10 wrestlers who secretly hated their gimmicks

Cody Rhodes in his Stardust persona he used near the end of his WWE career.

#9 The Stalker (Barry Windham)

Camo paint only works in the jungle, not a wrestling ring, but nobody told Barry Windham that.

Barry Windham was one of the most celebrated wrestlers to come out of the NWA territories. Trained and hand-picked as a successor by Dusty Rhodes, the lanky and likeable blonde second generation wrestler did great things in the southern promotions.

After teaming with Dusty for a time, he betrayed his mentor and tag partner, Lex Luger, to join the Four Horsemen. With the superplex and the iron claw, he would gain the United States championship and hang onto it with a death grip.

But when he joined the WWE, the promotion had no interest in building on his past career. They decided to try and pretend that he was a totally new character named The Stalker. His no-nonsense, largely silent hunter-killer type didn't go over very well with fans, who were confused by his pseudo-military gear.

Windham hated the gimmick, but as a company man, he did what he was told. He would return to WCW and become world champion under his real name, Barry Windham.

Edited by Nishant Jayaram