taker said he was going to leave if he couldn’t do the gimmick because he was tired of the deadman shit and wanted his character to reflect him So he became a American biker
What about Chris Harris to Braden Walker? The "Wildcat" had potential to be greater than Bret Hart but all Vinnie Mac saw in him were 'Knock Knock' jokes SMH
+Aaron Jake it was weak move. I don't really blame Vince too much though on changing the name. I just wished he didn't choose to include the word "entertainment" in the name. I know something better could have been used
I liked Pirate Paul too, and actually he was very much over, until they decided to inexplicably drop the whole thing. Also, I did enjoy Biker Taker, and his "Dead Man Inc." time was great as well. It worked for the time AND it made it that much cooler when he finally did return as the Deadman.
Red Rooster would be my number 1 on this list; getting saddled with a crappy gimmick is one thing, but when the gimmick is so bad that it not only makes it impossible for you to do anything else afterward, but also eclipses the stellar career you had beforehand...that's downright apocalyptic.
Do you know how over 3MB was? He was released because creative had nothing for him, and he was better off elsewhere making money and being used. Getting released isn't always a bad thing.
Ok, what about John Cena, going from his rapper gimmick in the ruthless aggression era to his fun, "you can't see me", face that runs the place gimmick in the PG Era 🙄. Or what about Triple H, from his royalty gimmick to his "King of Kings", the game gimmick. Or what about Stone Cold Steve Austin going from his "movie star" gimmick with Brian Pillman to his Toughest S.O.B gimmick after WM 13. What about Hulk Hogan, going from his top baby face, American hero gimmick in WWF to him going to WCW and creating the NWO with Kevin Nash "Diesel" and Scott Hall "Razor Ramon". And finally the Rock, when the rock made his WWF debut in the mid-90's, the WWF, were trying to make him a baby face, the happy-go-lucky spirit. But with the Monday Night Wars and with the crowd not getting behind the gimmick and holding up signs like "Die Rocky Die". The WWF repackaged him as a top heel and had an incredible career, having one of the best feuds, with Stone Cold.
Thank you Blampied (Or should I say Plumpy) I liked the pirate gimmick of Paul Burchill. Without it casual fans would forget Burchill and was a gimmick that was ahead of its time as the PG era kids would love seeing a pirate wrestle.
Wyatt Family is still a thing. WWE had them listed as singles competitors so they could draft Strowman to RAW and give him his singles push, while the others were drafted the SD.
+THE CMK #AA That's funny, because I heard just the opposite. From what I read, it's rumored that he'll be rejoining Bray and Rowan on Smackdown when he returns.
The worst part about Tensai was that they didn't acknowledge it was albert. he had a legit career in japan and could have played that up and the fans would have understood...Like everyone else I liked that era undertaker too.
I don't know why fans hate on Corporate Kane. I liked the gimmick because he played both the monster and corporate sell out thing very well. He knows how to talk and play the monster. This is different from others who couldn't ease into their new gimmicks or look. Kane did it very well.
Also, while I disliked the ABA Taker, it did give me one of the reasons why I fell in love with watching Jeff Hardy, and you saw the kind of respect that Taker could give to young wrestlers. Shoot or not, he gave Jeff a helluva match, and then came back and showed his respect to the (then) kid. Unlike most of the backstage things that happened, that literally happened, the big man's nod of approval of Jeff, right in front of my eyes. I loved him for that reason and I loved Jeff for that match.
You're not, look at the comments, American badass/big evil taker was the best version of taker because he had personality, he could talk, he sold, and was turning into one of the greatest workers of all time
Giving Ricky Steamboat wings and a fire-breathing gimmick made me cringe. Tito Santana (Mexican) becoming a SPANISH bullfighter as El Matador just seemed wrong (Spain is NOT European Mexico). Adrian Adonis going from a tough guy to "Adorable" was horrible, too. Never understood the reasoning of Crush going from Demolition badass to a big Hawaiian, either (at least change his name!).
The Undertaker's American Badass persona was fantastic; keep in mind, by that time the character needed a fresh change/direction as they pretty much went as far as they could with the whole deadman thing. WWF fans were finally getting a true to life reflection of the man behind The Undertaker- and the American Badass gimmick was a mere glimpse of who Mark Calaway is outside of the WWE (albeit an over exaggerated glimpse). Moreso, the gimmick lasted only three years. The fact that he went back to playing the undead grim reaper thing since returning at WrestleMania XX back in 2004 makes me more fonder of the American Badass character.
I'm very glad there is alot of support for 'Takers biker days. Im as much a fan of Deadman persona as any,but..who's with me that the character itself was Very Limiting? ABA,he could express himself in so many more ways,key word there=HimSelf.It came natural,and,believable for the most part.Last Ride,an extended P.Bomb,and had his signature paint-scheme on it. Ohhh,Not just to throw more hate on Limp Bizkit,trendy as that is...But,Rollin'? Which Wore out on it's own...but now it's torturing us through Undertaker? Lastly,I like how he had "Big Evil' version,too..I'm pretty sure he was Heel for that,right? I think it had perfect timing,when to return Phenom...and that is enough reason to justify ABA era,if you hated that,made his comeback all the lovely
As dumb as the American Badass gimmick was, (and it WAS dumb-- an undead necromancer suddenly becoming "your uncle who spent some time in prison but we don't talk about that because he's really trying, guys, he's better now" the becoming an undead necromancer again is dumb) I still know all the words to his stupid entrance music. "You've done it now," indeed.
Yeah I loved Burchill's pirate gimmick. He seemed to be having a lot of fun , he even seemed to get over a bit before they knocked him back to development.
2 reasons why undertaker switched gimmicks 1. How is he character supposed to be an immortal badass when he keeps getting injured, and when he got injured he took moths off 2. Undertaker himself said he didn't like the dark lord gimmick because it was to dark for him
H3rbieDeth For me, the Biker gimmick is pretty much Mark wanting to be HIMSELF for a change, kinda mix things up a bit, especially with how over-the-top he's been with the DEADMAN gimmick, especially under Russo.
+Phillip Watts, Jr. it was also because he wanted to create his own gimmick because he almost left to WCW and he wouldn't have been able to use the deadman gimmick
my favorite Albert moment was when he was named Atrain...he goes yeahh I like that name, from now on I'm A Train, then 30 seconds later came out with new train centric music, and a new titantron video that prominently displayed his name...damn those wwf editors work fast.
The Corparate Kane gimmick destroyed Kane's credibility, he's the reason why I got into wresting all those years ago. It pains me to see that this generation of young wrestling fans will remember him for his slacks :'(
well they could always use the network to see the original kane
+Preston Schuler for only $9.99
corporate kane was funny but, I agree for the most part for you
I only remember Kane as when he wore the mask and after he unmasked the first time and also for losing at Hell in a Cell last year ending the Corporate Kane gimmick then guess who wanted to be the GM of Raw. P.S. I was born in 2002
It's sad that little kids today will only know kane as "corporate kane". Along with lots of other wrestlers today.
that is not sad at all incest boy
•HeoLZ• o3o What the fuck? I can't tell if i'm being insulted or not but it makes zero fucking sense XD.
+Gage Taylor hahahaha you're ok
U forgot cody
+The gaming potato ?
they ruined Kane the most
True
You got that right
i still wonder why the hell he put on a mask again
demon kane sucks
no they didnt.
it was his decision.
Steve-o Moreno so they booked him wrong
Earthquake to Golga?
Leo Kruger to Adam Rose?
Cody Rhodes to Stardust?
Those are worse than Undertaker change
Stardust was great
In Golga's defense not many could tell it was Earthquake
poor Cody he didn't deserve whatever shite Stardust was
John Tenta deserved better than fucking Golga
@@KenTheSwordMaster OBEY YOUR MASTER
I actually liked Paul Burchill pirate gimmick too and his tag team partner for a while was William Regal and I absolutely loved that tag team at that time as a kid.
Now in no way am I saying "Demon Kane < Corporate Kane"
But I do feel like Corporate Kane was a play on the idea that authority figures or corporations = Satan/evil. After all, who better to portray evil, than Kane. And the face of evil takes many forms, like a clean cut business man. So because of that idea, I never hated Corporate Kane, I prefer "Demon Kane" better, but I can live with it.
There's a word for what I'm trying to describe, but I can't think of it.
fucked. that's the word u lookin for
Maybe he could have joined the authority and all that, But stayed in demon Kane outfit
Had they booked his personality as actually evil corporate rather than comical, then I could agree with you.
Eric Justice
I will own the fact that I didn't watch a lot of the PG era, so I missed 2008-2014 So all I saw of Corporate Kane was him giving Rollins shit.
I think that Corporate Kane was a great decision. This way he can have fewer matches (his in-ring skills didn't get better with age) but still remain on TV. He's a great talker and a great actor. He couldn't show that with the regular Kane gimmick. Corporate Kane didn't at all destroy any character, the Daniel Bryan storyline prior to it did, if it even matters. Not everything that worked 15 years ago works today and I think that that is a good thing. Changing it up is the better way than just doing the same stuff over and over again. Randy Orton does the same stuff for 10 years now and that's why many people are really bored by him. It was the same with Kane. His now pretty limited in-ring ability (not that it was all that great to begin with) doesn't help with that. A drastic change in character kept people from getting bored by him.
I can't be the only person who actually liked the Biker Taker gimmick...
you aren't. people forget how utterly stale deadman taker was when he left with injury. he was teaming with the big show and had all but abandoned the deadman gimmick anyway.
Not too mention he was talking way too much.
+Thomas Jenkins I remember a quick 5 second clip heading into commercial where Taker, Paul and Show arrived at the venue and he was wearing a sleeveless T t-shirt, bandana and sunglasses. Two or three months before he even left.
*****
yup. the biker gimmick was always in the plans for him. it was just taker being so vigilant about kayfabe that the transition had to be gradual.
I like the Biker Taker Gimmick as well but I prefer The Deadman Gimmick
Vince Mcmahon hates so much Rhodes' family...
and the harts.
Vince's mindset has always been "If you're not famous because of me, you're not worth 'Jack Shit and Sons Brasswear Ltd'"
what about aj styles
He's too big
This is from Cody's recent shoot interview.
From Cody's perspective, the McMahons' have no issue with the Rhodes family. However, people close to Vince have told Cody that Vince still holds a huge grudge against Dusty, because of Jim Crockett Promotions, and it extends to his kids."
the american badass gimmick was badass!
No shit sherlock
I agree, I liked it. Not sure why it gets so much hate.
American Badass was good but there was no good reason to fix something that was not broke.
From what I remember Taker wanted to step away from the deadman bit at least for a while given how truly dark the lord of darkness stuff was. Looking back it was things deep into cult type culture with drinking blood and sacrifices. Mark, being a pretty old school laid back Texan didn't really like it and sort of saw his injury and subsequent return as a way to kind wash away some of the darker stuff The Undertaker did in his recent past. I personally enjoyed the Big Evil/American badass gimmicks, especially some of those intros, but the deadman is what I see the Undertaker as and I couldn't have been happier when I watch WM 20 and saw those druids come out, pure bliss.
Christopher Aleman
Am I the only one that thought Undertaker riding to the ring in a motorcycle badass?
absolutely not. I wish he'd come back just one time as Big evil.
No. Just read the comments and you'll see hundreds of others that posted the same exact thing.
no man..just read the commenst,,everyone liked the american badass
It was cool. When American Badass was his theme. Rollin was fucking shite
Dyverse NO
Have to disagree on Taker's American Badass change being terrible.
I thought it was great. But I appreciate that's subjective
Oh the gimmick was great! The change itself was terrible. If I remember, there was zero build up to it, too.
It's like if in Game of Thrones Hodor came back and suddenly became a pastry chef with a fascination for reciting Shakespeare. Yeah it would be awesome, but the change would be jarring to say the least.
Yeah, it wasn't the gimmick itself. It was the complete culture shock of him being a borderline Satanic zombie.....and then he's a biker. Because...reasons? There wasn't even an explanation or buildup. Just...showed up and that was that.
Personally, I think the AB Taker gimmick was golden, and would've been absolutely LEGENDARY, if it WASN'T a follow-up of the Deadman. Like if he'd gone back to WCW and did that gimmick there. Or if he came into the WWE in 1990 with a gimmick that didn't tie him to the supernatural. Like if they built his entire career from the start, off of the "Mean Mark Callous" name, and just let him start showing up in jeans and leathers, on a motorcycle. It would've gone over a lot better, because it wouldn't have been so confusing. It probably would have been his ultimate character, that would've carried him the rest of his career.
Same
Angel Bowfinger dude shut up....he was off for like 8 months to recovery from injury....and there were a few segments in 99 where u can tell he was starting to transition to the aba taker...it was done perfect
It's not a gimmick. Biker Taker = Mark Calaway the person. Not Undertaker as a "gimmick", story angles aside.
I personally thought pirate Paul Burchill was awesome.
Same here
I loved Paul Burchill
whatever happened to Paul Burchill after he left WWE? he just seemed to vanish.
He's currently a fireman/EMT, last I heard.
Dewey Anderson ahh i guess wwe killed his interest or something....kind of a shame really.
Kane better be number 1, they have ruined everything great and mysterious about that character from the moment he started talking.
Number 7...
They? Age is not a person or people, it's a thing. It's something people can't stop. Definitely not after decades in the hardest business in the world.
+Aaron Jake Age has nothing to do with character. You can still be a demon at the age of 80. It's Creative's fault.
Ever heard of the Undertaker?
Aaron Jake I meant they as in the WWE, what does age have to do with The Big Red Machine being unmasked, getting married in the ring and walking around in a suit as a CEO.
Owen Hart - The Blue Blazer
Not only was it a shtty gimmick, the guy DIED because of it.
Drew V yeah that’s a pretty bad image change when it literally killed the man!
Broke the SCSA
Big facts and just to think owen came to the wwf as that shitty gimmick too
He was doing some of his best heel work before the blazer, but "duhhhh everyone needs a ridiculous gimmick though" - Vince Russo
Blue blazer terrible gimmick for such a talented wrestler.
What the fuck? I stopped watching wrestling in the early 2000s. I'm glad I wasn't around for "Corporate Kane." Holy shit, what a stupid idea. My vote for worst gimmick ever is Perry Saturn when they made him into a mentally handicapped man who was in love with a mop. "Moppy!!!"
Squid Jones That gimmick was actually a punishment for legitimately attacking Mike Bell, after he botched a move that made Saturn land on his head. The funny thing is, it was his most memorable gimmick in WWE.
indeed that was the confusing thing i will still not undrstand
Yea I stopped watching when Edge retired. Tuned back in after a long time, saw Kane in a suit talking like a human, turned off my tv, left the room for the rest of the night and didn't watch wrestling again until last night.
You're lucky that you missed it. Before that, Kane was involved in a story where he was forced into anger management. The anger angle killed him, but Corporate Kane was just flaming shit on the doorstep.
Dude, that was the most memorable thing Saturn did. And he took it like a champ, and rocked the gimmick.
The American Badass gimmick to me is better than the Deadman gimmick by a mile. Don't get me wrong, he had his best matches as the Deadman. But the American Badass gimmick brought some personalities in Taker.
The Badass gimmick blurred the line for Taker.
MsAnimeFan88 But it was still entertaining. Even more than the Deadman gimmick.
I would ask when did you first start watching The Undertaker, cause original Deadman Undertaker was great, Ministry Taker...may have been a sort of terrible dead end & american badass basically just sort of abortioned the this guy is dead now he's a full fledged actual human being, realistically the American Badass was just used as a vehicle to cash in on new viewers & bring in Fred Durst
MViLe
I've been watching Taker since I was 6years old. I'm 28 now.
+MViLe but the biker character let them actually kill Taker when he switched back in the buried alive match. Plus, Taker had already started acting humanly in '97 and left the need for the urn for power gimmick behind
I've loved the Pirate gimmick for Burchill
I not I've
same, he was a wasted talent....
+Ed Reviews so wasted he could've been awesome
yeah, the pirate gimmick could've lasted longer. It's a good tweener gimmick, I must say. Plus, Burchill's a talented guy with an awesome finisher
He could have held on to that gimmick for a good long while, considering Johnny Depp's still relevant and they're still making POTC movies to this day.
Roman Reigns image change to "Super" Roman Reigns?
Roman should be a badass biker! It will suit him more than the undertaker!
+stick figuratively won't fit today's audience, but the look would fit him
+stick figuratively Pair Roman up with Baron Corbin.
Makes sense to me both of them have Canid themes with Roman's Hound of Justice and Corbin's Lone Wolf moniker (I honestly thought he'd be given a werewolf gimmick based of his NXT My Kind Promo)
That was more Reigns not having enough charisma to pull off such a gimmick, than it being a bad gimmick. Plus, most of the shittiness of that run is just the booking, and not actually the gimmick of being The Man Who Would Become The New John Cena.
+MoonlightStrider on different brands brp
highly disagree with number 10. I love big evil, being one of my favorite undetaker gimmicks
Totally agree......and that's when that Kid Rock song had come out! Everything about attitude era was great!
he was so aggressive, he was always on the mic, i loved how he was ruthless and he was a heel that didn't follow all of the heel clichés he'd get punched into a corner then come out swinging like crazy and man, the last ride was amazing i loved seeing it.
+Bilal C Mae Young giving birth to a hand? Val Venis getting his penis cut off? The poor representation of female talent? Nawe, Attitude Era is a little overrated.
The "Attitude" era was awful. You say "everything" about the Attitude era was great? Let's start with The Godfather, a man who never had one above average singles match (in fact, every singles bout I saw from him was dreadful), never had one hot feud, couldn't cut a decent promo (his mic work was ALWAYS the same--awful) and didn't have one hot move in his arsenal. And this idiot was on Raw almost every week. And how does he end up in the Hall of Fame? Fuck the HOF. Also, Mark Henry was the drizzling shits. Again, no wrestling skills, no hot moves, never had a good singles match, and was a lousy promo guy. But for some reason, 20 fucking years later, he's still around. Don't even get me started about the women's division. Read what Penny Banner has to say about "Moolah's girls". Moolah is largely responsible for making US women's wrestling what it is today, and that's not a good thing. Take a look at women's wrestling in Japan and Mexico, then look at the shit WWE has today. That all started in the Attitude era, when seemingly any plastic bimbo could get a job as a "wrestler". The Attitude era was the period of two minutes matches that ended with DQ run-ins. The problem is, a lot of fans started watching wrestling in the Atttitude era and don't know any better. I lost count of the number of people who always said "WWF rules, WCW sucks", and when you asked them, they'd tell you they'd been watching wrestling for six months (yes, they would actually say "six months", as if it was something to be proud about). I've said it before and I'll say it again: the fans today aren't the same fans from 25 years ago. In fact, they're not even the same from 10 years ago. WWF "Attitude fans" always mocked WCW, but at least WCW at that time was showcasing top notch wrestlers in decent matches on Nitro. WWF appealed to the lowest common denominator in the late 1990s. Now look at the sorry state of US wrestling. WWE rules the roost and there isn't a major league alternative (and I refuse to classify TNA as "major league").
well, biker taker was from the "Ruthless Agression" era.. so... To each his own i guess.
I love the fact that a white dude from South Carolina pretended to have African heritage considering South Carolina was the first state to secede because they couldn't own black people and starting the whole american civil war. And south Carolina tried to secede about 30 years before the civil war.
TraxelAxel At least SC is a nice place.
Man I liked the motorbike era of undertaker.
Swear
+Illuminati King Trunks. It was man
Personally, I like the "Big Evil" part of the Undertaker's motorbiker gimmick era.
+Kuro Shinko yh his theme song was badass
+Kuro Shinko I loved the entire biker taker era, but big evil was very entertaining
How WWE should book Heath Slater's push
I thought he killed himself after killing his 16 kids
+Ragna Blood Pledge I Thought That Was Krispin Wah
slater has no fans
Don't he's garbage. His finisher is ddt that's how bad he is
Are you implying Jake "The Snake" Roberts was bad too? Or anyone else who used the DDT as a finisher? What about Dean Ambrose, with his double underarm hook DDT?
How do you not include Cody Rhodes --> Stardust? I mean, that was much worse than Taker.
they included his dad
ahmed maklad So?
I liked stardust
+Arthur Robertson how old are you
That was actually Cody's idea, even the name Stardust. His dad used to call him that.
Tell me not, Kane looks like Penn Gillette with that hair at 2:34
Maybe the hair makes him kinda look like Jillette. But I think he looks more like Drew Carey in the face. vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/prowrestling/images/4/43/Drew_Carey_%26_Kane_2001_Royal_Rumble.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140911044348 just take off Drew's glasses from this pic and you have Kane.
Cody Rhodes as Stardust killed his Career! haha Worst fucking gimmick ever!!
True
I wonder if any of those wwe guys ask the writers what the fuck they're thinking when they give them gimmicks like that
"killed his career" a bit of an exaggeration if I've ever heard it. His career is far from dead and the stardust character wasn't so bad that it would cripple cody to the point where he's obsolete. I honestly like the Stardust gimmick, I just think they went about it the wrong way. Stardust could have been a great villain if WWE writers were worth a damn..which they aren't.
Regal Panda my 8 year old nephew has better wrestling storyline ideas than the current wwe writing staff lol
Dill Clinton I believe it.
Other Dishonorable Mentions:
- Tito Santana to El Matador
- Tony Atlas to Saba Simba
- Barry "Demolition Smash" to The Repo Man
- Too Cold Scorpio to Flash Funk
- Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart to "Who"
- Bob Backland's psychotic Presidential Candidate gimmick
- Greg "The Hammer" Valentine's Rhythm 'n' Blues gimmick
- The Sheepherders to The Bushwhackers
- Shane Douglas to Dean Douglas
If we include WCW:
- Brutus Beefcake's numerous gimmick changes
- Tugboat/Typhoon to The Shockmaster
- Earthquake to Shark (R.I.P. John Tenta)
- Dustin Rhodes to Seven
- The Sandman to Hak
He was only Seven for a few minutes.
So you saw that OSW video about Ed Leslie's multiple gimmicks too? lol
Bushwhackers chose their gimmick. BW Luke has said, time and time again, that they knew they needed to have character and personality. Things fans could attach to. They were successful.
Bob Backhand gimmick was funny
Repo Man was the shit
Sorry guys but I think that The American Badass is the greatest Undertaker incarnation
You fucking right
He was so badass
couldn't agree more
I'd agree, if I had no brain
No! Just no! You don't wipe out a 10 year legacy of one of the most awesome gimmicks in Wrestling history!
I know it was already mentioned in the vid that plenty of people liked the american badass gimmick and I'm one of them. I liked it in particular when it altered it a little and turned heel/tweener as "Big Evil" and basically became a bully. It was a nice change up for the couple years there so the deadman persona stayed fresh.
Tony Atlas to Sabba Simba
Issac Yankem to Fake Diesel (probably worse than Kane to Corporate Kane)
Matt Morgan, Heyman henchman to Stuttering Matt Morgan.
William Regal's "Man's Man" gimmick was pretty sorry.
what? the biker taker was the best! his look, the trash talk, the whole biker taker era was epic
I was ready to riot when Burchill came up, but thank God you like the Pirate gimmick. ^_^
Cody Rhodes from him to stardust, utter shite so it was, good he got out.
And now he has a company that is going head to head with wwe
I think changing Demolition Smash (a member of one of the most over tag teams in history) into the Repo Man should have made the list.
what?! that's who Repo Man was.... i never knew that
The Biker gimmick was one of the best gimmicks ever lmfao
idk about you guys but biker undertaker is 10 times scarier than regular undertaker
_"idk about you guys but biker undertaker is 10 times scarier than regular undertaker_"
Not for me at all. The Big Evil heel version would be intimidating in person but didn't really feel 'scary' on screen, that's the closest I'd say personally.
What I'll always attest is/was/forever will be scary is Undertaker's _original_ incarnation in the funeral parlour vignettes - not the interview segments on the stage (called The Funeral Parlor) but the short scenes of Undertaker building coffins while Paul Bearer spoke. Between that and putting his deafeated opponents in body bags (which terrified me as a kid), that was actually morbid whereas his later Satanic stuff just came across as cool to me as a teen.
Yeah, Old School Undertaker actually made me question if wrestling was real. When he was in the ring, I was like, 'wrestling IS fake, right?' His demeanor and the way he was effing people up and this 'imperviousness to pain' he had was considerably scary.
+blackSUAAAVE because that was undertakers preferred gimmick
omg lol thought i was the only one lol
I know the general consensus is that the dead mean gimmick is scarier than the biker one but looking back Taker had a bigger mean streak as a biker than he did as the Deadman. He was a total dick as a biker. Remember how he beat the shit out of Maven just for getting elimimated? He was a bully lol I agree.
Biker Taker was really good
Also I think Taker said he was going to leave if he couldn’t do the gimmick because he was tired of the deadman shit and wanted his character to reflect him
So he became a American biker
What about Chris Harris to Braden Walker?
The "Wildcat" had potential to be greater than Bret Hart but all Vinnie Mac saw in him were 'Knock Knock' jokes
SMH
No offence,but it's kinda funny you say that when you have an Ed Edd and Eddy profile picture.
Pirate Paul was and still is a legend 🤘
but Paul and Katie Lea was a fucking disgrace
Agreed
But she was HOTTT!!!!!
Going from F to E was bad too
It doesn't really matter, I mean it was because of the world wildlife foundation
Really? WWE changing its name and avoiding a lawsuit was a bad thing? Please.
+Aaron Jake it was weak move. I don't really blame Vince too much though on changing the name. I just wished he didn't choose to include the word "entertainment" in the name. I know something better could have been used
Yeah, Federation sounded imposing, Entertainment, weak sauce.
Canteenboy117 I personally don't see a problem in "Entertainment". It is Sports-Entertainment.
I love ALL of Undertaker's gimmicks from the Western Mortician and the Ministry of Darkness to ABA and the Deadman.
I loved the American badass gimmick
I liked Pirate Paul too, and actually he was very much over, until they decided to inexplicably drop the whole thing.
Also, I did enjoy Biker Taker, and his "Dead Man Inc." time was great as well. It worked for the time AND it made it that much cooler when he finally did return as the Deadman.
In b4 Arsenal gets smashed to bits by Liverpool
Hahahahahahahaha. Nope.
We can only hope 👏
+superstarrob27 ohhh yes
1-0 to arsenal right now ....
Yeah that's a good one
biker gimmick was cool af and dsn't qualify to be in this list.jmo.period
Red Rooster would be my number 1 on this list; getting saddled with a crappy gimmick is one thing, but when the gimmick is so bad that it not only makes it impossible for you to do anything else afterward, but also eclipses the stellar career you had beforehand...that's downright apocalyptic.
Ayeeee I totally dug Ministry AND Biker Undertaker, mainly because I love that man. He'a the man. 😍
drew McIntyre should be on this list
Do you know how over 3MB was? He was released because creative had nothing for him, and he was better off elsewhere making money and being used. Getting released isn't always a bad thing.
he was on the fast track to a world title and just gave up on his push
true They made Drew go from a future world Champion to a complete joke
Drew McIntyre was literally doing nothing before they put him with 2MB
+Controversial Radio Drew McIntyre literally debuted as 'the chosen one', hardly nothing.
Ok, what about John Cena, going from his rapper gimmick in the ruthless aggression era to his fun, "you can't see me", face that runs the place gimmick in the PG Era 🙄. Or what about Triple H, from his royalty gimmick to his "King of Kings", the game gimmick. Or what about Stone Cold Steve Austin going from his "movie star" gimmick with Brian Pillman to his Toughest S.O.B gimmick after WM 13. What about Hulk Hogan, going from his top baby face, American hero gimmick in WWF to him going to WCW and creating the NWO with Kevin Nash "Diesel" and Scott Hall "Razor Ramon". And finally the Rock, when the rock made his WWF debut in the mid-90's, the WWF, were trying to make him a baby face, the happy-go-lucky spirit. But with the Monday Night Wars and with the crowd not getting behind the gimmick and holding up signs like "Die Rocky Die". The WWF repackaged him as a top heel and had an incredible career, having one of the best feuds, with Stone Cold.
With the possible exception of Cena, everything you just listed there was a GOOD image change.
This video was about bad image changes they were all good
PG Era was 2008-2011. Reality Era was 2011-2014. Network Era is 2014-present.
The videos called worst image changes you stupid smark
reality era was more like 2013-2016 and now we're in the 'new' era since the draft
I loved American badass taker
Loving the music track you got goin in the background. Shot in the dark, but I'd like to hear it outside the vid. Sick guitar playing.
Thank you Blampied (Or should I say Plumpy) I liked the pirate gimmick of Paul Burchill. Without it casual fans would forget Burchill and was a gimmick that was ahead of its time as the PG era kids would love seeing a pirate wrestle.
When does Adam think Sister Abigail will debut ? And will the Wyatt family re-unite ?
+THE CMK #AA actually it's also rumored that Luke Harper might go into an early retirement
+THE CMK #AA yeah true
Seeing Rowan with Bray these past weeks was a huge disappointment. Bray needs to shake off the potato sack wearing tard if he wants things to change.
Wyatt Family is still a thing. WWE had them listed as singles competitors so they could draft Strowman to RAW and give him his singles push, while the others were drafted the SD.
+THE CMK #AA That's funny, because I heard just the opposite. From what I read, it's rumored that he'll be rejoining Bray and Rowan on Smackdown when he returns.
I respectfully disagree with you about badass undertaker. I like his gimmick!
John Cena should be #1
John cena's gimmick has been toned down over the years
Me insult John Cena to get likes!
+BigMoser Gaming i thought back then he was the next eminem
+axelrayne69 Cena is garbage kid. And by the way his finisher was originally the FU.
axelrayne69 woah now, you can keep your preferences to yourself.
The worst part about Tensai was that they didn't acknowledge it was albert. he had a legit career in japan and could have played that up and the fans would have understood...Like everyone else I liked that era undertaker too.
Such a simple fix. He went to Japan and found a new purpose and reinvented himself or something like that. Lol
I don't know why fans hate on Corporate Kane. I liked the gimmick because he played both the monster and corporate sell out thing very well. He knows how to talk and play the monster. This is different from others who couldn't ease into their new gimmicks or look. Kane did it very well.
Big evil was the best taker image
FUCK That The Undertaker Biker Gimmick Was FUCKING Awesome ! And I Still LoVe The DeadMen Gimmick too tho
Lol when he said the big red fucking machine
Kids Arguing over what T.V show to put on 6:42
"F*** you I like the pirate thing"
Also, while I disliked the ABA Taker, it did give me one of the reasons why I fell in love with watching Jeff Hardy, and you saw the kind of respect that Taker could give to young wrestlers. Shoot or not, he gave Jeff a helluva match, and then came back and showed his respect to the (then) kid. Unlike most of the backstage things that happened, that literally happened, the big man's nod of approval of Jeff, right in front of my eyes.
I loved him for that reason and I loved Jeff for that match.
I like the American badass look
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I liked Biker Taker.
You're not, look at the comments, American badass/big evil taker was the best version of taker because he had personality, he could talk, he sold, and was turning into one of the greatest workers of all time
Youre not
biker taker was cool as FUCK!!!
na you're not man biker taker was badass
I like to pretend that the American Badass gimmick never happened :)
Me too.
You'd really prefer the same character for 20+ years?
+hash Z American Badass was just that bad.
Giving Ricky Steamboat wings and a fire-breathing gimmick made me cringe.
Tito Santana (Mexican) becoming a SPANISH bullfighter as El Matador just seemed wrong (Spain is NOT European Mexico).
Adrian Adonis going from a tough guy to "Adorable" was horrible, too.
Never understood the reasoning of Crush going from Demolition badass to a big Hawaiian, either (at least change his name!).
lex luger's last song entrance as a patriot was the best though
The Undertaker's American Badass persona was fantastic; keep in mind, by that time the character needed a fresh change/direction as they pretty much went as far as they could with the whole deadman thing. WWF fans were finally getting a true to life reflection of the man behind The Undertaker- and the American Badass gimmick was a mere glimpse of who Mark Calaway is outside of the WWE (albeit an over exaggerated glimpse).
Moreso, the gimmick lasted only three years. The fact that he went back to playing the undead grim reaper thing since returning at WrestleMania XX back in 2004 makes me more fonder of the American Badass character.
Pirate Paul Burchill was boss, fight me about it.
Tag team with you for whoever steps up. (One year later lol)
Adam, what kind of brother are you? You don't want to make your little sister happy? ;)
i always thought the Burchill pirate gimmick was more of a nod to Dodgeball rather than Pirates of the Caribbean. 🤔
TRIPPEN .
taker American badass was an awesome transformation gimmick
I'm very glad there is alot of support for 'Takers biker days. Im as much a fan of Deadman persona as any,but..who's with me that the character itself was Very Limiting? ABA,he could express himself in so many more ways,key word there=HimSelf.It came natural,and,believable for the most part.Last Ride,an extended P.Bomb,and had his signature paint-scheme on it. Ohhh,Not just to throw more hate on Limp Bizkit,trendy as that is...But,Rollin'? Which Wore out on it's own...but now it's torturing us through Undertaker? Lastly,I like how he had "Big Evil' version,too..I'm pretty sure he was Heel for that,right? I think it had perfect timing,when to return Phenom...and that is enough reason to justify ABA era,if you hated that,made his comeback all the lovely
is Albert that guy who trains you in wwe 2k17 my career mode?
masky maskface yes he has many diff names in WWE, and here in order, Prince Albert, A-Train, and Tensai
Ok
His real name is Matt Bloom.
I Like it better when the undertaker was the American badass
The American Badass isn't a bad gimmick, he just wanted to wrestle naturally like he was in the 80s.
I loved all of The Undertaker's image changes since he debuted.
Undertaker Badass biker was the best thing about the undertaker (not really) I really liked his Image before it, at the time and after it tbh
yeah. it's complete
i think it's the best gimmick he had.
his old gimmick was for kids but hes american badass gimmick was for more adult people
+filip lazic you right man deadman gimmik for kids i hate cartoons gimmiks
leading a cult and had crucifixion rituals yeah so for kids. (sarcasm).
American Badass was refreshing and one of my favorite character choices for Taker.
As dumb as the American Badass gimmick was, (and it WAS dumb-- an undead necromancer suddenly becoming "your uncle who spent some time in prison but we don't talk about that because he's really trying, guys, he's better now" the becoming an undead necromancer again is dumb) I still know all the words to his stupid entrance music. "You've done it now," indeed.
Yeah I loved Burchill's pirate gimmick. He seemed to be having a lot of fun , he even seemed to get over a bit before they knocked him back to development.
No one on the planet missed that nightmare called the "American Badass Undertaker" when it was mercifully gone.
Am I the only 1 that liked Tensai?
I liked it more than the Albert gimmick though I guess it shouldn't have been given to a man we all could easily recognize.
Nope! Loved it.
Yes
phil jaffe 👋 SLAP!
As much as I liked Ministry Taker, Biker Taker was awesome
the undertaker had the BEST gimmicks wtf is he talking about lol
Considering that Mark Calaway as a biker is who he is in real life, I didn't see the gimmick change as anything bad.
2 reasons why undertaker switched gimmicks
1. How is he character supposed to be an immortal badass when he keeps getting injured, and when he got injured he took moths off
2. Undertaker himself said he didn't like the dark lord gimmick because it was to dark for him
I honestly liked the American Badass Taker way more. But that's just me..
No...it's not just you. There are plenty of people that feel the same way. But I guess we're supposed to hate it now because WhatCulture said so.
Yeah I agree as well, he came across as a true badass not just a TV badass not to mention he probably had better feuds and matches.
H3rbieDeth For me, the Biker gimmick is pretty much Mark wanting to be HIMSELF for a change, kinda mix things up a bit, especially with how over-the-top he's been with the DEADMAN gimmick, especially under Russo.
+Phillip Watts, Jr. it was also because he wanted to create his own gimmick because he almost left to WCW and he wouldn't have been able to use the deadman gimmick
The title defense ladder match vs Jeff Hardy was imho one of the better matches of that era
I really liked biker Undertaker"Keep ROLLING ROLLING ROLLING ROLLING!!! "👍
Say what you want to but I really loved the American badass gimmick and am secretly hoping he returns that way even if it is just for one night .
I will always defend Biker Taker to a certain extent, based on the reality based characters WWF was going for at that time.
Luger actually had two bad image changes; in '99, WCW took him from surprisingly likable heavyweight underdog to The Total Package.
I think i am the only one who liked Tensai, yes was white washing, but i like his matches.
The matches were pretty great. Albert puts in great work.
I disagree with #10.
I actually liked the American Badass gimmick to be honest with you. Why didn't people like it?
Best channel for wwe updates
As someone from Spartanburg, SC, it does something for me to hear Plumpy say the name of my hometown.
5:15 Shame on you for using that dessert to display "Africa", lol
ABA was cool as fuck.
"Tipsy grandpa."😂
my favorite Albert moment was when he was named Atrain...he goes yeahh I like that name, from now on I'm A Train, then 30 seconds later came out with new train centric music, and a new titantron video that prominently displayed his name...damn those wwf editors work fast.
I actually liked Chavo's white gimmicks better than any bland run he did before.
I liked him best during his "lie, cheat and steal" phase with Eddie.
+Bloody Persistent That was more of Eddie's thing. Chavo was just kind of along for the ride.