While plenty of wrestling fans associate masked wrestlers with Luche Libre wrestlers such as Rey Mysterio, anyone can put on a mask for their character if they choose. Plenty of them have, too. For whatever reason, some of our favorite wrestlers have donned a mask at some point in their careers.
5 Best Wrestling Masks of the 1970s (& 5 Worst)
The 1970s featured some great looking wrestling masks as well as some misfires.
These aren’t your Midnight Rider, Yellow Dog, or Mr. America type masks where the fans all know who is really under the hood and the burden of proof belongs with the heels. Those are part of the storylines. These guys, for the most part wore a hood as part of a gimmick or even a gimmick change.
10 Ron Simmons And Butch Reed As Doom
Woman Presented The Hard Hitting Team To Take On The Steiners
- In addition to being managed by Woman, Doom was also managed by Teddy Long.
- Doom defeated The Steiners at Capitol Combat for the tag team titles.
- After breaking up, Ron Simmons went on to become the first ever African-American world champion.
Beginning as a fan of Rick Steiner, Robin Green quickly turned on The Dog-Faced Gremlin and vowed to show both Steiners their “doom.” She arrived as a manager of Doom, two massive masked men. When The Steiners defeated the team at Clash Of Champions 10, they were forced to unmask and revealed to be The Natural Butch Reed and Ron Simmons.
9 The Undertaker As Texas Red
Only Helping In Pushing The Spoiler Myth
- Under his mask, The Undertaker was managed by Paul Bearer – then known as Percy Pringle III.
- Taker was “trained” by Buzz Sawyer, but he doesn’t speak fondly of the experience.
- Due to the look, mannerisms, and move sets, many fans used to believe that Taker was trained by The Spoiler, Don Jardine.
After training (or lack thereof) under the “tutelage” of Buzz Sawyer, Mark Calloway began his epic climb to the tippy top of legendary status.
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While they weren’t The Undertaker and Paul Bearer yet, they were together for The Phenom’s first ever match. He worked under a hood as Texas Red and stood toe to toe against Bruiser Brody.
8 CM Punk As The Leader Of The Straight Edge Society
After Getting His Head Shaved, Punk Didn’t Want To Show His Face
- CM Punk claimed he wrote weeks of scripts for The Straight Edge Society storyline.
- Punk lost his hair in a Mask Vs. SES Pledge match against Rey Mysterio at Over The Limit 2010.
- Once WWE killed the angle, Punk started to get disillusioned by the company.
CM Punk’s straight edge lifestyle lends itself all sorts of storylines depending on how the wind is blowing. In 2010, not only was Punk a heel, but he was letting everyone know how much better he was than everyone else. As the head of The Straight Edge Society, Punk lost his hair in a match against Rey Mysterio. Rather than show his new bald head, Punk donned a straight edged themed mask.
7 Bill “Ax” Eadie As The Masked Superstar
Old School Fans Liked Demolition, Older School Fans Loved The Masked Superstar
- Under his hood, Bill Eadie was a big territory star.
- He also got his start working under a hood as “The Paramedic” for The Original Shiek’s Michigan territory.
- After eating bad shellfish, Eadie’s allergic reaction unfortunately ended his career.
With a career that started way back in 1973, Bill Eadie wore a mask for years before Demolition came calling. His biggest success in the territories came as The Masked Superstar. Under this hood, The Masked Superstar was able to do one of the biggest feats of strength you could do in wrestling – bodyslam Andre The Giant.
6 Eddie Guerrero As Black Tiger
The Legendary Lucha Started Under A Hood
- In the Black Tiger mask, Eddie wrestled some early dream matches – Jushin Thunder Liger for example.
- The character of Black Tiger was meant to be Tiger Mask’s antagonist.
- Eddie was the second out of seven Black Tigers.
In Japan, the character of Black Tiger was created as a foil for the character of Tiger Mask. The second of these gimmicks was Eddie Guerrero under the hood.
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On top of his standout in-ring skills, Eddie Guerrero was also able to shine as a hilarious entertainer in WWE.
During his time as Black Tiger, Eddie had worked the esteemed Best Of Super Juniors tournament several years in a row (1994 and 1995).
5 Jim The Anvil Neidhart As Who
Wrestling’s Abbot And Costello Routine
- Jim Neidhart earned his nickname by setting the world record for anvil tossing.
- The Anvil tried his hand at The NFL before traveling to Calgary.
- Neidhart debuted in WWE as a singles star, being managed by Mr. Fuji.
“Who’s On First?” from Abbott And Costello is one of the classic comedy hits of all time. The premise is simple – Abbott asks Costello “who’s on first (base)?” Costello responds “Who,” and naturally, Abbott doesn’t realize his question is being answered. Someone in WWE must’ve really liked the bit and decided to pitch a gimmick called Who. But under the bright red and yellow hood was the obvious barrel chest of Jim The Anvil Neidhart. If that didn’t make it hard to get over enough, the announcers spent Who’s matches reworking the big.
4 Rick Rude As The Halloween Phantom
The Ravishing One Makes His WCW Debut
- After a dispute over payoffs from SummerSlam 1990, Rude headed to WCW.
- Rude got his start in World Class being managed by Percy Pringle III.
- He is the only superstar to have appeared on WCW, WWE, and ECW all in the span of a week.
At Halloween Havoc 1991, Tom Zenk met a cruel fate at the hands of The Halloween Phantom. At the end of the match, The Phantom unmasked and revealed himself to be Ravishing Rick Rude. The debut kicked off what would be a great three-year run that ultimately was Rude’s last run in the ring.
3 Ric Flair As The Black Scorpion
An Early Case Of Weird WCW Booking
- The original Black Scorpion idea had no real ending.
- While never booked, fans had believed the vignettes hinted at then WWE Champion The Ultimate Warrior.
- Ole Anderson voiced The Scorpion in vignettes.
At the 1990 Great American Bash, Sting finally defeated Ric Flair and became NWA World Heavyweight Champion. About a month or so later, a shrouded figure, called The Black Scorpion started to appear. Claiming to be a person from Sting’s past, fans bandied about various theories. All was eventually revealed that the Scorpion was simply Ric Flair in a mask trying to win back the gold.
2 Al Snow As Shinobi/Avatar
The Snowman Is The Lon Chaney Of Wrestling
- Al Snow got his start in 1982.
- Early in his career, he won the tag team titles with the future Kane in SMW.
- Nowadays, Al Snow owns Ohio Valley Wrestling.
When you’re trying to make a name for yourself in wrestling, you try all sorts of gimmicks and characters to get over. Al Snow used hints of pop culture when he donned a hood during his early WWE career for not one, but two ninja-style characters.
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The first was Shinobi – which, if you know video game history, was a huge game during the early nineties. His other more (but still lesser) known character was Avatar. Before The Last Airbender and before the James Cameron epics, Avatar was more inspired by Power Rangers.
1 Various Wrestlers As The Machines
A Fun Early Golden Era Gimmick
- The Machines were managed by Captain Lou Albano.
- Most of The Machines were very noticeable, no matter who was under the hood.
- The brief run started when Andre The Giant got suspended.
During his feud with Big John Studd and Bobby Heenan, Andre The Giant found himself suspended. Shortly after, a massive masked man started to appear – The Giant Machine. He arrived with his partner, Super Machine (Bill Eadie under yet another hood). But more and more members of The Machines appeared – always obvious (Hulk Machine, for example). That would always confound and confuse the heels The Machines teamed with.
