A lot of wrestling fans today will remember the days when they used to hear older relatives talking about "the golden era"of professional wrestling. The days where they grew up watching the likes of Hulk Hogan, "Macho Man"Randy Savage, and The Ultimate Warrior, larger than life characters performing larger than life feats of strength at a time where wrestling was at the center of American culture in the 1980s. In Japan, older fans will recall the halcyon days of "The Four Pillars of Heaven"in All Japan Pro Wrestling, while New Japan Pro Wrestling had "The Three Musketeers," and in the United Kingdom, whenever the word "wrestling" comes out of anyone's mouth, at least four of the next ten words to follow it will either be "Big Daddy"or "Giant Haystacks."
With all that said, there might not be a more famous era of wrestling than WWE's "Attitude Era." The starting point can range from anywhere between 1996 and 1998 depending on who you ask, but everyone is in agreement that it ended at WrestleMania 17 in April 2001, and the few years leading up to that event in Houston, Texas were unlike anything fans had ever seen. Wrestling was seen as "cool" by some, it fit in nicely with the edgier pop culture landscape that saw the birth of "South Park" and Nu-Metal music, and between WWE, WCW, and ECW, wrestling was everywhere.
The Attitude Era was so popular that WWE themselves tried chasing that high for years before finally admitting that they couldn't party like it was 1999 anymore and got with the times, but the stars of that day are household names amongst wrestling fans. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, The Undertaker, all legends of the business, and The Rock might have even surpassed Hulk Hogan in terms of level of fame in the years since the Attitude Era, but those men are not who we are here to talk about today.
For as different as Triple H and The Rock might look compared to their time as part of the Attitude Era, they are still around on enough of a regular basis that modern day fans have gotten used to seeing "The Game" with a bald head, and "The People's Champion" with an even larger bald head. Instead, we are going to take a dive into the history books and find five names from WWE's most famous period to show you their transformations, with some of them being so striking you'll wonder if they are even the same person.
So sit back, relax, dust off that Fred Durst-inspired red cap and Eric Cartman plushie, and join us on a journey to the late 1990s and early 2000s, as we show you five former WWE Superstars from the Attitude Era who are completely unrecognizable today.
When it comes to the conversation of wrestlers who put their boots to the side in favor of the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, a number of big names come to mind. The Rock, Batista, John Cena, even going back to Hulk Hogan's infamous run on the big screen, Randy Savage as Bonesaw in the first live-action "Spider-Man," and Roddy Piper's iconic performance in "They Live." However, someone who might have actually had the most consistent acting career is none other than Kurrgan.
Robert "Kurrgan" Maillet was a Canadian wrestler who had made a name for himself for being a giant of a human being, standing at seven feet tall and weighing in at 350 pounds. Amongst the men who trained him in the late 1980s was WWE Hall of Famer and Canadian icon Bret Hart, and throughout the early and mid-1990s, Maillet went by many names around the world. Giant Goliath in the UK, Goliath El Gigante in both Mexico and Japan, and when he was eventually signed by WWE in 1997, The Interrogator.
The Interrogator was part of the short-lived Truth Commission stable that only the most loyal fans of the Attitude Era would remember, featuring a murder's row of people you look at and go "wait, THEY were in The Truth Commission?" We're talking Recon, who is better known to many fans as Bull Buchanan, and known by even more fans as the father of "WWE NXT's" Brooks Jensen. We're talking Tank, not the Tank that's also in "NXT" right now, we're talking the Tank who was played by the man who just a few years earlier was Mantaur, and we're also talking The Jackyl, easily the most famous member of the group to fans today who know him better as AEW's Don Callis.
The Truth Commission weren't long for this world, and both Kurrgan and The Jackyl would go on to form The Oddities in 1998, a stable that was infinitely more memorable for how insane it was looking back on it. After a year-and-a-half of just being the comedic relief at the bottom of the card, Kurrgan would leave the company in the Spring of 1999.
For the next decade, Kurrgan would start transitioning out of wrestling in between tours of CMLL in Mexico and local shows in his home country of Canada. This was due to his pursuit of becoming a successful actor, and given his unique size and look, It's no surprise that he landed roles in movies like "300," "Pacific Rim," and "Sherlock Holmes," the latter of which being the movie that saw Robert Downey Jr. get punched in the face on set by who else but Kurrgan (he was very apologetic about it apparently). After fully retiring from wrestling in 2011, he has popped up in "Deadpool 2" as Sluggo, an episode of Netflix's "The Umbrella Academy," and while he hasn't had a major role since before the COVID-19 pandemic, he still leads a remarkably busy life to this day.
Perry Saturn's run with WWE in the early 2000s is relatively short looking back on it, but in the near three years he was with the company, he had a lot of memorable moments. There was arguably no better way to introduce Saturn, who many fans had already become familiar with thanks to his work in ECW and WCW in the 1990s, than as part of The Radicalz stable in January 2000. Following his departure from WCW in which booker Kevin Sullivan told Saturn that he was incapable of getting over with the fans, Saturn got over with the fans almost immediately when he, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Dean Malenko, all of whom had left WCW as well showed up on "WWE Raw" and gave WWE's midcard the biggest shot in the arm you could imagine.
From there, Saturn would hold both the WWE Hardcore and WWE European Championships in 2000, be paired up with Terri Runnels (because their names rhymed presumably), and work with all of the biggest names in the company at that time. However, his most memorable gimmick would come in 2001 following an incident on an episode of "WWE Jakked" where he shot on jobber Mike Bell, and was given the "Moppy" gimmick as a result. Moppy was, as you can imagine, a mop that Saturn was in love with, and after receiving a head injury at the hands of the APA and Raven, he would start saying things randomly while making sure that nothing came between him and the love of his life, that love being Moppy.
Once the gimmick ran its course in late 2001, Saturn would split his time between the C and D shows of WWE, and the injured list until his release in November 2002, but his life would be changed forever less than two years later. In April 2004, Saturn saved a young woman from being raped by two men behind a strip club outside of Atlanta, Georgia. According to Saturn, one of the men ran off into the night while the other shot him in the neck and shoulder, shots that Saturn originally thought were punches in the midst of everything. Saturn would end up stabbing the men but didn't cause any serious injury.
This altercation would lead to Saturn becoming heavily addicted to drugs throughout the rest of the 2000s, even becoming homeless, but he would clean himself up by 2010 thanks to his wife who he met while he was homeless, and his dog who he promised to outlive. Saturn even made a brief return to the ring in 2011 before officially calling time on his career in 2013, and these days, Saturn looks a lot thinner than his prime years in ECW, WCW, and WWE, now sporting a giant tribal tattoo across his head and face that he got while addicted to drugs, but seems to be in a much better place, and has made a number of public appearances in recent years.
When you think of WWE's Attitude Era, women's wrestling is nowhere near the first thing anyone thinks of. These days, the WWE women's division are routinely putting on some of the best matches in the company, have main evented WrestleMania, and have even had entire Premium Live Events solely for them, and none of that would be possible without the women who had to suffer through Lingerie contests and the infamous Bra and Panties matches of the past. One of those women was Jacqueline, a woman who WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett once said threw knees and punches like a man, and was far ahead of her time due to how legitimately tough she was.
By the time the woman many people would also come to know as Jackie Moore became part of the Attitude Era, she had been in the business for almost 10 years and even had a previous run with WWE that was ended prematurely due to an injury. Jacqueline was brought in to feud with Sable in 1998, and while Sable was undoubtedly more popular at the time (she was legitimately one of the biggest stars in WWE in 1998), Jacqueline would get a lot of out the feud, namely the revived WWE Women's Championship, becoming the first-ever African American holder of the title.
For the next three years, Jacqueline would become a regular member of the WWE women's division during the Attitude Era, being positioned as a woman who could always be relied on for a solid match thanks to her talent and experience, while also being willing to partake in the racier segments the company would routinely run at the time. Her experience would lead to her landing some other roles in the company, including a spot as a trainer on the "Tough Enough" reality show, and would even become a referee for a brief time in 2002. Once the Ruthless Aggression era was in full swing, and she had a bizarre feud with Chavo Guerrero, WWE released Jacqueline due to a lack of ideas for her character.
Jackie Moore would go on to resurface in TNA Wrestling where she would spend nearly a decade as part of the company's Knockouts division, again acting as the experienced hand to put the younger talent over, as well as being an on-screen manager. Her run with the company would end in 2013, which also led to her retirement after a 25 year career, and her services to wrestling were honored in 2016 when she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
At 61 years old at the time of writing, Jacqueline looks a lot less threatening and a lot more motherly than she did during her famed Attitude Era run, but that doesn't mean she couldn't still beat up half of the current WWE roster. Her long ponytail has been replaced a bob haircut, which can be spotted on WWE TV from time to time as she is currently under a legends deal.
A character synonymous with the Attitude Era considering that he first appeared in 1998 and was released in January 2001, but the life and career of Dennis "Mideon" Knight is an interesting one to say the least.
Debuting in 1989 after working as a bouncer for many years, Knight became a wrestler who was already given the unenviable task of making the most out of a Leatherface gimmick inspired by 1974's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." He got his big break in WWE in 1996 when he debuted as Phineas I. Godwinn of The Godwinns, a pair of pig farmers who were essentially designed to gross people out, and in the latter stages of The New Generation era, they did well as they became the WWE Tag Team Champions on two occasions. However, after his partner, Henry O. Godwinn, suffered a career ending injury in 1998, Phineas was a pig farmer without a farm and needed something new to keep him going.
This led to him becoming part of The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness after being kidnapped by The Acolytes. He would become a brainwashed follower of "The Deadman" under the name Midian, before it was changed to Mideon a few weeks later, and would frequently team up with Viscera before having a brief run with the WWE European Championship in the summer of 1999. Taker would get injured towards the back end of 1999, keeping him out of action until Judgment Day 2000, leading to the now Corporate Ministry quietly dissolving over time, and out of all of the gimmick changes that happened to those in the Ministry, Mideon's was the most bizarre.
After briefly returning to WWE in 2000 as a Mankind imitator to help further the feud between Triple H and Mick Foley, Mideon made his full return to WWE in the most eye-catching way possible; he was naked. As Naked Mideon, he would routinely end up on camera by running around in nothing more than a black leather fanny pack, a thong, and a pair of boots, which would pop the crowd, and probably Vince McMahon as well because that was his type of humor. The gimmick was made entirely for shock value and Mideon never won any titles while wearing his birthday suit, but he did challenge William Regal for the WWE European Championship at No Mercy 2000 in one of the worst matches of the entire year.
Mideon became full clothed again by the end of 2000 and was released the following year. He would bounce around the independent scene until 2006 when he announced his retirement, which in turn allowed him to go into his actually passion; cooking. Dennis Knight currently owns his own catering company, and has even said that while he looks menacing, he enjoys making roses out of vegetables. With that said, he's appeared on The Undertaker's Six Feet Under podcast as recently as 2024, and was on camera for Taker's official retirement at Survivor Series 2020 given their friendship.
If you went to Google Images and looked up Essa Rios in WWE, you'll be met with pictures of a man with long blonde hair and red baggy trousers holding the WWE Light Heavyweight Championship while standing next to Lita. Now look at the picture on this page, and you'd be forgiven in thinking that we might have made some sort of mistake, but we can assure you that is what Essa Rios looks like in 2025.
To put it bluntly, Essa Rios is a name that Jose Delgado Saldana used for a small fraction of his career as fans will know him better as Mr. Aguila. He has been wrestling since the early 1990s and was originally brought in to WWE as Aguila back in 1997 as a member of the company's new Light Heavyweight division, WWE's answer to WCW's Cruiserweight division. Wrestling the likes of Super Loco (Super Crazy), Brian Christopher (Grand Master Sexay), and TAKA Michinoku (he's still got the same name), Aguila would split his time between taking bookings in Mexico and WWE, the latter of whom changed his name to Papi Chulo and convinced him to wrestle without a mask by the middle of 1998.
In fact, the Essa Rios name wouldn't come into play until February 2000 when Aguila was repackaged and immediately booked to end the 448 day reign of Duane "Gillberg" Gill as WWE Light Heavyweight Champion on an episode of "WWE Sunday Night Heat." He would only hold the title for five weeks before losing it to the newly debuted Dean Malenko, but Rios was a fan favorite for his high-flying style, his cool look, and the fact that a young Lita would accompany him to ringside and copy his trademark moonsault in the ring. This was arguably the peak of Essa's WWE career as he would remain on shows like "WWE Metal" and "WWE Jakked" until the fall of 2001 when he was eventually released by the company.
Almost instantly, Essa Rios was no more and Mr. Aguila returned to Mexico, initially working for CMLL before signing with AAA where he would stay for four years before returning for an extended run with CMLL beginning in 2006. Through his years back in Mexico, and father time gifting him a fair few pounds over the years, Mr. Aguila and Essa Rios look like two completely different people. The picture we've used was taken at an IWRG event in Mexico in July 2025, and with an enormous mohawk, terrifying face paint, and the physique of someone who could definitely not pass for a Light Heavyweight in today's landscape, Aguila has changed more than most compared to their WWE run.
Also, you did read that correctly, Aguila wrestled in July 2025 and still works regularly in Mexico to this day where he is now considered a true legend of the business, primarily working on the independent circuit with a much more relaxed schedule than what he had in WWE or CMLL.
