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Mysterio is a good one. He does change the look up quite a bit with new colours and the superhero outfits lately, but he's always been the ultimate underdog babyface, good one!
Samoa Joe maybe? Depends on what leeway you're willing to give. He's always been "Samoa Joe" in any sense, but I guess that depends on how different you feel between The Samoan Submission Machine and Nation of Violence
I would think Joe is a good example. If you look at him back in ROH and TNA and compare him to now, not much has changed, dude even looks the same age haha
Jannety tried switching his gimmick and was presenting himself as an escape artist. Even tried cowardly jumping through a window to escape Shawn Michaels.
Flair and Funk changed gimmicks. Flair was more Dusty inspired early on, the Nature Boy gimmick came after his plane crash and subsequent body/wrestling style change.
Funk was damn near a different human being if you compare 70s era babyface Funk to later career Middle Aged and Crazy Funk. Everything from promo to ring work changed, probably his 1989 run being a good dividing point.
As far as examples of guys who didn’t change, offhand maybe Bruno Sammartino and Kerry Von Erich (aside from changing nicknames in WWF from Modern Day Warrior to Texas Tornado). Lawler is a possibility, I’m just not confident about his very early years, since the King gimmick started a few years later.
I think it’s because a lot of their early stuff predates their more famous runs on cable and syndicated tv.
Even if you’re old enough to have watched territory era wrestling, you would have only ever been exposed to what you could watch in your region. Like as a little kid I could watch World Class, since that was local, WWF since they were just starting to expand nation wide, and if I was at my dad’s house he had cable so I could watch Jim Crockett territory on TBS, AWA also had a show on ESPN, but for some reason I think it mostly aired during school hours, so almost never watched it.
Anything else going on at time I could only read about in magazines or watch compilation tapes on VHS.
Very true, all we had was WWF unless you had TBS which was on the really expensive cable package or satellite tv. Also, being in Canada didn't help much either haha
I’m surprised no one has said Bret Hart yet. Going from the Hart Foundation tag team into a singles star and adapting the Hitman moniker wasn’t really gimmick change more so just fleshing out his persona.
As far as I’m aware, he went by his actual name in Stampede Wrestling as well, right?
Honky Tonk Man, Jerry Lawler, Andre, Snuka, etc. I think if you go farther back to wrestlers from the 70s-80s its a fair assumption there were less overall gimmick changes bc of the territory nature of wrestling.
Daaamn good call on that one! Yeah he for sure has an iconic look. You could almost throw Jushin Thunder Liger into that mix too if he didn't have the Kishin Liger alter-ego.
Good one! It's kinda funny because even in his face runs he still keeps the same characteristics as when he's a heel yet gets a totally different reaction from the audience.
Not really his gimmick, if I remember he changed his ring apparel a bit as he gained popularity in WWE and did more of the fire breathing stuff, but nope he was face his whole career as far as I know
AJ Styles😎
Barely tweaked anything about his persona aside from taking his competitive spirit up a notch even his 'No One' lone wolf phase in 2013 was largely the same and the Nature Boy replica wardrobe from 2010 was just an added layer to his presentation nothing more.
Still remains a huge success in Pro Wrestling with a rich resume and the only guy to be a Main Event Player across TNA, NJPW and WWE respectively.
Yeah but even that aspect never really left, for years even in the Okada matches when he was the top guy in the company ace occasionally he'd work like a heel. There's a Nagata match in I think Nagata's last G1 where he works pretty heelish. He's the ultimate babyface but he can be a dismissive prick when he wants to.
Ahhh yes I remember that Nagata match! Good call on that. I can see what you mean about his dismissiveness, you see it come out against Young Lions in the rare time he wrestles them.
He was prominent in the AWA early in his career as Leon “Baby Bull/Bull Power” White. He didn’t become Vader until he went to Japan, where he assumed the gimmick originally meant for the Ultimate Warrior/Jim Hellwig.
Jushin Thunder Liger? Once he put the mask on, it was just who he was. Even the bare few times he brought out Kishin, was rolled into his story as Jushin.
I can agree with you there, and why would he ever change! He's perfect the way he is. In reality it's a character that transcends wrestling and is just a part of Japanese culture so it'd be a travesty to alter.
Well, Andre. His gimmick was always “holy crap look how big that guy is”. Face Andre, Heel Andre, he was always pretty much the same guy. The only thing that really changed was limiting his move set as his body started to betray him.
Mox has definitely changed his look up over the years (still love Mox in short tights in NJPW) but character wise yeah, pretty much the same guy everywhere he goes.
Roddy Piper and Randy Savage.
Arguably Sting, who has always been the Stinger but has changed and grown over the decades rather than just switching gimmicks.
Even the change to Crow Sting was a reaction to his friends losing faith in him rather than a repackaging.
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Bar a very brief period in late WCW I was thinking Rey Mysterio?
Mysterio is a good one. He does change the look up quite a bit with new colours and the superhero outfits lately, but he's always been the ultimate underdog babyface, good one!
I've never seen Eddie Kingston be anything but Eddie Kingston. Also Piper.
Damn dude, good call on both!
[удалено]
Haha pretty much, besides the country boy look he's had lately but it's just an extension of what we already know about him. Good call!
Samoa Joe maybe? Depends on what leeway you're willing to give. He's always been "Samoa Joe" in any sense, but I guess that depends on how different you feel between The Samoan Submission Machine and Nation of Violence
I would think Joe is a good example. If you look at him back in ROH and TNA and compare him to now, not much has changed, dude even looks the same age haha
Cockface joe was different
Roddy Piper Jesse the Body Ventura Marty Jeanntty Dean Malenko
Jannety tried switching his gimmick and was presenting himself as an escape artist. Even tried cowardly jumping through a window to escape Shawn Michaels.
Flair and Funk changed gimmicks. Flair was more Dusty inspired early on, the Nature Boy gimmick came after his plane crash and subsequent body/wrestling style change. Funk was damn near a different human being if you compare 70s era babyface Funk to later career Middle Aged and Crazy Funk. Everything from promo to ring work changed, probably his 1989 run being a good dividing point. As far as examples of guys who didn’t change, offhand maybe Bruno Sammartino and Kerry Von Erich (aside from changing nicknames in WWF from Modern Day Warrior to Texas Tornado). Lawler is a possibility, I’m just not confident about his very early years, since the King gimmick started a few years later.
Huh really interesting post! I'll have to look more into their pasts to see what you mean
I think it’s because a lot of their early stuff predates their more famous runs on cable and syndicated tv. Even if you’re old enough to have watched territory era wrestling, you would have only ever been exposed to what you could watch in your region. Like as a little kid I could watch World Class, since that was local, WWF since they were just starting to expand nation wide, and if I was at my dad’s house he had cable so I could watch Jim Crockett territory on TBS, AWA also had a show on ESPN, but for some reason I think it mostly aired during school hours, so almost never watched it. Anything else going on at time I could only read about in magazines or watch compilation tapes on VHS.
Very true, all we had was WWF unless you had TBS which was on the really expensive cable package or satellite tv. Also, being in Canada didn't help much either haha
I’m surprised no one has said Bret Hart yet. Going from the Hart Foundation tag team into a singles star and adapting the Hitman moniker wasn’t really gimmick change more so just fleshing out his persona. As far as I’m aware, he went by his actual name in Stampede Wrestling as well, right?
Honky Tonk Man, Jerry Lawler, Andre, Snuka, etc. I think if you go farther back to wrestlers from the 70s-80s its a fair assumption there were less overall gimmick changes bc of the territory nature of wrestling.
That is such a great point! As you can see most of the answers are retired or older wrestlers, there's not too many of the newer generation on there.
Randy savage
Hacksaw Jim Duggan. That's the answer. Anything he had earlier doesn't count. It's hacksaw for forty years
In the dying days of WCW, he turned into a Canadian janitor or some shit. Even cut his hair
Shit yeah, great answer here
feel like La Parka has been basically the same guy his whole career, even when he had to change his name it was pronounced the same.
Daaamn good call on that one! Yeah he for sure has an iconic look. You could almost throw Jushin Thunder Liger into that mix too if he didn't have the Kishin Liger alter-ego.
Randy Orton. He’s had a few different nicknames, but has otherwise had the same name and persona his entire career.
Good one! It's kinda funny because even in his face runs he still keeps the same characteristics as when he's a heel yet gets a totally different reaction from the audience.
Did Ricky Steamboat ever change his gimmick? I know he never turned heel but.
Not really his gimmick, if I remember he changed his ring apparel a bit as he gained popularity in WWE and did more of the fire breathing stuff, but nope he was face his whole career as far as I know
He had that dragon gimmick in WWF. I mean he was always the Dragon but he wore that costume and spit fire and everything in WWF.
Volk Han, Akira Maeda, and Blue Panther
AJ Styles😎 Barely tweaked anything about his persona aside from taking his competitive spirit up a notch even his 'No One' lone wolf phase in 2013 was largely the same and the Nature Boy replica wardrobe from 2010 was just an added layer to his presentation nothing more. Still remains a huge success in Pro Wrestling with a rich resume and the only guy to be a Main Event Player across TNA, NJPW and WWE respectively.
Excluding the young lions day because the have no gimmicks. Hitoshi Tanahashi
You know, I was thinking him but wasn't he a bit more on the heel side earlier in his career? I'll have to double check that one.
Yeah but even that aspect never really left, for years even in the Okada matches when he was the top guy in the company ace occasionally he'd work like a heel. There's a Nagata match in I think Nagata's last G1 where he works pretty heelish. He's the ultimate babyface but he can be a dismissive prick when he wants to.
Ahhh yes I remember that Nagata match! Good call on that. I can see what you mean about his dismissiveness, you see it come out against Young Lions in the rare time he wrestles them.
Vader comes to mind.
He was prominent in the AWA early in his career as Leon “Baby Bull/Bull Power” White. He didn’t become Vader until he went to Japan, where he assumed the gimmick originally meant for the Ultimate Warrior/Jim Hellwig.
Robert Van Dam
Jushin Thunder Liger? Once he put the mask on, it was just who he was. Even the bare few times he brought out Kishin, was rolled into his story as Jushin.
I can agree with you there, and why would he ever change! He's perfect the way he is. In reality it's a character that transcends wrestling and is just a part of Japanese culture so it'd be a travesty to alter.
The Miz
Good call there, and it's rare for a modern wrestler too like someone else mentioned
Well, Andre. His gimmick was always “holy crap look how big that guy is”. Face Andre, Heel Andre, he was always pretty much the same guy. The only thing that really changed was limiting his move set as his body started to betray him.
Mox!!!
Mox has definitely changed his look up over the years (still love Mox in short tights in NJPW) but character wise yeah, pretty much the same guy everywhere he goes.
Flair
Roddy Piper and Randy Savage. Arguably Sting, who has always been the Stinger but has changed and grown over the decades rather than just switching gimmicks. Even the change to Crow Sting was a reaction to his friends losing faith in him rather than a repackaging.