The Ministry of Darkness was a unique faction using The Undertaker’s evil character to get over in the Attitude Era. An interesting tidbit about the Ministry of Darkness is that most of the members were struggling to find a role in WWE at the time. The faction gave them a new direction and purpose to have a noteworthy position in WWE.RELATED: The Ministry Of Darkness & 9 Other Factions Who Won Less Than You RememberSome of the wrestlers used that time to become bigger stars and set up brighter futures. Others peaked and never found anything more successful. One constant was that everyone had strange gimmicks at some point in their careers. Each of the following Ministry of Darkness wrestlers had at least one bad gimmick associated with them that they’d like to forget.
10 Big Show: Comedy Impersonator
The short stint of Big Show in the Ministry of Darkness faction featured him forming the powerful tag team with The Undertaker. WWE wanted Big Show to learn from the legendary big man after he struggled in his first few months with the company.
RELATED: 10 Things About The Ministry Of Darkness That Made No Sense
For a time during the Attitude Era, Big Show had a comedy gimmick where he would impersonate wrestlers such as Rikishi, Val Venis and even Hulk Hogan. This wasn't a gimmick fitting of this giant, and ultimately got dropped fairly quickly.
9 Gangrel: Vampire
The wrestling career of Gangrel has seen him having just one noteworthy gimmick for his bigger roles. Gangrel playing a vampire during his time in the Ministry of Darkness and The Brood for WWE was similar to the gimmick he had before and after.
The career never panned for Gangrel like it did for Edge and Christian after the end of their time together. Gangrel couldn’t evolve into a new gimmick, and it led to him peaking during this chapter of his career in WWE.
8 Christian: Throwing Temper Tantrums
One of the forgotten gimmicks for Christian turned out to be the worst of his career. WWE splitting up Edge and Christian saw Christian struggling to find the right role on his own since the company had more faith in Edge.
A storyline with Diamond Dallas Page saw Christian whining and having tempter tantrums that caused his losses. DDP trying to help him with the power of positivity did little to help Christian. WWE thankfully dropped the gimmick completely and it saved Christian moving forward.
7 Edge: Debuting Loner Character
The first gimmick of Edge in WWE should have gone a lot better than it did after cool vignettes hyping him up. Edge was a loner and the videos established him as a noteworthy talent looking to shake things up.
Unfortunately, the use of the gimmick was what failed to connect. Edge was on television inconsistently and had his first PPV match teaming with Sable, despite being presented as a loner. The eventual teaming with Christian and Gangrel in The Brood and Ministry of Darkness found him success that never ended.
6 Viscera: Ladies’ Man
Vince McMahon was a huge supporter of Viscera throughout the various names and gimmicks he worked in WWE. The failed King of the Ring push as King Mabel led to him being released until his return as a member of the Ministry of Darkness as Viscera.
WWE brought Viscera back to the company a few years later again for roster depth. Viscera became the “world’s largest love machine” with romantic storylines involving Trish Stratus and Lilian Garcia. The gimmick was meant to provide humor, but it just created stale WWE television.
5 Bradshaw: The New Blackjacks
The legendary career of JBL saw him having quite a few failed gimmicks before getting over. WWE had Bradshaw on the roster longer than most despite not finding any noteworthy success until joining the Ministry of Darkness.
RELATED: 10 Things Most Fans Forget About The Ministry Of Darkness
The tag team run with Faarooq started here for Bradshaw as they became the top lackeys for The Undertaker. Bradshaw’s worst gimmick before this was rebooting The Blackjacks tag team with Barry Windham as The New Blackjacks. Fans had no interest, and it came off as a lazy attempt to recycle history.
4 Faarooq: Gladiator
Ron Simmons’ first gimmick in WWE as Faarooq could have easily ruined his career. WWE signed Simmons as a former WCW Champion, but they felt he needed a drastically new gimmick as a gladiator.
Faarooq wore a silly bright blue helmet and had Sunny become his manager, despite the lack of chemistry. WWE does deserve some credit for ending that character right away and helping Faarooq become a thriving character as the leader of the Nation of Domination.
3 Mideon: Naked Mideon
The WWE career of Mideon basically featured him having outlandish gimmicks one after another. Mideon was essentially abducted by The Undertaker and forced to join the Ministry of Darkness by placing on his symbol meant to sacrifice him.
The Ministry was the peak of Mideon’s career as things fell apart shortly after. Naked Mideon became the gimmick for him to wear nothing but a fanny pack and streak through the venue. Despite WWE putting the European Championship on him, the gimmick ended shortly after with Mideon getting released.
2 Shane McMahon: Raw Underground Host
WWE putting Shane McMahon on television in the Attitude Era saw his role in the Ministry of Darkness becoming one of his first best tests. Shane was the most important member after The Undertaker and proved he could cut strong promos.
The wrestling career of Shane would see many changes afterwards, including fans warming up to him as a favorite. However, the worst stint of Shane’s career came not too long ago when hosting the Raw Underground segments. Everything about Shane’s real idea flopped to remove it from television and he was tied to the failure on-screen as the host.
1 The Undertaker: Mean Mark Callous
The WCW career of The Undertaker is often forgotten since it was so uneventful. Undertaker debuted under the moniker of “Mean” Mark Callous and had a relatively generic heel character. The gimmick featured the announcers claiming he loved snakes and the music of Ozzy Osbourne.
Undertaker flopped in WCW and didn’t make it in wrestling until he joined WWE with the dead man gimmick. The rest of his career is history with countless iconic moments, including being the main reason for the success of the Ministry of Darkness faction.
