Repackages : The Good and The Bad

gimmick

Ok, there are obvious great ones like The Ringmaster becoming Stone Cold and Rocky Maivia but there are some out there which have worked not quite as well, but have been good repackages all the same. Others, have stunk to the high heavens.

It is only after seeing that we now have a character called Sweet T made me think of this. Poor Albert. Lord Tensai was a decent idea in theory, but was just completely not over. Now he is back ina similar role to the abomination he was 10 years ago as the "Hip Hop Hippo" when he was tagging with Scotty 2 Hotty.

A great repackage has been Ziggler. From the awfulness of Kerwin Whites caddy and Nicky of the Spirit Squad, we have a genuine main event player. Though I will always say, the name Dolph Ziggler is awful and is not a brand carrying name.

Others?

rovert

From Idol Stevens in the tag team no one remembers The Teachers Pets:




To the Intellectual Savior of the Masses:


You're Welcome

ricero

Kane sticks out as the best for me. Isaaac yankhem to kane, what a turn around

CastorTroy

Sure, steal one of my "In the Spotlight" questions!. :P

Hurricane Helms is one I can think of. I never watched WCW when he was in it, but his Hurricane persona and mild mannered reporter alter ego(Or was it him???) were excellent.

Kankan14

2 cold scorpio What was that Dude again? Flash funk or something? That one was random.

Ando's Saggy Bottom

From D Von Dudley's Deacon to the Animal Batista was a pretty major turnaround.

starviewadams

Umaga's transformation from one half of Eric Bischoff's fat tag team goon squad,to psychotic Samoan lad was pretty good.

'Hip hop hippo' Albert to A-Train was decent-ish too.

Booker T to King Booker was a laugh,and bland midcarder Bradshaw to millionaire tycoon JBL was class.

Charisteas

rovert wrote: »

From Idol Stevens in the tag team no one remembers The Teachers Pets:

To the Intellectual Savior of the Masses:

You're Welcome

Before any of that though, he was -

Charisteas

starviewadams wrote: »

Booker T to King Booker was a laugh,

Sharmell was excellent in her role for that gimmick too, not quite Vickie Guerrero level heat but not too far off.

Kess73

Triple H



Going from his Connecticut Blueblood persona to his DX persona.

krudler

Hogan is up there, went from massive babyface to massive heel literally overnight.

Taker going from the dead man to the biker. American Bad Ass is still a fantastic entrance theme.

Dustin Rhodes to goldust....who in the right mind thought of that piece of genius! Such an out of the box character!

Why was tensai ripped apart for being Albert and umaga not for being Jamal....like the iwc was in full swing around umagaa time so why did tensai get it so bad.

Smash rfrom demolition to the repo man was pretty terrible to be fair!

Machismo Fan

Though we did have to go through idiot Abyss and new Hulk Hogan Abyss to get there. Sting from surfer to brooding Sting, and Bully Ray from tag team wrestler to legitimate headliner are two others that come to mind.

krudler

Festus to Luke Gallows? big gimmick change from a dopey redneck to the SES member.

gnfnrhead

Mine was going to be Batista, but that was said.

Next was Abyss but also said.

Guess I could throw Raven into it but he was responsible for a lot of that himself. Not sure if that counts as a repackaging.

Machismo Fan wrote: »

Though we did have to go through idiot Abyss and new Hulk Hogan Abyss to get there. Sting from surfer to brooding Sting, and Bully Ray from tag team wrestler to legitimate headliner are two others that come to mind.

It's a shame they didnt figure that out years earlier. Right around the time of Judas Mesias would have been perfect. Abyss never really recovered after that. He had a few good patches but was mostly crap until Joseph Park was born.

briany

Bradshaw's had a few.

Cowpoke



Acolyte



Toothsome JBL. His best.

Charisteas

Mark Henry worth a mention from Sexual Chocolate to the Silverback, not so much the change in gimmick but more the fact that unlike other 15 year veterans such as Kane and Big Show, he hasn't had to endure a multitude of heel/face turns every 6 months.

Charisteas

Oh and Stephanie McMahon who went from from innocent 20 year old being kidnapped in late 90's, to slutty DX chick in early 2000's, to independent powerful woman in mid 00's.

Ah who am I kidding, it's an excuse to post Steph photos

Pre-kidnapping -




Womens Champ -




Full heel turn -




Smackdown General Manager -

krudler

Charisteas wrote: »

Mark Henry worth a mention from Sexual Chocolate to the Silverback, not so much the change in gimmick but more the fact that unlike other 15 year veterans such as Kane and Big Show, he hasn't had to endure a multitude of heel/face turns every 6 months.

6 months? 6 weeks more like :pac: Big Show must have a pro wrestling record of heel to face turns at this rate

Turtyturd

Cena to rapper Cena.
Stevie Richards to Steven Richards.
Sting to Crow Sting.

One that i really disliked AJ Styles to Prince AJ.

Mr. Guappa

Mick Foley
Cactus Jack - Mankind - Dude Love.

All three of those characters went through evolutions of their own as well.

Machismo Fan

Turtyturd wrote: »

One that i really disliked AJ Styles to Prince AJ.

I loved comedy heel AJ, he was great fun then.

campo

From this



To this



And finally

ciano316

Vince McMahon
to
Mr. McMahon

Turtyturd

Machismo Fan wrote: »

I loved comedy heel AJ, he was great fun then.

I didn't like it at all, and the fact he played second fiddle to Christian was even worse.

campo wrote: »

From this



To this



And finally

gnfnrhead

Comedy heel AJ was great. Being the lackey isnt ideal, but he was entertaining as hell.

campo

from this



To this

Mr.Nice Guy

I'm liking Jack Swagger's re-packaging from mid-card Kurt Angle rip-off to a slightly unhinged and easily influenced crazy man.

KuriousOranj

He's still boring as feck though,he's even managed to infect Dutch Mantell with his blandness.

ricero

KuriousOranj wrote: »

He's still boring as feck though,he's even managed to infect Dutch Mantell with his blandness.

ah i like the new and improved swagger and mustache man

Omackeral

Mabel


Viscera


*shudder* Big Daddy V

ShagNastii

I must be the only person that thinks Big Daddy V was bad ass. I was/am a total mark for the guy. I remember hearing through the interwebs of Viseara getting repackaged I thought "Yeah right what can that do with him".

But when he debuted I thought it was great. The tattoos, the black gear, the new hairdo, the size and the constant angry face. They tag team him with Mark Henry which was pretty colossal.

We know the moobs were a negetive.

GTR63

Viscera was class, loved the Ministry's entrance theme.
Nation of Violence Samoa Joe was unspeakably bad.

campo

From this


To this

rossie1977

not enough of the bad on this thread



to this





what the hell were they thinking



its only in the decades to come we will look back at how important this character truly was



same won't be said of this version

BohsJohnny

From Samoa Joe's lackey in TNA



To one of the best wrestlers in the world.

briany

Barry Darsow.

As Smash



As the (one and only) Repo Man





.....and Mr Hole in One

Special Agent Oso

Bob Backlund being a complete gentleman in the ring to becoming a crazy ass, palms staring, head nodding mofo that cross-face chicken winged anyone that moved after Bret beat him just before their fued really kicked off...didnt see that turn coming