In pro wrestling, there have been many different characters who have stepped foot in a WWE ring. Over the years, certain names such as Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, John Cena, Bret Hart, The Rock, and Triple H have all been instrumental in popularizing the WWE (formerly WWF) brand over the past four decades.
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Others, such as Ric Flair, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, A.J. Styles, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, and Brock Lesnar, have also been directly influential in propelling WWE to become the global empire that it is now. In addition, big men such as the Big Boss Man, the Big Show, and Andre the Giant are legendary WWE superstars who have paved the way in making top babyfaces popular.
However, there have been several wrestlers who did not make the cut as being among the best, and even have been widely felt to be among the worst, as far as gimmick and overall in-ring work.
Here is a list of 5 terrible gimmicks of former WWE wrestlers.
James Ellsworth
Although the in-ring work of James Ellsworth did not make him the worst wrestler, the characters WWE portrayed him certainly are. Ellsworth originally debuted as an enhancement talent for Braun Strowman to destroy, and that he did on an episode of Raw. However, he started to gain popularity for his valiant spirit despite being a huge underdog.
He even reached main event status against AJ Styles, and shocked the world by defeating him with the help of Dean Ambrose. Ellsworth was a part of the 2017 Royal Rumble for 15 seconds, and eventually became Carmella's manager - for her win in the first women's Money in the Bank match - before being released.
Eva Marie
Granted, Natalie Eva Marie has built a very successful brand outside of WWE, and many feel that her character would have worked if WWE would have been more patient in her development while in NXT. However, Vince McMahon and WWE Creative decided to hotshot her to the main roster and place her on the SmackDown brand.
Despite an obvious road to a major push with a gimmick which caused her to experience wardrobe malfunctions to delay an in-ring debut, Eva was released.
Gobbledy Gooker
At the 1990 Survivor Series pay-per-view, there was a huge egg that was being advertised to hatch with a surprise inside it. While many wrestling fans were expecting perhaps a debut or return, it ended up being a person dressed up as a turkey, named the Gobbledy Gooker.
While the person inside the suit, Hector Guerrero, is a member of the legendary Guerrero family and an in-ring veteran, the character he was portraying was among the worst in WWE history. WWE even brought him back in 2001 in the Gimmick Battle Royal, but the Iron Sheik was the last man standing in the match.
Michael Cole
For some reason, WWE thought it was a good idea to actually put play-by-play announcer Michael Cole in the ring. Cole developed a villainous character on Monday Night Raw by being the person to make the announcements for the Raw General Manager.
Cole even made it to competing at WrestleMania during his feud with Jerry Lawler, with Steve Austin as the special guest referee. Even more shockingly, he defeated Lawler in this match by disqualification.
The Zombie
On the debut episode of WWE's ECW weekly show, a character by the name of The Zombie was in the debut match against The Sandman. Not only was this not what Shane McMahon imagined when he lobbied for ECW to return after going bankrupt in 2001, but it also left a very bad impression on where the brand was heading.
Although the second version of ECW helped many professional wrestling names such as John Morrison, Mark Henry, Chavo Guerrero, and C.M. Punk, as all of them became ECW World Champion.
