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A gimmick change or character change can do wonders for a professional wrestler. Although she didn't need one, Alexa Bliss has changed her persona as a confidante of The Fiend. She's proving that she can make anything work. Chad Gable also recently reverted his stripes back to the more serious in-ring guru that got him signed to WWE in the first place.
Last year, Bayley's heel turn rejuvenated her career. It also led to her having an extremely lengthy reign as SmackDown Women's Champion that only ended last month. Lana has also gone through a character shift a few times over the last two years. Once she was a babbling heel married to Bobby Lashley and then she was vapidly championing her social media status when aligned with Natalya. And now, WWE is trying to turn her into a huge babyface with the constant attacks from Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler.
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The jury is still out as to what success the new character of Carmella will have. She was already 'Fabulous' but now she's calling herself 'Untouchable'. That will only work if she wins the SmackDown Women's title. If she doesn't, it makes the new nickname meaningless. Even Roman Reigns' new direction has completely revamped his WWE career.
But the fact still remains that new gimmicks help to refresh a stagnating character. They can also help if a performer turns heel or face. Some Superstars can make anything work (Bliss, Daniel Bryan, Sami Zayn) but here are five WWE Superstars that are in need of a new character or gimmick.
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#5 WWE Superstar that needs a character change - Apollo Crews
When it comes to performing in the ring, Apollo Crews has all the skills. He's both exciting and explosive and is one of the more talented Superstars currently on the WWE roster. His main roadblock, however, has been character work or showing layers to his persona.
For the majority of his run in WWE, he's primarily been a smiling babyface. While that's all well and good, he will likely have trouble moving up the ladder in WWE without changing something soon.
He won the United States Championship earlier this year and it was well-deserved. But his reign was the standard run of a few months and was nothing spectacular. Had he joined The Hurt Business, he would have been able to test things out as a heel. Crews turning to the dark side would be a good start for him because he needs a change. While he hasn't won any gold since his heel turn, Cedric Alexander has at least been a fixture on WWE programming.
#4 WWE Superstar that needs a character change - Aleister Black
Currently, it is not known where Aleister Black stands in WWE after the release of his wife. Paul Heyman was clearly a fan but since Heyman's removal as Executive Director of RAW, Black has seen his fortunes fall.
Heyman and Black are both back together on SmackDown, however, so that could be parlayed into something. Since he turned on Kevin Owens a few months back, the former NXT Champion has had an up and down run on the WWE main roster. He battled Owens for a few weeks but then the 2020 WWE Draft happened and he disappeared.
Since he's currently off of TV and needs a change, it's the perfect time to try something new. It doesn't necessarily need to be drastic but something completely different might be what gets him going on the main roster. He could be a hired gun for The Tribal Chief or he could delve into the dark occult side of his character.
The point here is that not currently being on TV will allow him and creative to hopefully come up with something meaningful for him to get back into angles. He's too talented to not be used and he does fine with promos. With Aleister Black and Paul Heyman on the Blue brand, they should try to somehow work Black into things with Roman Reigns.
#3 WWE Superstar that needs a character change - Jeff Hardy
This would probably be met with reluctance due to Jeff Hardy's standing in the company. He's a living legend in WWE but his best days are well behind him. His best value now is to be a mid-card opponent for newer Superstars. That will test out if they can get over The Charismatic Enigma and if they have what it takes to become a bigger player in WWE.
It's currently happening with Elias after his numerous start-stop pushes. Elias is still relatively young in his WWE career compared to Hardy. While Hardy has come and gone and come back a few times, The Drifter has primarily been a WWE staple for a few years. Not many current WWE performers can pull off a gimmick similar to Elias so if he goes over Hardy, it should hopefully be a sign of moving up the card.
They have done the 'redemption' arc already with Hardy and it led to an Intercontinental Championship win. He moved brands in the WWE Draft and is clearly not as high in the pecking order as he has been in the past. With the likes of Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Keith Lee, and Bobby Lashley ahead of him, Hardy will find it hard to go further up the ladder on RAW.
If he tweaked his character to be more like a starving artist or a chaotic person due to his daredevil nature, it would at least change his presentation. The former WWE Champion has done all he can with his basic character so a change could be just what he needs to remain in prominent and meaningful storylines going forward.
#2 WWE Superstar that needs a character change - Nikki Cross
When Nikki Cross was a member of Sanity in NXT, her infectious energy, and wild-child nature instantly got her over with the WWE Universe. She was fun to watch and somewhat unpredictable, making her appearances entertaining even if she wasn't in a match.
Once she became a permanent member of the WWE main roster, she toned down her feral nature and became a sidekick and friend to Alexa Bliss. The duo won the WWE Women's tag team titles and had a good run. It was clear, however, that of the two, Bliss is more highly regarded due to her fantastic ability to sell any character she plays. She moved into a pairing with The Fiend and it basically ended the friendship of the two former Champions.
Bliss actually tricked Cross during their one-on-one match on the latest episode of RAW. That gullibility showed that Cross still cared but that the Bliss she knew was gone. So now that The Goddess has turned her page on to a new character, the former member of Sanity needs to do the same.
The easiest thing for her to do would be to revert back to her feral nature that initially got her over in NXT. While things that work in NXT may not be seen as workable on the main roster, it still worked before she became a permanent member of the main roster. Have her turn heel and just start randomly attacking people backstage to cause chaos. If The Fiend touches people and they change, is the same true for Bliss?
A change from Cross could culminate in a RAW Women's title match with Asuka. Simply put, a Nikki Cross full of rage would be a new direction that would also switch things up for the RAW women's division. Outside of Cross, Lacey Evans, Natalya, Bliss, Naomi, Dana Brooke, and Mandy Rose also joined Monday Night RAW in the WWE Draft. Some of those women need a change to keep things fresh and Cross losing it because of Bliss turning on her would be easy to explain.
#1 WWE Superstar that needs a character change - King Corbin
Regardless of what his character is, Baron Corbin always works best as a heel. He's easy to hate and his promos are always meant to get under the skin of both his opponents and the WWE Universe.
While he was the Constable of RAW, he was annoying but in a good way. Prior to that, his opportunistic heel nature worked for him and it resulted in a Money in the Bank win and a run as US Champion.
The King Corbin gimmick worked initially last year but once he ran into his never-ending feud with Roman Reigns, his credibility severely suffered. He lost a lot of matches to The Big Dog and those losses continued after both men moved on. He was in this year's Money in the Bank match but was unsuccessful. He's had feuds with Elias, Jeff Hardy, and many others as King Corbin, but he has suffered more losses this year as the King.
Because of that, he is in desperate need of a gimmick change. WWE could have him go back to The Lone Wolf and become more dangerous. Or he could try something completely different. He likes macabre things in his real-life so have him change into a collector of occult trophies or relics. He even recently got a tattoo of shrunken heads that could be used in his new gimmick. The King gimmick only goes so far in WWE and for Corbin, it's already past due.
