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The WWE Universe met a new version of Nikki Cross on the most recent episode of Monday Night RAW and universally, no pun intended, hated it.
The former WWE Women's Tag Champion has already had quite a successful run on the main roster, and has even challenged multiple times for the SmackDown Women's Championship. Seeing such a weird shift in tone left fans of Crazy Nikki worried, even though it's been confirmed that this was her idea.
If you're still nervous about how this could play out for Nikki Cross, maybe it's time to take a look back at some of WWE's greatest characters. I mean, for God's sake, The Undertaker was one of the greatest superstars of all time and he was an undead mortician. It doesn't get much goofier than that, does it?
Need more proof? Okay, let's count down five WWE acts that got goofy gimmicks over.
#5 3MB featured two future WWE Champions
When Drew McIntyre, Heath Slater, and Jinder Mahal formed the 3 Man Band in 2012, fans lost their minds. McIntyre went from "The Chosen One" to a goofy fake rockstar? Heath Slater was an original member of Nexus and now he's doing this? Jinder...well up until that point he hadn't done much, but still.
It seemed like a waste of talent and potential...until they became one of the funniest acts in WWE. Genuinely, it was hard not to smile when these three were on camera.
For the first year, the group always acted better than they really were, often going after the biggest fish in the lake. There was this great moment in 2013 where they thought they were on the same level as The Shield that was...just hilarious.
That was pretty much the joke for two years, and while sometimes you can run the risk of a joke going stale, Heath Slater and the Three Man Band, baybay, always managed to get a pop from the crowd.
They're also responsible for, and I kid you not, one of the greatest TLC matches of all time. 3MB would eventually adopt Hornswoggle as their fourth member, and helped him out in the famous "Wee LC" match against El Torrito.
A few years back, WWE brought 3MB together to watch the match back, and it was great to see them react to it.
In a Q&A on Twitter last year, Drew McIntyre even said he'd had no regrets regarding the group.
Neither do I, Drew. Neither do I. Both Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal went onto capture the WWE Championship after first being released in 2014. Hopefully one day we can see Heath come back to complete the trifecta, which would make 3MB one of the greatest stables of all time. Who's laughing now?
#4 Santino Marella and his Cobra
Crazy to think Santino Marella's WWE run started with an Intercontinental Championship victory over Umaga, huh? The Milan Miracle himself, Santino Marella, was with WWE for eleven years and spent the majority of that time dancing around like a bufoon.
There may never be another WWE Superstar to win as many accolades as Santino did while wearing a sock on his hand. Okay...well...aside from Mick Foley, but that's different. He's hardcore!
Seriously, Marella is a two-time Intercontinental Champion, one-time US Champion, and one-time Tag Team Champion. However, he's best remembered for sipping tea with Vladimir Kozlov and, unfortunately enough, winning the Miss WrestleMania battle royal.
Marella was so beloved that he managed to convince fans, even if it was for a fleeting second, that he was close to winning some major matches. He nearly won the 2011 Royal Rumble before being eliminated by winner Alberto Del Rio. In 2012 he caught Daniel Bryan with the Cobra in the Elimination Chamber and was nearly the WWE World Champion.
He was a goofball through and through, and the WWE Universe loved him for it.
#3 Bray Wyatt introduces the WWE Universe to the Firefly Funhouse
It started out goofy and then got creepy real quick. When Bray Wyatt reintroduced himself to the WWE Universe as what I like to call "Funhouse Bray," fans were skeptical to say the least. There was a lot of hate for the gimmick the second he appeared on Monday Night RAW.
Don't believe me? Check out the comments in that tweet above. Fans were not having it. What happened to the cult leader, the man who was destined to inherit the legacy of The Undertaker? Well, he became a killer clown with a split personality. He also ended up a two-time Universal Champion and, for the time being, eliminated John Cena from WWE.
That's pretty successful for a gimmick fans claimed "ruined" Bray Wyatt. Surrounded by puppets and the laughter of children, this version of Bray turned out to be the most sadistic of them all. Oddly enough, it's also the funniest. I mean, who doesn't smile when they see the Muscle Man Dance?
#2 The Hurricane runs through WWE
Stand back, there's a Hurricane coming through! When WWE brought in WCW fan-favorite Sugar Shane Helms and re-introduced him as "The Hurricane" following the Invasion, it was a...bold move to say the least. Highly acclaimed and heavily decorated as a former Cruiserweight Champion, it left a lot of fans scratching their heads.
Cut to five years later, and fans were demanding to know why WWE had turned The Hurricane into Gregory Helms. The fact is the man was so great at playing this goofy, dorky green cape-wearing gimmick that fans were always on their feet to welcome him to the arena. Now, to be fair, a lot of that had to do with the brief run he had with The Rock.
The Hurricane was so over that he was able to bring in Mighty Molly Holly and Rosey on the way to the top. Fans of the Ruthless Aggression Era will always have a soft spot in their hearts for all the great times they had courtesy of Hurricane Helms.
#1 WWE Superstar and multi-time 24/7 Champion R-Truth
We can't do this list without R-Truth. The man's a comedic genius. Seriously, he made Brock Lesnar crack. He's taken something like the 24/7 Championship, a belt that, let's face it, had a shelf life of two months, and made it must-watch TV.
Ron "The Truth" Killings was a major player in TNA Wrestling and even a former world champion. When he returned to WWE, he kept the character he'd been working with for years, shortening his name to R-Truth. Over the years, Truth captured the United States and Tag Team Titles a handful of times, and was even in a major title bout with John Cena.
So when he started talking to "Little Jimmy" and began to lose his mind, fans were skeptical to say the least. However, Truth made it work. The man, genuinely, is one of the funniest wrestlers on the planet. He's perfect for sports entertainment.
Pulling out a ladder at the WWE Royal Rumble because he thought it was the Money in the Bank ladder match? Gold. Working as Dolph Ziggler's stunt double R-Ziggler to counter Miz and Damien Mizdow? Gold. Vowing to win the WWE MITB ladder match even though he wasn't in the match? 24 karot gold!
Look, at the end of the day, a "goofy" gimmick isn't the end of the world. It can be the start of something new and a new path for a wrestler, especially in WWE. Sometimes it even leads them to the top of the card. Let's give this Nikki Cross thing a chance before immediately shooting it out of the sky, huh?
