Everyone on the WWE roster in the Ruthless Aggression Era wanted to use that time to become stars. WWE underwent huge changes by losing some top names and moving towards a brand split with two unique rosters. This created new opportunities for names on both rosters requiring pushes.
10 Most Unlikable WWE Wrestlers From The Ruthless Aggression Era, Ranked
There were many unlikable wrestlers during WWE’s Ruthless Aggression Era that fans just wanted to boo.
Fans view this time fondly now since names like John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista and Brock Lesnar all became stars during this time. However, there were plenty of names to find disappointment in the character roles given to them. Each of the following wrestlers had the worst overall gimmicks of the Ruthless Aggression Era.
10 Blue World Order
Faction Parodying Act From A Decade Earlier Lacked Logic
- Meanie Was Hired To Avoid Legal Issues With JBL
- BWO Act Was Pitched Due To Nova & Stevie Being On The Roster Already
- Fans Didn’t Care About Outdated Joke
The Blue World Order was a great act in ECW parodying the New World Order, but it was flat out bizarre for WWE to use it in the 2000s. Stevie Richards, Nova and The Blue Meanie did their NWO imitation over four years after the NWO’s last stint in WWE.
WWE: 4 Ways The Ruthless Aggression Era Was The Same As The Attitude Era (& 4 Ways It Was Different)
The following trip down memory lane will provide the similarities and differences of WWE’s Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Eras.
Rumors suggest that JBL brutally attacking Meanie at One Night Stand 2005 led to WWE offering the latter a job to avoid a lawsuit. The BWO received a few months of television time before the act was dropped with minimal crowd interest.
9 Imposter Kane
Fans Still Don’t Know The Purpose Of Imposter Kane
- Audience Expressed Interest At Start Of The Angle
- Storyline Became Too Confusing To Follow
- Imposter Kane Was Dropped Quickly
Many fans missed the old look of Kane after he unmasked due to losing a title vs. mask match to Triple H in 2003. WWE waited a few more years before they started teasing an Imposter Kane under the mask stalking the real Kane.
The audience hoped this would lead to a new wrestler unmasking to debut or for Kane to return back to his mask. WWE dropped the ball with the angle as Imposter Kane turned into a joke before getting squashed by Kane to end the storyline.
8 The Boogeyman
Spooky Gimmick Only Worked As Novelty Character
- WWE Gave Boogeyman A Lot Of TV Time
- Placed Him In Feuds With Former World Champs JBL & Booker T
- Gimmick Had Ceiling To End Run
Vince McMahon enjoyed the character of The Boogeyman enough to give him constant television time and various return appearances. However, it was considered among the weaker ideas for pushing a character based on the boogeyman in the mid 2000s.
Boogeyman usually tormented his opponents by making them fear him before placing countless worms over their bodies. WWE eventually realized they couldn’t get Boogeyman over more than a novelty character before dropping it.
7 Spirit Squad
Male Cheerleaders Got Embarrassed By DX Too Much
- Received Strong Push And Won The Tag Team Titles
- DX Feud Ruined Their Gimmick
- Dolph Ziggler Was The Only Member To Rebound In WWE
WWE called up five of their top prospects all at the same time when pushing the Spirit Squad faction. Five young wrestlers were tasked with playing male cheerleaders to utilize cheap heel heat in getting over faster than most.
Feuds with upper card names like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Big Show and Kane saw them getting a real push. However, D-Generation X reuniting saw their gimmicks turned into just being mocked every week, and it ruined any appeal of the gimmick moving forward.
6 Mordecai
Promising Character Just Confused Everyone
- Supernatural Teased Gimmick Was Interesting At First
- Never Had A Match With The Undertaker
- Mordecai Character Was Dropped Without Explanation
Kevin Thorn had his first WWE push as Mordecai, playing a dark character that fans instantly compared to The Undertaker. Mordecai wearing all white and talking about zealot beliefs led to him just confusing the audience with his cryptic promos.
Fans never even got the feud they wanted of Mordecai facing Undertaker, despite WWE placing names like Heidenreich and Great Khali in rivalries against the legend. Mordecai only had a few months before getting dropped as a failed gimmick of the time.
5 Paul Burchill
Pirate Gimmick Didn’t Help His Career One Bit
- Received Risky Gimmick After Partnership With Katie Lea Ended
- Pirate Gimmick Was Inspired By Johnny Depp’s Movie Role
- Didn’t Get Over With Outlandish Character
WWE placed Paul Burchill in a few controversial gimmicks that never worked out. The implied incest relationship with Katie Lea Burchill was dropped before it even got started due to WWE changing their product to a PG rating.
5 Best Booking Decisions Of WWE’s Ruthless Aggression Era (& 5 Worst)
WWE booked some of the best storylines of all-time during the Ruthless Aggression Era era, but the company also made some questionable decisions.
Burchill was given another wild gimmick playing a pirate character a few years earlier, inspired by Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean films. The commitment to playing a pirate flying into segments and speaking in pirate terms just missed the mark for horrible television.
4 Simon Dean
Weight Loss Gimmick Completely Ruined His Best Chance At A Push
- Cheap Gimmick Felt Outdated Back To Bodydonnas Days
- Fans Never Viewed Him As Credible Heel
- Pivoted Towards BWO Gimmick Afterwards
Former ECW talent Nova mostly worked in WWE in an office role, but he did have a few on-screen characters pushed. The Blue World Order came later on for Nova after he spent many months playing the heel Simon Dean character.
WWE came up with a gimmick to parody the weight loss info-mericals by making Simon a heel doing that to an exaggerated extent. Dean mocked the audience’s weight and tried to sell products as a corny heel gimmick designed for cheap heel heat.
3 Eugene
Offensive Character Didn’t Get Over With Major Push
- WWE Intentionally Booked Insensitive Segments For The Character
- Worked With Top Names Like Triple H, Kurt Angle & Eric Bischoff
- Gimmick Wasn’t Sustainable Enough To Last
The gimmick of Eugene was given to Nick Dinsmore with the hope of WWE finding a new style of character. Eugene was implied to have a mental illness that led to him not realizing when heel characters were manipulating him.
WWE ended up making fun of Eugene a lot more than joked with his character to make it feel insensitive to many viewers. Eugene ended up losing the crowd interest and is remembered as an all-time bad gimmick from the Ruthless Aggression Era.
2 The Mexicools
Ruined Three Talented Wrestlers Instantly With Bad Gimmick
- Using Racial Stereotypes Turned Away Some Fans
- Didn’t Use Any Of The Wrestlers To Best Abilities
- Super Crazy Was Only One Still On The Roster One Year Later
WWE placed three talented wrestlers of Juventud Guerrera, Psicosis and Super Crazy in a horrible faction of the Mexicools on the SmackDown brand in the 2000s. The Mexicools played into Mexican stereotypes with offensive things like riding lawnmowers to the ring.
All three wrestlers could have found success with a good character, but this turned each wrestler into a negative asset in the promotion. The Mexicools became consistent negative parts of television every week leading to the gimmick being removed and two of the three getting released.
1 Kerwin White
WWE Forced Embarrassing Gimmick On Kerwin White
- Chavo Was Forced To Play “White” Character
- Bad Comedy That Fans Weren’t Laughing At
- Dropped Gimmick After Eddie Guerrero’s Passing
Chavo Guerrero was one of the most respected names in the industry when WWE gave him the worst gimmick of his career. Kerwin White was intended to be a comedic gimmick of a Latino wrestler adopting all traditionally rich white male traits.
WWE had Kerwin coming to the ring in a golf cart wearing posh outfits with a young Dolph Ziggler at his side. The passing of Eddie Guerrero caused WWE to put a lot of things on hold, especially Chavo’s offensive gimmick. WWE allowed Chavo to wrestle as himself since the audience wanted to honor Eddie with chants during his matches.