10 awkward gimmicks that WWE Superstars probably wouldn't acknowledge today

WWE's creative team is often responsible for everything that is seen on WWE TV — this includes Superstars names and even their gimmicks.

This means that despite how talented some Superstars may be, they can still be given some humiliating gimmicks by backstage officials because they think it's something that will get them over with the fans.

Many of these stars are able to get past this bad patch in their career and go on to much better things, whilst sadly others are defined by the most awkward parts of their career which leaves them in a position where they no longer want to acknowledge that it actually happened.

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#10 Jillian Hall tries to sing

Jillian's character actually thought that she could sing

Jillian Hall was another female wrestler who was never going to be seen as Championship material in WWE. Jillian's botches in her matches became too common for WWE to take her seriously and this only seemed to get worse when the company gave her a singing gimmick.

Jillian couldn't sing, but she thought she could. This meant that she would try to sing every time she was given a live mic and the WWE Universe collectively groaned until it was over. Even when Jillian was given a Championship, she was only able to hold it for a matter of minutes, which proved just how little WWE thought of her.

Before her WWE career, Jillian was taken seriously as a wrestler. Unsurprisingly, she didn't have much success on the independent circuit following her release and probably still doesn't want to talk about the things that the creative team thought up for her during her stint in WWE.

#9 Luke Gallows - Festus

Luke Gallows would rather forget his time portraying Festus

Luke Gallows is now a former Tag Team Champion in WWE and has proved his ability in the ring all over the world. Despite this, it seems that the former Bullet Club member has some less than impressive memories of his first stint in WWE.

Gallows debuted on WWE TV as the imposter Kane, but after that idea was scrapped, he returned to our screens as Festus in 2007. Festus was a handicapped hillbilly who couldn't stop himself from wreaking havoc when the bell rang but was absolutely useless before it.

Whilst this character was a mild success for Gallows, it didn't paint him in a great light and wasn't a great stepping stone in his career either. When Gallows returned to WWE in 2016, Vince McMahon didn't even know it was him who played Festus almost a decade before.

#8 Kofi Kingston's Jamaican roots

Kofi will always be known as the fake Jamaican

Kofi Kingston is now one-third of The New Day and became one of the longest reigning Tag Team Champions in the history of WWE last year. Even though it has been almost a decade since Kofi's debut when he attempted to convince the WWE Universe that he was Jamaican, it seems that this gimmick still haunts him.

The Usos noted as part of their rap battle in the summer, that they thought that Kofi was Jamaican, but he was actually Ja-faking.

This is because WWE came up with the plan for Kofi to debut as a Jamaican Superstar but he couldn't keep the accent up and it has instead now become common knowledge that he is Ghanaian.

#7 Becky Lynch the Irish dancer

WWE loves their stereotypes, especially when it comes to Superstars from different countries. Following in the footsteps of Finlay and Sheamus, it seems that WWE wanted to point out the fact that Becky Lynch was Irish in a major way.

Becky made her NXT debut back in June 2014 in a match against Summer Rae. Becky came out to the ring in emerald green ring attire and even treated the NXT Universe to her version of Irish dancing to her Irish entrance theme.

It seemed like a little bit too much and whilst Becky continues to be proud of where she came from, she is probably happy that WWE decided to allow her to change her gimmick a few weeks later because she probably wouldn't have got very far in WWE as an Irish stereotype.

#6 John Cena's Prototype

John Cena certainly left his mark on the developmental roster

It seems that even John Cena has a few humiliating stories of his first few years in WWE. Cena may be the face of the company right now and someone who many fans think has become bigger than the company itself, but there was a time when the creative team had full control.

Back when Cena was part of Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) he had a gimmick where he was called "The Prototype" a character with Cyborg like abilities that had received robotic enhancements to make him the perfect man.

It is odd that Cena has never talked openly about his time as a half human/half robot whilst coming through the ranks in WWE. Maybe this is a gimmick that even Cena wasn't proud of.

#5 Victoria's Alliance With The Godfather

Victoria will not be proud of how she was first used on WWE TV

They say that every WWE Superstar has to start somewhere and it seems that former Women's Champion Victoria got her foot in the door as one of the women who accompanied The Godfather to the ring as part of his "Ho Train."

Victoria was one of the lead women at the time and her alliance with The Godfather only ended when he powerbombed her through the table. This was done so that she could take some time away from TV and return as the wrestler that later became a star in both WWE and TNA.

As a woman who has made her mark all around the world, she would probably prefer to talk about her Championship reigns in the two companies rather than the way her career began almost two decades ago.

#4 Kevin Nash's trip to OZ

Kevin Nash had an embarrassing time in WCW

Kevin Nash is a WWE Hall of Famer and one of the greatest stars in WWE back in the 1990s, but it seems that even he is trying to forget one of the gimmicks he was given early in his WCW career.

During Nash's first run in WCW back in 1991, he came to the ring dressed as a wizard called OZ. He looked like a participant in a Halloween costume contest as approached the ring complete with silver hair and a beard.

Thankfully, Nash is one of very few wrestlers of that era that were able to overcome humiliating gimmicks to be able to make a name for themselves, but this does just go to show that even the biggest legends of the business had to earn their dues before they were given opportunities.

#3 Dolph Ziggler's time as a male cheerleader

Dolph Ziggler probably isn't proud of his roots

Dolph Ziggler is now a former World Champion and won the Money in the Bank briefcase back in 2012, but it seems that no matter how much WWE push Ziggler, he will never be able to escape his past as a male cheerleader.

Ziggler got his start in WWE as part of The Spirit Squad, a five-man cheerleading group that predominantly were Vince McMahon's bodyguards and played a huge role in his feud with Shawn Michaels throughout 2005 and 2006.

The Spirit Squad are former Tag Team Champions but were unable to achieve very much during their stint, since they were mostly there as talent enhancers.

It was only after Dolph left the group that he was able to find success as a singles star. Two members of the group returned on SmackDown last year to attack their former teammate, so it seems that the group now dislike Dolph just as much as he dislikes them.

#2 Triple H's WCW Days

Triple H didn't have a great time in WCW

Triple H is the COO of WWE and a former World Champion, but before he came over to the biggest wrestling promotion in the world and married Stephanie McMahon, The Game was known to the WCW audience by a different name.

Triple H was known as Terra Ryzing up until 1994 and was renamed, Jean-Paul Leveque, which would see him concentrate on the French roots of his surname. Even though The King of Kings couldn't speak French, he was forced to speak in a French accent.

It seems that Triple H has come a long way since his early days in WCW, but now as one of the best-known wrestlers in the world, it is highly unlikely that he will ever want to relive those days.

#1 Natalya's flatulence

Natalya is the current SmackDown Women's Champion and the only female graduate from the Hart family. Despite this, Natalya has had to work hard to earn the respect of many people in WWE.

Whilst Natalya is the only ever third generation female wrestler that the company have ever had, they haven't always known what to do with her. Back in 2012, one of the creative team came up with the idea of giving Nattie a gimmick where she had a flatulence problem.

This gimmick went on for some time and saw Nattie letting out a lot of gas both in the ring and backstage. It was revealed that she had a condition where she had a lot of wind when she was nervous. This saw a lot of Superstars almost gag in the ring or backstage when she decided to pass wind in front of them.

Thankfully, it seems that the gimmick was axed and Nattie has gone on to much better things, it's not likely that she will want to talk about her days as Nattie Neidfart anytime soon.