Alright time for my second edition but first i wanna point out something not sure i made clear last time. When it comes to the gimmick,music and ring gear you can use your own imagination and assume its modernized a bit. It needs to be the same just updated. For example assume Macho Man had his ring gear updated to fit the modern era. But the overall gimmick would be the same so no Hulk Hogan coming out as a Wyatt type lol.
Like before assume they have never been around before and are in their prime.
1:Hulk Hogan be it red and yellow or Hollywood.
2:Rick Rude
3:New Age Outlaws
4:Chris Benoit ( I know this guy always stirs up a storm but this is just him as a wrestler not what happened)
5:Bam Bam Bigelow
Like before i will wait a few post then throw my two cents in.
1---TO be totally honest, it's hard to really pigeonhole hogan like this. He basically has had 4 careers in one. There was his 'say prayer,vitamins' run in wwe were he held belt for years at the time and always at the top, there was his last real run in wwe before leaving that set the seeds for his wcw initial run, then there was NWO and Hollywood Hogan, and after the end of WCW, there's been the douchebag years.
His initial run personality wouldn't fit in with todays society, and they would likely play around trying to find him a better fit. His second wwe/1st wcw run as the yellow and gold might work better, as he started to show a slightly more aggresive and realistic side instead of the previous super hero type role he was in, hollywood hogan would likely have some success as a heel in todays world, and the less said about his time since about 2004 the better.
The issue would be to try and get him into a role that could allow him to feature his good qualities while downplaying his poor qualities. Not sure if the creative team would be able to pull it off as he was so iconic to the various times he shined, it makes it hard to update him to todays wrestling reality.
2---Rick Rude is in my opinion one of those guys who has been so elevated in people minds due to the tragedy of his life that people tend to over rate through good intentions. He was a good worker for the style and time of wrestling he was in, but in todays era, he would just be another well sculpted, mildly talented mic worker, with average in ring ability. He might make it to the level he was at, but don't delude yourself in thinking he'd be world or wwe champ material. He'd be in a spot like Swagger, Cesaro, and Ziggler. Guys who seem from the outside to be shoe ins for champs, but there's something lacking that doesn't allow them to make it to that next level.
3---NAO. hard to say. solid in ring workers, became champs more due to the brutality of the Attitude era and their association with DX then their own abilities. Can't discount Billy as he was multitime and multipartner tag, but aside from 'Suck It', wasn't really that interesting on the mic and was never a good wordsmith. Road Dogg was much better and that's why he did most of the talking during promos/interviews/etc... while Mr Ass showed his ass. In todays market, with the family friendly atmosphere, not sure if they'd be able to reign in their antics enough to be a success. Throw in the depletion of value in tag wrestling and they would struggle to reach the heights of the Attitude era. Of course same could be said for most tag teams, from LOD to Demolition to even 4horsemen.
4---benoit....It's hard to find a guy who insipres more controversy and reaction then him. as a wrestler and worker, there are few who could match him. His style would be a good fit and he'd be among the top tier, occassional main event, short term champs ala ziggles, del rio, show and others. guys that you can bring up to the main event for a few months and have put on great matches with the lesser skilled but more charismatic guys on the roster and then use to highlight the talents of potential future stars who lack in ring skill(which can be trained) but excel in personality and promo work.
5---bam bam. like i said with vader in the 1st edition, a guy with his size and skill would have few options. Either end up as a humorous crowd favorite ala Clay/Tensai or a bigShow/Henry type role of massive guys used to showcase other talents strength/determination with the occassional title. Not sure if his mic work would allow for top billing in a title so might be stuck as ic/us level and not reach world/wwe level, but still be one of the main guys relied on to help put over talent going up to that top tier. One of the final hurdles to put people past the midcard and into the main event, while only flirting with but rarely if ever reaching the main event himself.
