WWE is the biggest pro-wrestling promotion in the world right now. Owned by Vince McMahon, the company has three brands, namely RAW, SmackDown and NXT that entertain the fans across the world on a weekly basis. All three shows have different rosters, with Superstars portraying different gimmicks.
WWE has a long history, so it goes without saying that some things may have repeated, and that includes characters of the Superstars as well. While some Superstars mastered that gimmick and made a name for themselves with it, the others failed while trying to do almost similar thing. In this article today, we will look at the top five character ideas that worked with 1 WWE Superstar but failed on the other.
1. Roman Reigns – Former WWE Champions Stone Cold Steve Austin and John Cena
Roman Reigns started his career on the main roster as The Powerhouse of The Shield. The group became very popular. Seth Rollins and Jon Moxley were the other two members of the faction. However, just like all good things come to an end, the Shield ended as well. Rollins turned heel on his brothers.
The WWE Creative team then tried to push Roman Reigns with a character idea almost similar to Stone Cold Steve Austin. In that storyline, it was Steve Austin who would destroy his boss Vince McMahon, and in this storyline, it was Triple H and Stephanie McMahon as the bosses against Roman Reigns. Some even compared him to John Cena because he would rarely take a pinfall. WWE tried very hard. Even Vince McMahon got involved personally. However, fans did not accept Roman as the face. Finally, in 2020, Roman rebuilt himself as The Tribal Chief and is the number one guy in WWE now.
2. Aiden English and Former WWE Champion Drew McIntyre
Aiden English gained a lot of popularity because of his association with Rusev. The Rusev Day gimmick got so popular that it sold a lot of merchandise and made the trio of Rusev, Aiden and Lana one of the most popular ones on TV.
Not many fans would know that WWE tried a similar gimmick involving music with Drew McIntyre before. It was during his first run with the company. That gimmick did not work, but Drew then worked hard and became the Scottish Warriors, ultimately becoming WWE Champion in 2020.
3. Ryback and Former WWE Universal Champion Goldberg
Many WWE fans would have an idea about this. Ryback received a Goldberg-esque character who could bulldoze his opponents. Fans even chanted ‘Goldberg’ during his matches. He built a streak like Goldberg with a limited move set. However, it did not end well. In the end, Ryback even lost matches to Kalisto, a man who is almost half of his size.
Goldberg built a huge unbeaten streak in WCW. He returned to WWE in 2016 and has won the Universal Championship twice since then.
4. Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton
Randy Orton is currently involved in one of the best acts on WWE TV – RK-Bro. His partnership with Riddle has been very successful. The duo is currently holding the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships.
But before Randy, WWE tried a similar idea with Jeff Hardy, where Jeff united with Riddle and they formed Hardy Bros. However, that tag team idea went nowhere, and soon the two stars were in different storylines.
5. Kurt Angle and Jack Swagger
Most of the members of the WWE Universe would know about this similarity. Jack Swagger portrayed an All American gimmick. It was not exactly similar to Kurt Angle, but the idea behind the two was the same. Both had amateur wrestling background.
However, Kurt became more popular because of his mic skills and in-ring work. Meanwhile, Swagger could not make it big.
