Favorite Gear & Attire

[SomethingSavage]

In the spirit of the holiday festivities, I figured we could let go of over-analysis and grading systems for a moment & just free ourselves up to talk about something shallow, superficial, and fun.

So what are some instances of your favorite ring gear or entrance attire?

I really dug the throwback jersey gear Chris Hero was sporting in his last big indie run. The Jordan-Bulls tribute was especially awesome.

The kid in me will forever find all the old Razor Ramon outfits to be cool. That purple & gold - topped off with his chains & greased-up hair - was just slicker than owl shit, man. Even the green & yellow "lemon lime" look (which I'm normally not a fan of) somehow worked for him.

And how about EVERYTHING Drago, please & thanks? I mean, Christ. The blacked out nightmare man look? The molten lava burnt orange look? The grey gargoyle look? The royal blue, the poison red, and on & on & on. All of them are winners, offering distinct and vibrant visuals.

And, while this isn't directly tied to Drago or anything, I absolutely love it anytime a guy can show up for a match in unique gear to mark the occasion as something more meaningful. Grudge match gear & Championship Mode attire are always appreciated.

I always enjoy the all-white appearance as well. Hell, when he wasn't killing Sting's career or crushing Cena's face or disintegrating his own kneecap, the most notable thing to come out of a Seth Rollins singles match was that sweet ultra-white attire he wore at that SummerSlam.

LA Park pretty much goes without saying, especially in the white suit. And ESPECIALLY especially if a bleeding wound, a fire, and/or a riot emerges nearby. All these things are practically accessories to the LA Park outfit.

And just a couple of random ones that nobody else is likely to mention: Joey Ryan and Candice LeRae had a fun nod to the Star Wars droids for awhile there.

And back during the days of the original Mount Rushmore in PWG, there was a six-man tag with the Young Bucks and Kevin Steen teaming together. The Bucks came out in their usual colorful gear - looking like a bunch of taffy & tassles got rolled around in confetti & paint. But then Steen comes out with his fat ass stuffed into the same suit (MATCHING GEAR, YAY!), and it was fucking tremendous. It looked like a Nasty Boy forgot his shit & had to swipe something from the Rockers' bags. I loved it.

So yeah. I'm sure I missed a truckload of obvious picks, but I just wanted to get the thread started. Hopefully we can loosen up and have some fun discussion here.

Happy New Year's to you guys. Everyone be safe & be sure to enjoy every last second of 2018.

[DMJ]

Fun idea. Here's some that spring to mind as I wait for my Uber:

- The first time I saw the Finn Balor Demon gimmick, I thought it was stupendous. It doesn't pack the same punch now, but that first time (admittedly, it was in NXT), I thought it was incredible and the entrance was shot perfectly.

- Any time Rick Rude spray-painted his tights, it was $$$. Velveteen Dream has been crushing it too for similar reasons. 

- Macho Man's full bodysuits might be the only full bodysuits I can get behind. They were glorious - especially for his bigger matches. On that note, I never got the idea of MVP looking like a multi-sport athlete or whatever. To me, it was just weird. At first, I dug Seth Rollins' look because it reminded me of Snake Pliskin from Escape from New York, but I actually think he looks better without the top just because everyone and their mother seems to wrestle with a shirt on these days. 

- Shawn Michaels had some good looks. Liked the original black DX gear where (I think) it was just his black pants/silver or red hearts with DX green crosses over them. I also liked the Texas-inspired ones he wore at Rumble 97' and the white/gold combo for WrestleMania XII. The rest of his outfits are very reminiscent of the "leather daddy" scene, so, I'm not gonna co-sign on the mirror-covered chaps and zebra-print cap (look it up - the fact that they sold replicas to unsuspecting kids who wore them in public seems like it could be the basis of a Law and Order: SVU), but his pants were cool.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

I've always dug Ultimo dragon's attire. For some reason his Green, Light Blue, and his Pink Color schemes really popped on screen for me as a kid. Great Muta is a must for this thread. I love all of his attires especially his All Japan demon mask and his pirates of the caribbean getup. Happy New Year to all!!!

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Stone Cold’s black trunks/black boots.

Boots with initials on them.

[JerryvonKramer]

Ahem http://placetobenation.com/the-definitive-guide-to-the-suits-of-the-million-dollar-man/

[WrestlingFan]

Amazing guide Parv ! I like Misawa's green short and Kawada's yellow boots.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

[Alucard]

Co-signed on Razor's gear, always great in all different colors. Similarly with Michaels. Ultimo's pink gear was always my favorite of his.

Loved when Triple H switched up the colors in 2003, wearing red, purple, and blue. Very Flair like. Randy Orton did that as well around that time.

[TheDuke]

I liked the Irwin R Shyster dress shirt in the ring look for his wrestling gear. And I loved it when they brought that style of gear back for Right To Censor. It is a great look for a heel if they want to be a heel the fans actually hate and not just a cool heel.

[SomethingSavage]

I won't even lie. I instantly thought of Parv and his DiBiase love after posting this thread last night. Pretty sure there was an episode of the Pro Wrestling Super Show podcast on the subject three or four years ago, too.

Balor and Velveteen Dream are quality shouts also. Dream owned the scene last year, and his air-brushed tights were fitting tributes to Rude and company. Never much cared for RVD's air-brushed stuff, but Ryback had a few that were alright.

I never really dug too much of Devitt in New Japan. The work just didn't match the hype. However, his entrances were out of this world. Supreme, stunning creativity and excellent execution across the board. I loved that he mixed it up with various comic book characters & shit, too. Very cool.

I tend to hate the T-shirt & jeans look. It's lazy and apathetic as fuck. But I'll admit it can work for certain guys. Jeff Hardy is one of those guys. He does sometimes look like a stumbling bum in the throws of a gnarly acid trip with his awkward dancing & gyrating - and the Hot Topic look is incredibly dated - but damn if it doesn't work for the dude.

But the real reason I mention him is because I've grown to really dig his face paint. It was nothing special at first, but he upgraded his paint game in a MAJOR way during the redemption run in 2012 TNA. That's when he started getting really detailed with the borders and the color schemes. He also broke out the wicked contact lenses & began painting his eyelids there, which created a seriously awesome visual for his ring introductions.

[sek69]

I always was a fan of guys in the 80s who had their initials in script on their trunks. After a while it started to get watered down when even jobbers would do it, but it was a cool visual marker of my favorite era. 

[Blehschmidt]

I always thought Hayabusa looked cool as fuck. The little bit of paint mixed with the mask in all different colors with the matching baggy pants. Then he had either the long robe or this thing....

Never cared for the H look, and honestly didn't like Darkside that much, but his regular look is awesome.

[sek69]

Muta's another favorite who updated his look with the times. When he really couldn't be the high flying ninja Muta anymore, he switched it up for his more monster-ish look that I always assume Drago was inspired by when he came up with his gimmick.

[SmartMark15]

Tursas from the BDK in CHIKARA in 2009-2011 or so looked like an actual mythic beast and it definitely helped how he was presented as an unstoppable force. The BDK in general is a great shout because I loved that they went the all-white route as their uniform color. But Tursas definitely made the most of it with his size and that awesome bearded and horned mask.

[El-P]

Mariko Yoshida spider outfit > everything ever. She looked so awesome in every way possible : badass, cool, sexy, plus it fit her in-ring style. The perfect match.

[Boss Rock]

Might be Rey Mysterio for me even if I'm not a huge fan of his masks that use the straps in the back as opposed to the full hood. But he's had so many awesome designs and colors and I loved when he would do the superhero tributes like Daredevil, the Flash, Iron Man, Joker, and most recently Wolverine.

[SomethingSavage]

Hayabusa is a good shout. The whole Storm Shadow mask mixed with the Sabu pants is a killer combo. Very cool.

Ditto for Shinzaki in the full Hakushi getup. The ink all up & down his body adds an extra layer of awesome, but even just the Raiden gear alone is enough to land him on my list.

I feel like early Randy Savage pretty much goes without saying. The headband. The shades. The robe. Dude definitely looked like something special, right away.

Mileage always varied for me when he switched to the full bodysuits though. The all gold Championship Mode look was probably his best. But that red & yellow look he wore a lot in WCW was the dirt worst.

Macho Man & Sting both suddenly started sporting Hogan's colors, and I get the logic. But holy shit. They looked like a bunch of Ronald McDonalds running around, play-fighting at half-speed on my TV most of the time. It was like a food fight broke out, but everybody lost. Just mustard & ketchup for days.

[The Thread Killer]

On 1/1/2019 at 5:11 PM, TheDuke said:

I liked the Irwin R Shyster dress shirt in the ring look for his wrestling gear. And I loved it when they brought that style of gear back for Right To Censor. It is a great look for a heel if they want to be a heel the fans actually hate and not just a cool heel.

i don't know why, but it has always really bugged me when guys wrestled in street clothes - especially if they mixed it with wrestling gear.  Like IRS was supposed to be an accountant who was so into his job he didn't even bother changing into wrestling gear - aside from the giant elbow brace he wore and his wrestling boots.  Or like that goofy gear Low Ki was wearing last time I saw him in TNA, with the Hitman suit.  Just a weird pet peeve of mine which I can't even explain.  The only exception I ever had to that rule was guys in ECW like The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer who would have just looked weird wearing spandex singlets.

[The Thread Killer]

17 minutes ago, SomethingSavage said:

Hayabusa is a good shout. The whole Storm Shadow mask mixed with the Sabu pants is a killer combo. Very cool.

Yeah, Hayabusa and Sabu both had killer gear.  Sabu had a ton of it too, he seemed to have owned an outfit in every possible color.  In his History of FMW Podcast, Bahu claims that Sabu was really pissed the first time he saw Hayabusa in his new gear when he came back from Mexico, because he considered it a rip-off of his gimmick, but eventually he got over it.  I know they were pretty good friends still after that, but it's true Hayabusa kind of aped Sabu's look.

[TheDuke]

I like the look of wrestling in dress shirts, but I don't like the look of wrestling in jeans and t shirts or tank tops. Although I have to say I definitely preferred the gear that Erik Rowan and Luke Harper wore then they were in the Wyatt Family then the gear they wore when they were the Bludgeon Brothers. That gear was pretty ugly.

[NintendoLogic]

I always liked the singlet/cargo pants combo Sgt. Slaughter and the Bushwhackers would use.

[SomethingSavage]

1 hour ago, The Thread Killer said:

Yeah, Hayabusa and Sabu both had killer gear.  Sabu had a ton of it too, he seemed to have owned an outfit in every possible color.  In his History of FMW Podcast, Bahu claims that Sabu was really pissed the first time he saw Hayabusa in his new gear when he came back from Mexico, because he considered it a rip-off of his gimmick, but eventually he got over it.  I know they were pretty good friends still after that, but it's true Hayabusa kind of aped Sabu's look.

The story I'd always heard was that Busa started wearing the mask once he saw how much it meant for the most over luchadores while he was working in Mexico. Did he start sporting the baggy genie pants before then, or did he simply put the whole outfit together all at once?

I've been meaning to get started on that podcast, by the way.

[Coffey]

On 1/1/2019 at 8:08 PM, sek69 said:

Muta's another favorite who updated his look with the times. When he really couldn't be the high flying ninja Muta anymore, he switched it up for his more monster-ish look that I always assume Drago was inspired by when he came up with his gimmick.

I LOVED the Muta looks when he switched from the face paint to the masks. The pirate, the dragon shoulders he came out with in WCW... he had a lot of really cool ones. Dude was cash.

The Great Kabuki was pretty cool until he took off the entrance attire too  

Honestly, when I was a kid, I thought the Road Warriors were the coolest looking dudes on the planet.

[The Thread Killer]

41 minutes ago, SomethingSavage said:

The story I'd always heard was that Busa started wearing the mask once he saw how much it meant for the most over luchadores while he was working in Mexico. Did he start sporting the baggy genie pants before then, or did he simply put the whole outfit together all at once?

I've been meaning to get started on that podcast, by the way.

Hayabusa got the idea for the mask in Mexico, but the colorful harem pants and waist sash are definitely a rip-off of Sabu.  Sabu and Hayabusa were apparently friends and interacted in FMW when Hayabusa was a rookie before he went to Mexico and changed his look, but as I said - Sabu was reportedly less than pleased when he saw Hayabusa's new look upon his return, which borrowed heavily from Sabu...without asking, I assume.  You know how touchy most wrestlers get regarding so-called "gimmick infringement."

The History of FMW podcast is really good, but if you're going to get into it, I highly recommend that you watch the YouTube version.  They have video and photos to go along with the narrative which is very helpful.  It's pretty much a fact that nobody knows more about FMW than Bahu, so you can't go wrong there.  His co-host is a guy named Steven Ayy who is an American expatriate who lives in China now.  He is a huge deathmatch fan who runs his own website and seems to have an impressive knowledge of the deathmatch scene in Japan from FMW up to now. 

The format of the podcast is that he interviews Bahu about the history of FMW and they cover it in 6 month increments, episode by episode.  Steven has a pretty serious speech impediment (he stutters) which tends to draw the episodes out a fair bit.  (I am not criticizing the guy for stuttering, I actually admire him for doing a podcast with a speech impediment.) The problem is that Steven comes across as pretty damn disorganized and he always sounds like it's his first episode and he's nervous as hell - there is a lot of "ummming and ahhhing" there are long gaps in the narrative, you can hear him rustling papers, and he loses his train of thought regularly - it's pretty much the podcast equivalent of college radio.  Plus, his answer to everything Bahu says is "cool" and that gets old pretty quickly.  I can't imagine sitting through that podcast without the visual aids provided by the YouTube version.  They clearly put a ton of work into that aspect of it anyhow, so to listen to just the audio version would be to get half the story.

[SomethingSavage]

Awesome. Thanks for the detailed response & recommendation. Much appreciated, man.

[The Thread Killer]

1 hour ago, SomethingSavage said:

Awesome. Thanks for the detailed response & recommendation. Much appreciated, man.

My pleasure, brother.  I was hooked on that podcast for a good long while, I was listening to episodes in order, and then watching the matches on YouTube.  I kind of stalled out around episode 19, which covers the first six months of 1998.  I'll probably pick it up again soon, but I took a break.  I was burning out on FMW after doing nothing but listening to that podcast and watching the matches non-stop.  But I want to start up again, and eventually catch up.  They're on episode 28, so I'm not too far behind.