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

Legado Del Fantasma

Plenty of factions have emerged in 2020, mostly in AEW, but NXT formed its own new group this year too in Legado Del Fantasma.

There was a lot of mystery surrounding the three members, a lot of which hasn’t actually been solved, but that hasn’t stopped the trio being successful.

Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde had both been floating around the roster not really doing much, until they were both mysteriously attacked and kidnapped earlier this year. Again, we still don’t really know what happened, but it seems they may have been indoctrinated by Escobar, which, if that’s the case, was a bit mean of him really wasn’t it?

After winning the NXT Cruiserweight Championship in May, Escobar – previously known an El Hijo Del Fantasma – unmasked, and flanked by Mendoza and Wilde, formed Legado Del Fantasma, a group that aims to restore prestige to lucha libre.

Ever since then, Escobar has reigned as champion over the cruiserweights, dominating the division across both NXT and 205 Live.

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The Hurt Business

Legado Del Fantasma was probably the coolest faction in WWE following its formation. Then the Hurt Business came along.

Bobby Lashley had a WWE run to forget ever since his comeback in 2018, and with the way 2020 started, it was looking like that was going to continue, but thank God it didn’t.

MVP returned for what seemed like was going to be a one-off at the Royal Rumble in January, but he ended up signing full-time, and his first course of action was saving Lashley.

The ‘All Mighty’ ended up getting divorced from Lana just a few months after their marriage in late 2019, and with MVP in his corner, started being taken seriously once more.

Soon enough, MVP had saved another talented athlete from obscurity, Shelton Benjamin, and the trio targeted Apollo Crews’ US Title, which Lashley eventually won.

After failing to recruit Crews to the group and having to take his championship instead, MVP turned his attention to Cedric Alexander & Ricochet, which resulted in Alexander turning on his friend and joining the faction, making MVP the saviour of three dwindling careers.

The Hurt Business really has been one of the consistently great things about a consistently not-great show in 2020, and long may it continue.

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Brodie Lee

If the Hurt Business has been a consistently great thing about a consistently not-great show, then the Dark Order was a consistently not-great thing about a consistently great show.

Then Brodie Lee came along.

Formerly Luke Harper in WWE, Lee was revealed as the ‘Exalted One’ of the Dark Order in March, and after months of being considered not much more than a group of jobbers, the Dark Order started being taken seriously with him at the helm, and it even resulted in a run with the TNT Title.

If you watched Lee throughout his time in WWE, you may not even have realised he had what it takes to portray an ‘Exalted One’ style character, but that explains why he was so keen to get out of there.

A lot of Lee’s mannerisms seemed to maybe, sort of, ever so slightly, just a bit, emulate a certain Mr. Vincent K McMahon, but he’s denied that was the intention.

Either way, it’s been rather pleasant to see a new side of Lee that he had previously been unable to show off.

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Miro

Speaking of which, one of the biggest examples of someone fans believe to have been mistreated in WWE is Miro.

Although he did have some success throughout the years, the way the company handled Rusev Day getting over left a lot to be desired to say the least, and, understandably, he began growing impatient.

Instead of realising he and the fans were right, WWE decided to go the opposite way and humiliate Rusev by having his wife cheat on him with Bobby Lashley, get a divorce, marry Lashley on TV, and he never got his revenge before being released in April.

When he showed up in AEW in September, Miro was introduced as the best man for Kip Sabian ahead of his upcoming marriage to Penelope Ford, and the two shared their love of gaming on TV, something he never even came close to doing in WWE.

A lot of fans have actually been fairly critical because they were so used to him being portrayed as nothing more than a beast, but the version of him we get in AEW is much more like he actually is in real-life.

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