Most Shocking Gimmick Changes Of 2020 (WWE, AEW, More)

Carmella

One of the most recent gimmick changes on this list is Carmella, who recently returned to SmackDown after being away for a number of months.

Until she returned with a series of video promos in September, the former SmackDown Women’s Champion hadn’t been on TV since April.

Upon her comeback, she adopted a more arrogant persona and proclaimed herself to be “untouchable”, before launching a series of attacks on Sasha Banks to try and get herself a title shot, which she did at TLC.

She also posed with a camera a lot, for some reason.

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Karrion Kross & Scarlett

When Killer Kross signed with WWE as part of NXT, a lot of people were already critical before he’d even debuted because his name had been changed to Karrion Kross.

However, those people probably feel a bit silly now, because the presentation of him and Scarlett ended up being incredible.

Despite both being in IMPACT at the same time and being a real-life couple, they were never featured on-screen together, which if their time in NXT is anything to go by, was a bit of a missed opportunity.

Following a series of dark ‘tick tock’ vignettes (the noise a clock makes, not the app), which became their modus operandi, it took Kross only seven matches to become the NXT Champion by beating Keith Lee.

Unfortunately, in the match he won the title at TakeOver 30 in August, Kross separated his shoulder and had to vacate the title a couple of days later, and hasn’t been on TV since.

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Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae

Another real-life NXT couple that rose to prominence in 2020 was Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae, who made sure everyone knew about their ‘Gargano Way’.

Gargano turned heel in February at TakeOver: Portland by costing his former tag team partner Tommaso Ciampa an NXT Title match, and LeRae was soon to follow when she helped her husband beat Ciampa in a match in April.

After turning heel, they started filming video promos in their home, which were rather silly but people seemed to find them entertaining.

The annoying nature of the promos suited their new entitled attitudes, and soon enough other members of the roster, namely Indi Hartwell, bought into it and joined forces with the couple in search of success.

Gargano did capture the North American Championship with help from one of their mystery minions, although his reign didn’t last long and he dropped it to Leon Ruff just a couple of weeks later in one of the biggest upsets in NXT history.

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EVIL

Although New Japan had to be put on hold for several months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, EVIL had quite the eventful year.

In the New Japan Cup tournament, EVIL adopted a more aggressive attitude than what fans were used to, notably cheating to beat Hirooki Goto on his way to the final.

In said final, he picked up the win over the great Kazuchika Okada, thanks to interference from Bullet Club. Having won the tournament, he’d earned a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Titles, both held by Tetsuya Naito.

When Naito came out to congratulate EVIL on the win, he and the Bullet Club attacked, and he joined the faction, becoming the first member to ever leave Los Ingobernables de Japon.

He went on to win the title from Naito at Dominion the following day, once against thanks to help from the Bullet Club. He would soo drop the IWGP Trios Title he’d held with LIJ members, prior to losing the Heavyweight and IC Titles to Naito at Summer Struggle in Jingu.

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