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5 Wrestlers who broke free from lacklustre gimmicks and went on to become Superstars

Escaping a lacklustre gimmick, Cody proved his mettle
Cody took a tough but wise choice to put an end to Stardust

Gimmicks are the essence of success in the pro-wrestling industry. A gimmick that clicks with the audience can make a performer's character and vice-versa. We have seen performers try a lot of crazy personas that suit themselves in order to make it big and one thing I can say for sure that it is quite rare to spot a performer in this business who hasn't been through a bad gimmick at one point in his/her career.

A certain Stone Cold Steve Austin used to be "The Ringmaster" but later became one of the most influential characters in this business whereas the association with the "Emmalina" character disturbed the equilibrium of Tenille Dashwood's WWE career. Sure exceptions like Kurt Angle are always there who climbed the ladder of success from the get-go.

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Over the time, some performers were able to overcome their respective lacklustre gimmicks and moved on to better ones. However, there have also been a number of performers who couldn't escape thankfully for Jacobs, he had a new lease on his wrestling career when he debuted at The Undertaker's "brother," Kane with the help of the late Paul Bearer. It would spark a great "brother vs. brother" feud.

Jacobs would quickly become the then-WWF champion, and his career would continue to rise. He has been credited as one of the best "big men" in the history of the WWE. wrath of their dull gimmicks. In this little piece, we will take a look at 5 good performers who overcame the cloud of bad gimmicks and rose to new heights of success and fame.


#1 Kane (from Isaac Yankem to the Big Red Machine)

Former Isaac Yankem aka present-day Kane
Former Isaac Yankem aka present-day Kane

The 'Devil's Favorite Demon' was not the first gimmick that Kane aka Glenn Jacobs(real name) brought to life in his WWE career. In 1995, he was introduced as "Isaac Yankem", Jerry Lawler's private whom Lawler hired get rid of his nemesis, Bret Hart. Later, he became a jobber to the likes of Jake Roberts and Marc Mero to name a few. In 1996, as the dentist character fizzled out, he was introduced as the Fake Diesel that turned out to be a huge flop.

In 1997, Glenn's career started took off when he debuted as The Undertaker's brother Kane alongside late Paul Bearer. He was involved in a fascinating brother vs brother feud with The Undertaker and never looked back. One of the biggest men in WWE/F's history, Kane is a sure-to-be future WWE Hall of Famer.

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