3) Kane
Kane is one of the Attitude Era’s most recognizable names. He made his debut as the Undertaker’s little brother and would go on to be extremely successful.
Before he donned the mask, he survived one of the worst gimmicks that we have ever seen. He was known as Isaac Yankem, Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler’s personal dentist. He received an initial push, including some matches against Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart.
His push eventually was slowed when the company realized the gimmick wasn’t working. He also played the character of Fake Diesel, mocking the character of Kevin Nash who left for WCW.
The company eventually gave him the masked Kane gimmick and the rest is history. Kane has been a staple of WWE programming for 2 decades and is a multiple-time World Champion. Good thing that he got rid of the dentist gimmick.
2) Stone Cold Steve Austin
‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin is one of the most popular characters in wrestling history. The beer-drinking redneck would prove to be the perfect antihero during WWE’s Attitude Era. It took Austin a while to find that character though.
He was first known as ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin in his days in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). After he was fired from the company he would go to Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) where he would be known as ‘Superstar’ Steve Austin. During his time in ECW, Austin credits Paul Heyman with helping his promos, which he would later become known for (As Stone Cold).
He went to the WWF in 1996 and made his debut. He was billed as ‘The Ringmaster’ due to his notoriety as a great in-ring technician.
Austin has admitted plenty of times that the Ringmaster was a horrible and unoriginal gimmick. He eventually cut the legendary promo at the 1996 King of the Ring and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin was born.
He would go on to be a multiple World Champion and one of the most popular and successful stars in wrestling history.
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