5 gimmicks that destroyed WWE Superstars

The world of WWE, and pro-wrestling, is divided into faces, heels, and tweeners. Gimmicks exist to increase prominence by creating distinctions between different characters. For instance, both Happy Corbin and Roman Reigns are villainous, although they vary in their traits and presentation.

WWE superstars change gimmicks from time to time to introduce freshness, or to dismiss ideas deemed irrelevant. The Leviathan transforming into The Animal is a good creative decision, but some gimmicks end up being worse than the former.

Since changing gimmicks is mostly a company decision, performers must handle it to the best of their efforts. Talented wrestlers with excellent skills may get wasted if they are burdened with bizarre gimmicks they're unable to carry.

Here's a list of five superstars whose WWE careers were ruined by terrible gimmicks.

#5 Emmalina (Former WWE superstar Emma)

In a truly bizarre case that managed to baffle the majority of the promotion's fanbase, WWE repackaged the villainous Emma, a talented in-ring performer, into the throwback Emmalina. Vignettes to hype her makeover aired for months, and Emmalina's debut had some intrigue attached to it. Enter Emma as Emmalina, only to announce her transformation back to plain old Emma.

The decision was made due to Emma reportedly not being able to pull off the throwback gimmick as WWE intended. Emma returned to her previous persona but had already become a laughing stock. Fortunately, since her WWE release, Tenille Dashwood has become a prominent player in IMPACT Wrestling.

#4 The Funkasaurus (Former WWE Superstar Brodus Clay)

Since his WWE release, the former Brodus Clay has turned his career around. Not only does he extensively wrestle for the NWA, but is World Television Champion. He also works as a political commentator from time to time. However, his biggest success was severing all attachment with the outrageous gimmick he was burdened with in WWE.

Brodus Clay's debut was similar to the Emmalina debacle. Hyped as a monster, he started appearing as a funkasaurus: a face who loved to dance. Flanked by two funkadactyls in Cameron and future star Naomi, the gimmick was dead on arrival. WWE tried their best to promote the Funkasaurus, yet a union with Tensai only managed to make Brodus Clay less interesting to fans.

#3 Stardust (Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes)

Goldust is one of the greatest risky gimmicks ever created by WWE, mostly due to Dustin Rhodes's constant struggle and desire to push boundaries. Seen as a solid mid-card hand, Cody Rhodes looked more fantastic than ever as part of his acclaimed tag-team with his brother. However, WWE had other plans and turned him into Stardust, a parody of a gimmick banking on nostalgia.

Cody tried his hardest to make the gimmick successful, and found some success. By the end of his career, though, he was a glorified enhancement talent associated with The Ascension. Disillusioned, he acted to reach his dream, and the result was the creation of AEW.

#2 Lord Tensai (Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Albert)

As Albert, current WWE Performance Center Head Trainer Matt Bloom had a low ceiling, but he had a ceiling at least. After his release from WWE, Bloom went on to redefine himself in Japan as Giant Bernard, a dominant tag-team specialist. When he returned to WWE, the company saddled him with the Lord Tensai character. Fans saw through the ruse and chanted "Albert" during his matches.

The gimmick wasn't well received, and Tensai spoke laughably terrible Japanese, yet WWE was determined to turn him into a top-tier spectacle. It didn't work. Tensai dropped the "lord" from his name, started losing most matches, and drifted into a lower-card tag team with Brodus Clay.

He retired in early 2014 and now holds an important position, grooming future talents for WWE success.

#1 Stalker (WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page)

Diamond Dallas Page was one of WCW's best home-grown talents. A late bloomer, his ascension to world championship glory made him a beloved figure. WWE didn't capitalize on his charisma. Instead, the company ran an infamous stalker angle and introduced Page as the one stalking The Undertaker's wife.

It led him to enter a rivalry with The American Badass but failed to send him to the main event; if WWE had any intention of letting a WCW star reach the top.

DDP was then repackaged as a motivational speaker, finding limited success before leaving WWE. Fans still, to this day, wonder how WWE managed to waste the enormous potential of the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion.