Akeem The African Dream & 9 Other Old-School Gimmick Changes That Sucked

When bad gimmick changes in WWE are mentioned, it’s all too easy to simply look at the last 20 years. WWE has a habit of saddling workers with new characters that are downright horrible and boggle the mind they were created. As a result, far too many promising workers or established stars were ruined by being forced to take on a persona they weren’t suited for and slumped badly. But this is hardly a new thing for WWE but rather a pattern going back decades.

Indeed, some of the “old-school” gimmick changes from before the Attitude Era can outdo some modern transformations in how wretched they were. Workers were given stupid characters, laughable outfits and more to mar them. In at least one case, it took a terrific gimmick and ruined it with a new direction. These are ten of the dumbest character changes of the older WWE and prove this problem is older than some wrestling fans assume.

10 Abe Knuckleball Schwartz

Steve Lombardi has been a good backstage presence in WWE while also known as the Brooklyn Brawler, one of the better heel jobbers of his time. In 1992, he was remade into MVP (not to be confused with the current star), dressed as a baseball player with makeup looking like a ball.

In 1994, as MLB went on strike, he became Abe “Knuckleball” Schwartz, a ballplayer supposedly striking but then “the one ballplayer still active.” Neither did anything for Lombardi’s winning streak and a sign of the problems linking a gimmick to a current event.

9 Doink

This is a classic example of WWE having the attitude “it’s not broke, but let’s fix it anyway.” The original Doink was a genius idea as Matt Borne played him as a pure evil clown. He’d come out to bright music that would turn sinister, popping balloons and mocking opponents in heel ways.

Just as the act was clicking, Borne was fired, and the character was transformed into silly comic relief, complete with a little sidekick Dink and pranks. Fans quickly learned to hate it as keeping Doink the evil clown was so much better than the comedy guy.

8 Adrian Adonis

In his prime, Adrian Adonis was one of the nastiest, toughest wrestlers around, boasting of his New York background and dressed in motorcycle leather. In the mid-1980s, Adonis gained a lot of weight and also took on the "Adorable" gimmick. He dyed his hair blonde and came out dressed in pink tights with boas, scarves, and makeup.

He had a feud with Roddy Piper, but otherwise, Adonis had negative feelings with the whole thing and drove his career down. Adonis would tragically pass away in a car accident in 1988, so this was a sad climax to an otherwise good career.

7 Who

Jim Neidhart as masked WWE jobber "Who?"

After injuries and other issues led him to leave WWE in early 1992, Jim Neidhart kicked around the indies before returning in 1994 only to leave again. In 1996, another return came…although no one knew it. As if to punish Neidhart, the Anvil was put under a mask and simply called “Who.”

It was nothing more than an excuse for the commentators to do “Who’s on First” routines, which, of course, was lost on the live audience. It was a strange idea that did Neidhart no favors. Thankfully, he made a good return the next year as himself with the Hart Foundation when this was an embarrassment to the masked Neidhart.

6 Bastion Booger

It’s amazing when a change from a bad gimmick is actually a step down. Friar Ferguson was a nutty character as an “evil monk” who dressed like Friar Tuck. Mike Shaw was a big guy who fit the robes okay but not much to get behind him.

So WWE did something worse by having him dressed in what looked like grey elastic tape emphasizing his burly body. As Bastion Booger, he was encouraged to be as disgusting as possible, eating food in a slovenly matter, sweaty and a finisher dropping his ample rear onto a guy. To little surprise, this failed to click as fans flicked booger away.

5 Saba Simba

One of the many guys in wrestling claiming to be “the world’s strongest man,” Tony Atlas had held the tag team titles with Rocky Johnson and still had some good looks to him. Atlas hit hard times and was actually homeless before WWE hired him back in 1990.

That’s likely why he was desperate enough to agree to be shown as an African tribesman, complete with shield, spear and ceremonial mask. It was too bad as Atlas could have gotten over as a tough guy overcoming his past but saddling him with this horrible gimmick ruined his comeback chances in WWE.

4 Repo Man

Barry Darsow was no stranger to some bad gimmicks in his career, but this might be the worst of the bunch. Darsow had just enjoyed huge success as Demolition Smash with multiple tag team title runs. When they split, Darsow was remade as an evil repossession agent.

That was crazy enough without having him dressed like the Hamburgler in a goofy black mask and grey outfit, acting like he was ready to steal anything. Darsow was fun playing the role wildly over the top to make it more entertaining than it should have been, but that didn’t discount how stupid the character was and one of the dumber “occupational gimmicks” of the time.

3 El Matador

Tito Santana was a great worker for WWE, holding the IC and tag titles and still a popular mid-carder. He was okay on his own pushing his Mexican roots (never mind he was born in Texas) and could have kept that up as just himself. That wasn’t enough for WWE in the early 1990s as vignettes aired of Tito heading to Mexico and, somehow, becoming a matador.

It was meant to exemplify his toughness but instead looked silly in the pants and waving a cape around. He had some shots in the midcard but faltered and was out of WWE in a couple of years as the matador was really waving a white flag on Tito’s career.

2 Terry Taylor

Few guys have been screwed up by fate like Terry Taylor. According to legend, it was literally the flip of a coin to decide if he or Curt Hennig would have the Mr. Perfect gimmick and Taylor could have been good at it. He started in WWE as “Scary” Terry, which was rough but still had some potential.

But then, he was given the name of the Red Rooster, complete with a streak of red in his hair and promos of crowing. Meant to be a heel, he turned face but fans accepted neither because nobody was going to cheer for someone with such a ridiculous name. Taylor would return to WWE under his real name, but this sure ruffled his feathers for years.

1 Akeem

The One Man Gang had a fantastic look in the UWF and World Class. A huge burly biker with a mohawk, he stood out from the pack and could have been a decent monster heel in WWE. But in 1988, they gave him one of the most bizarre remakes of all time. Slick brought out the One Man Gang, now an “African prince” type in a blue suit with a yellow coat and hat.

His “dancing” and trying to be a hip-hop black guy was hysterical. Akeem was never taken seriously again and little wonder OMG went back to his old look as soon as he was out of WWWE to put this behind him.