3 times WWE has done the Lars Sullivan character before

The concept of a "monster heel" is nothing new to professional wrestling. After all, without a great heel, it is truly difficult to create a great babyface, given the adversity involved with telling these sorts of stories.

Right now a lot of eyes are on WWE Superstar Lars Sullivan. Not just because of controversy or backstage rumors, but because Sullivan was the subject of vignettes before making his post-NXT main roster debut. And if the rumors were true, Sullivan had been slated to debut in a big way on the main roster, battling John Cena at this year's WrestleMania.

While we have not yet seen Lars Sullivan in a proper feud, his character is clearly one-dimensional and easy to define. For starters, he is portrayed to be both large and strong. WWE officials have also been playing up his mean streak and overall psychological instability, which is supposed to inform why he is to be feared and hated.

But ultimately these days it is difficult to be purely original within the world of professional wrestling. Below and on the following slides are three examples of when WWE previously featured talent comparable to Lars Sullivan, and as you will read, these talents have reached varying levels of long-term success.

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#1 Heidenreich

Jon Heidenreich―Heidenreich, for short―was signed to the teams in the NFL, CDL and AFL before becoming a professional wrestler. He was trained within the infamous UPW organization―which would later give birth to John Cena, Samoa Joe and The Miz―and he was quickly signed by WWE in 2001. He would quickly part ways with the company and then re-sign with them, following a stint in Japan alongside Nathan Jones, in 2003.

Heidenreich was first seen on WWE television in late 2003. After close to a year of lower-card appearances, he made an impact in August 2004 as a protege of Paul Heyman. Heidenreich would go on to feud with The Undertaker, challenge for the WWE Championship and join the Legion Of Doom for a short stint. He last within the WWE ranks until early 2006, later resurfacing in Puerto Rico's WWC promotion.

As seen in the YouTube video embed above, not only is Heidenreich oh-so-tempermental and volatile―Heyman refers to him as an "animal," while the announcers play up his lack of friends―but the big man's immense size is played up. Oh, and he is wearing red trunks like Lars Sullivan is known to do.

#2 Snitsky

Gene Snitsky / Photo courtesy of WWE

Gene Snitsky―later just known to the WWE Universe as Snitsky―was a football player before training to become a wrestler. He played college ball at the University of Missouri and ultimately made the roster of the CFL's Birmingham Barracudas.

Snitsky was signed by WWE in late 2003 following a try-out match. After developing in Ohio Valley Wrestling, Snitsky made his main roster debut in September 2004 in a match against Kane. This match would lead into the whole "it wasn't my fault" catch-phrase for Snitsky.

The Snitsky character would ultimately evolve so that the cameras and announcers not only emphasized Snitsky's massive size, but also his yellowed teeth. Former WWE commentator Tazz referred to Snitsky as "deranged" and notes that he is "not stable." As with Sullivan, Snitsky was not huge on body-hair maintenance and his theme song also has startling, unmelodic noises.

#3 Sycho Sid

Active as a professional wrestler on and off from the late 1980s through late 2017, Sid Vicious had a career like few other performers. He was ultimately a two-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion and a two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion beyond other titles with WCW, USWA, CWA and NWA. And if the rumors are true, he was asked to take Hulk Hogan's top babyface spot in the WWF in early 1990s, and declined such directly to Vince McMahon.

Sid changed his gimmick many times throughout his career. He was first Lord Humongous, working under a mask. He became Sid Vicious in WCW, initially working as a singles competitor before becoming one-half of The Skyscrapers. He became Sid Justice in the WWF in 1991, returned to WCW as Sid Justice in 1993, and would become Sycho Sid upon returning to the WWF in 1995.

As Sycho Sid, the performer was―of course―unstable and prone to attack other competitors including Shawn Michaels, who he was initially there to protect within his 1995 reintroduction to the WWF. Sycho Sid's theme song had minor-key string keyboard sounds meant to produce a chilling effect over industrial-metal music, comparable to the tack-piano sounds of Lars Sullivan's theme song.

Any way you slice it, the Lars Sullivan character has been done plenty of times before―to varying degrees of success―so hopefully there are plans for WWE to do more with the guy than have him forcefully take down babyface characters.