In the storied history of professional wrestling, WrestleMania has proved to be the event all wrestlers hope to perform at one day. While a select few will make multiple appearances at WrestleMania year after year, an even smaller number have appeared at different WrestleMania’s with different gimmicks. And that’s why we’re here, to celebrate those unique performers who reached “the showcase of the immortals” under different names.
Rules: I’m only citing completely different gimmicks/names, so the differences between the “The Cerebral Assassin” and the “King of Kings” doesn’t qualify. Because I said so.
Fatu (IX)/The Sultan (13)/Rikishi (2000)
One of the most unique type of performer is one that not only appears at 2 different WrestleMania’s under different names, but those that appear at 3. That’s where Solofa Fatu Jr. comes in, appearing in multiple WrestleMania events under three separate gimmicks.
His first appearance was at WrestleMania IX as part of the Headshrinkers alongside cousin Samu, in a losing effort to the Steiner Brothers.
WrestleMania 13 wasn’t the best. To say the least. Possibly because the WWF was in a transition period and possibly because they had Rocky Maivia face the supposedly tongue-less Sultan for the Intercontinental Championship. The Sultan, if you’re following along, was Fatu wearing a muzzle and a strange “ponytail-bald head” combo. The Sultan would lose against Maivia. As he should have.
The next time WrestleMania would feature the large Samoan veteran would be at WrestleMania 2000 where Fatu, now a dancing thong-clad sumo named Rikishi Phatu, would form a strange tag team with Kane to defeat the D-Generation X team of Road Dog and X Pac.
His final WrestleMania performance would come at WrestleMania X8 where Rikishi, Albert, and Scotty 2 Hotty would defeat Lance Storm, Mr. Perfect, and Test, a team that couldn’t have been more random if you put Virgil and the Gobbledygooker into a paint mixer.
1-2-3 Kid (XI), X-Pac (XV, 2000, X-Seven)
Sean Waltman had a hell of a career. From his early days in the GWF against Jerry Lynn to his time as the biggest bandana enthusiast since Bret Michaels, Sean Waltman has truly done it all. Beginning his WWF career at a very young age, the 1-2-3 Kid would make his first WrestleMania appearance at WrestleMania XI, accompanying Razor Ramon to the ring for his match with Jeff Jarrett.
Waltman would miss the next year’s WrestleMania due to…let’s just say “reasons”, then leave for WCW. After nearly two years collecting checks from Ted Turner, he would return to the WWF the night after WrestleMania XIV, taking the new name X-Pac.
X-Pac would appear in only his second WrestleMania at WrestleMania XV, losing to Shane McMahon for the European Title. He would also take part in the aforementioned tag team loss to Kane and Rikishi at WrestleMania 2000.
His final WrestleMania appearance as a full time performer would be at WrestleMania X7, teaming with X-Factor faction mate Justin Credible to defeat the team of Grandmaster Sexay and Steve Blackman.
One Man Gang (IV), Akeem(V, VI, X-Seven)
It’s very rare that a performer appears at consecutive WrestleManias as two different gimmicks, but that’s exactly what George Gray did. At WrestleMania IV, the One Man Gang appeared as part of the WWF Title Tournament, defeating Bam Bam Bigelow in a blistering 2:56…by countout….yeah…
He would lose to eventual tournament winner “Macho Man” Randy Savage in the semi finals in a match that was still under 5 minutes. It was WrestleMania IV, after all.
Between WrestleMania IV and WrestleMania V, the One Man Gang “had a revelation” and decided he was from Africa. The 80s were a strange time. Anyway, the One Man Gang was gone and replaced with Akeem, the African Dream, a large white guy in a dashiki speaking Airplane-level jive. At WrestleMania V, Akeem teamed with the Big Bossman to defeat a plucky new team called The Rockers. Bossman would then defeat Akeem at WrestleMania VI in…1:49. Put it all together, and he’s had a total of 10 minutes of ring time at WrestleMania.
Oddly enough, George Gray would return to the WWF 12 years later at WrestleMania X-Seven as part of the Gimmick Battle Royal…as the One Man Gang. Probably because coming back as Akeem would cause too many protests. It was a good call on their part.
Terry Funk (2), Chainsaw Charlie (XIV)
Terry Funk is a legend in the wrestling business with a career that’s hard to match. But, in all his years in wrestling, it might surprise you that he has only appeared at WrestleMania on two occasions. Not only that, they were 12 years apart.
Terry Funk’s first appearance was all the way back to WrestleMania 2, where he and brother Dory “Hoss” Funk defeated Tito Santana and the Junkyard Dog as part of the Los Angeles portion of the event.
Funk would continue to wrestle around the world, but wouldn’t appear at the granddaddy of them all until WrestleMania XIV, as Chainsaw Charlie to team with fellow lunatic Cactus Jack to throw Billy Gunn and Road Dog into dumpsters until the ref told them to stop.
Technically, announcers acknowledged that Funk and Chainsaw Charlie were one in the same, but I love Terry Funk, so I’m counting it.
Demolition Smash (IV-VII), Repo Man (VIII)
It’s one thing to appear as one gimmick one WrestleMania then another later on, but what about someone who establishes one persona year after year, appearing at multiple WrestleManias THEN being given a new gimmick out of nowhere? That’s exactly the story of wrestler and jack-of-all-gimmicks Barry Darsow, who appeared as his second WrestleMania gimmick AFTER well establishing his first.
Demolition were the prototypical WWF tag team in the 1980s, two hard working, hard hitting veterans with new personas to match the flashiness of the WWF. While some wrote them off as just another Road Warriors ripoff, the team of Ax (Bill Eadie) and Smash (Barry Darsow) would be very successful in their own right, even holding the WWF Tag Team Titles for 478 days, a record that wouldn’t be broken until 2016! The younger of the two, Demolition Smash was the long-haired, red-tongued bruiser of the team and would perform with his partner Ax at 4 consecutive WrestleManias, starting with their defeat of Strike Force to win the WWF Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania IV, then defeating the Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji in a handicap match to retain the Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania V, defeating the Colossal Connection to regain the tag team titles at WrestleMania VI, then teaming with new partner Crush in a losing effort against Japanese stars Genichiro Tenryu and Koji Kitao.
So after years of establishing Demolition as a top level team, the WWF felt the team had run its course and split the team up. This led to the decision to repackage both Crush and Smash. Crush would become “Kona” Crush, a laid back Hawaiian dudebro years before the term even existed, but the real story here was how they repackaged Smash.
Instead of letting the demolisher go solo, kicking ass along the way, they decided to make him The Repo Man. As in a guy who repossessed things. Yes, I’m serious. That’s right, after years of Smash putting on face paint, borderline leather bondage gear, then going to the ring and kicking whoever’s ass he had to just to get paid, they decided to have Barry Darsow’s next appearance at WrestleMania XIII be as a guy with tire tracks on his gear. The early to mid 90s were rife for this cartoony, “side jobs as a gimmick” stuff (looking at you, TL Hopper), but this happening to Darsow after years of him establishing himself as Demolition Smash AT WRESTLEMANIA, was surprising.
Darsow would even reprise the gimmick at WrestleMania X-Seven in the Gimmick Battle Royal. Probably because they were keeping the bondage gear for when they finally hired the Bashams.
Let’s just remember that this was a thing
So there you have it, 5 wrestlers who performed at multiple WrestleManias under different gimmicks. There are many more in this topic, so don’t fret if I left someone out, as I’m sure I’ll get to them in another article. Who were some of your favorite WrestleMania performers? Let me know below.
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