10 WWE New Generation Era Wrestlers Who Changed Their Look Completely From Their Debut

The New Generation Era was the perfect time for wrestlers to reinvent themselves. Vince McMahon made it clear that opportunity was more open than ever before with the desire to build new top stars. The Golden Era was all about the established stars like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Andre the Giant leading the ship.

Quite a few names in the New Generation Era completely changed their looks. The rationale varied from a new gimmick to just wanting to change things up. Fans sometimes forget how much things changed from their debut to a new presentation. The following wrestlers completely reinvented their looks during the New Generation Era in WWE.

10 Kane

Isaac Yankem v Bret Hart SummerSlam 1995 Cropped

Three different versions of Glenn Jacobs were showcased during the New Generation Era of WWE. Jacobs first played the evil dentist character of Isaac Yankem DDS hired by Jerry Lawler to help in a feud against Bret Hart.

Fake Diesel was the next persona to feature Kane changing his look attempting to have the darker and longer hair of Kevin Nash. The Kane gimmick came right at the end of the era with his masked character debuting as the long-lost brother of The Undertaker for a role that finally worked.

9 Billy Gunn

The Smoking Gunns starting was first time that WWE fans took note of Billy Gunn. WWE hired Billy and Bart to play brothers with the cowboy gimmick that was more common in the New Generation Era. Billy had longer hair and a mustache to commit to the act.

WWE allowed Billy to get a shorter cut that became part of his look later in the era. Gunn changed up his look to be less tied to his old cowboy persona. The end of the era saw Billy as part of the New Age Outlaws team and having a different look from his start.

8 The Harris Brothers

The original gimmick for the Harris Brothers in WWE saw them playing the Blu Brothers. A unique look of having long hair made them almost unrecognizable from how fans would view them for the rest of their careers.

WWE had Ron and Don Harris on the roster when they shaved their heads to join the Disciples of Apocalypse motorcycle faction. The twin brothers looked completely different without any hair and kept the bald looks for the rest of their careers.

7 Barry Windham

WWE signing Barry Windham felt like a bigger deal than it ended up being due to his former upper card success in WCW. Windham unfortunately was introduced with a putrid gimmick in the New Generation Era as The Stalker.

The camo face paint and outfit were the only real noteworthy things to the character that completely tanked. WWE tried to change things up with another bad idea of the New Blackjacks tag team. Bradshaw and Windham each had darker hair and mustaches to mimic the look of the outdated legendary duo.

6 Rikishi

The WWE career of Rikishi started off under the name of Fatu in the Headshrinkers tag team. A deep history of Samoan wrestlers saw WWE using their background to elevate their characters. However, there was a short shelf life for the tag run given how fast things changed.

WWE changed Rikishi’s look multiple times for new gimmicks that found less success. The unique singles push of Fatu trying to make a difference in his community saw some big changes. Another pivot to The Sultan saw Rikishi wearing a mask for a completely different version of how fans remember him.

5 Steve Austin

Few fans will remember that Steve Austin had a somewhat different look when starting with WWE. Ted DiBiase introduced Austin as his new protégé when WWE wanted to recycle the Million Dollar Championship story.

Austin had some hair and didn’t yet grow the goatee that fans think of him with these days. The decision to shave his head certainly helped Austin feel more authentic. Austin changing some things up and losing DiBiase led to him becoming a breakout star.

4 Road Dogg

WWE tried to portray Road Dogg as The Roadie when managing Jeff Jarrett and becoming his lackey. However, some changes to their angle saw Jarrett being outed as lip-syncing during his country music singing gimmick and Roadie being revealed as the real singer behind his music.

The name change to Jesse James and a singles push led to more disappointing results. Road Dogg changing his hairstyle and making some fashion upgrades for his new character helped him breakout in the New Age Outlaws with Billy Gunn.

3 Crush

WWE once viewed Crush as a noteworthy part of their future after his time in the Demolition team ended. Crush changed his look with the bleach blond longer hair and a surfer gimmick for the start of his New Generation Era push.

A change to darker hair and new face paint showed that he was trying to find the right look. WWE rehired Crush after a stint in jail where he added tattoos and changed his hairstyle to fit the tougher look when joining the Nation of Domination.

2 Savio Vega

Another mid-card name to bounce around various gimmicks was the underrated Savio Vega. WWE signed Savio after breaking out in Puerto Rico to play the Kwang character. The masked character did not connect at all and warranted a change.

WWE had Vega turn face by using his Puerto Rican pride as part of his character and even teaming with Razor Ramon. Another noteworthy change came at the end of the era when Savio turned heel to join the Nation of Domination and started dressing darker along with wearing sunglasses.

1 The British Bulldog

WWE booked The British Bulldog as a face character in the early run of the New Generation Era when viewing him as a potential star. Davey Boy Smith had the dreadlocks to make him stand out in the earlier years when having his infamous match with Bret Hart.

However, that changed when Smith eventually had traditional long hair and cut it for a shorter look. Bulldog rocked the shorter hair for the rest of his run as a heel in the later years teaming with Owen Hart and joining the Hart Foundation stable.