While they are not as common anymore, it was once standard for WWE to promote the arrival of new stars through some vignettes. Some have gotten fantastic at preparing guys to debut like Ted DiBiase, Mr. Perfect showing off his skills, Razor Ramon selling his toughness, and more. There were also some more guilty pleasures like the “everyman” antics of Dusty Rhodes, and they dominated in the Next Generation Era when it seemed like one guy after another had an occupational trick.
However, from time to time, WWE might spend a lot of time and money on a few vignettes only for the worker himself to never come close to living up to potential. Some succeeded with better gimmicks (“Sparky” Plugg became Hardcore Holly), but it’s still amazing when WWE spent a ton of money on some elaborate vignettes for workers who failed. These ten workers could never succeed despite some of the most complex promotional videos the company has created.
10 beaver cleavage
One of the most infamous and bizarre parts of the Attitude Era story was a character that was already stupid when it started and worse as it went on. The whole gimmick was that the boy was filmed as a 1950s sitcom with his mother’s “joke” (who looked barely older than him) as a beautiful blonde doing a double entendre about “drinking your milk”.
What it was supposed to be about was baffling as it’s hard to see how the guy was going to get over it like that. It led to his debut, where he “broke character” to talk about how stupid he was and quit, making that whole setup a weird waste.
9 nail
It was sometimes forgotten that Big Bossman started out as a thug with the idea of being a brutal former prison guard. In 1992, WWE decided to bring back an old enemy with videos of a prison, with sirens blaring as if someone was escaping and a guy swearing revenge on the Bossman.
Naiz eventually attacked Bossman for a fight, including a “fight at night”. Infamously, he feuded in real life with Vince McMahon, which led to him being fired and banned when the guy’s vignettes as a convict ended up hitting too close to home.
8 repo man
While he’s better known as Demolition Smash, Barry Darsow is famous for some pretty wacky tricks. None were as crazy as Repo Man. An evil recovery agent was one thing, but having him dressed in a Lone Ranger mask with a huge coat was crazier.
Darsow had a bit of fun with the hack, making everything work better than it should with videos showing him stealing items from people just a minute late on payments, laughing and running fast. His actual run after him didn’t mean much, but the vignettes could be weirdly funny.
7 Kizarni
On the one hand, it fits the character but it’s also quite weird. Kizarny had been in TNA and the indies before winning a contract with WWE to create a weird character based on weirdos like Jake Roberts and Doink.
That included being filmed at actual carnivals, babbling like crazy, and of course that crazy grin. However, the trade show talk failed to connect with fans and Kizarny’s actual career with the company barely lasted three months. Like a true carnival, he had a brief flash before folding up his tents to leave, with some dismissing those vignettes as a fever dream.
6 Emmalina
This is a more modern pick that has to count. After becoming popular for a few silly dances and then becoming a decent worker, WWE pulled Emma from television to rework her. Videos played, promising the transformation of her into a stunning beauty like the Divas of the 1990s, an arrogant edge, and a new name of Emmalina.
She finally made her debut with the new look, flaunting herself… and then she was pulled off TV and the whole thing was immediately deleted. Emma was released shortly after to make this a puzzling abandoned character.
5 Skinner
A former tag team star on the Fabulous Ones, Steve Kerin needed to excel in a singles career. Growing a long beard and acting like a remote forest hunter was a different take to be sure. WWE added that Skinner was shown hanging around swamps, diving into the water to hunt crocodiles and bragging about how he would do the same to any opponent in the ring.
As it happened, his actual WWE run consisted of a single IC title shot and a loss at WrestleMania amid dozens of jobs before he dragged himself back into that swamp.
4 duke droese
WWE really had a thing for “occupational gimmicks” in the 1990s, from TL Hopper to Thurman “Sparky” Plugg. But a fighting garbage man is something else.
Why WWE thought vignettes of a guy who hauled trash and worked in dirt was going to make him a star is baffling, but they tried.
WWE went to the trouble of renting a dump truck for Duke to use and figured that was all it took to make him a fan favorite. Duke’s career was, frankly, trash and another forgotten “second job” worker of the time.
3 The matador
By 1991, Tito Santana had slipped into the bottom half of the card, still a decent worker but not much else for him. WWE decided that Santana go to Mexico and become a matador. That included several videos of him learning the ways of the sport, including how to spin the cape and ultimately defeat a bull in a duel.
Frankly, he looked pretty goofy in Matador pants and fighting a bull wasn’t the hardest way to get him back in with the fans. Santana drifted for another year before finally leaving WWE as this was a bad repackaging for him.
two waylon mercy
The sad thing about Waylon Mercy is that it should have been a hit. His promos were fantastic, based on the character of Robert DeNiro from Cape Fear, a geek guy who captivated by speaking with a weird accent. He hung out outside, talking about worms and other critters, but somehow the sight of him was fantastic.
Unfortunately, Dan Spivey was plagued by injuries, so Waylon never got the long run he deserved. The act was truly ahead of its time, the promos alone showed the potential, so if Spivey had been healthier, Mercy wouldn’t be on this list.
1 inside jack
Rarely has WWE created a fiasco as big as this one. When crocodile dundee Ignited an “Australian craze” in 1986, WWE did the same with Outback Jack. Vignettes were filmed of the guy roughing it up in the Outback, wrestling alligators, hunting and bragging about how great he was.
He would then be shown flying to America, ready to take on all comers. But the brief push from him exposed just how bad he was in the ring with his boomerang clothesline finisher. He left in just a few months to make this whole trip inland a waste of time and money.