The 411 Wrestling Top 5 1.05.10: Week 108 – Face Paint Designs

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. Most of our topics will be based on recent events in the Wrestling World, looking at those events that make us think of times past.

So, on to this week’s topic…

Top 5 Face Paints Designs

What did our group of writers select? Let’s find out…

Ryan Byers

5. Goldust – Face paint in professional wrestling has largely gone by the wayside in the twenty-first century, but there are a couple of guys attempting to keep it alive. Of course, one of them is Goldust. One of the things that I like about Goldie’s look is how it has evolved over the years. It used to be very basic when he first debuted, just a face covered in gold with some simple black accents around the eyes and lips. Things have gotten progressively more more intricate as time has gone on, and the Bizarre One’s face paint has often been altered to match his character’s emotions on a given evening. With almost fifteen years behind the paint, Goldust has become one of the masters of this near-lost art.

4. The Ultimate Warrior – Yes, the Ultimate Warrior is insane. Yes, if we look back at him with 2011 eyes, he was an awful professional wrestler. However, if you were a kid the early 1990’s, it’s almost impossible to deny that you thought he looked awesome. His body and his tassels had a lot to do with that, but, perhaps the one thing that made Warrior stand out more than anything else was his face paint. It was what made the guy look like even more of a superhero than Hulk Hogan, and it was oftentimes very detailed and always well coordinated with his ring gear. Also distinctive was the shape of the pattern painted on to UDub’s face, which stood out to the point that it actually became his logo and, years later, the symbol that would appear in the ridiculous Bat Signal-esque light that WCW would employ for his entrance.

3. Sting – When it comes to face paint, there are a lot of parallels between the Ultimate Warrior and Sting. They both started wearing the paint at the same time, namely when they were tag team partners in the Bladerunners. Both of them adopted more colorful paint throughout their careers in addition to similar neon ring gear and colorful hairstyles. If there’s one thing that gives the Stinger an upper hand over his former partner in the face paint department, though, it’s the fact that Sting was also able to go in a completely different direction with his paint after his happy-go-lucky “surfer” character ran its course. The paint was just as important to his later “crow” character, and he even had a second variant for when he joined the nWo Wolfpac. Versatility was key to Sting’s look throughout the decades, and it lands him at number three on this list.

2. Damian 666 – This is a choice that a lot of readers of the site might not necessarily think of, but I’ve always been a big fan of the face paint of luchador Damian 666. The former AAA, CMLL, WCW, and ECW star wrestled under a mask as Ultraman for several years, and, when he lost that hood, he decided to adopt the Damian moniker and face paint instead of remasking. The result was one of the more unique looks in lucha, with the mark of the beast scrawled across his forehead and numerous blood splatters and other patterns running down his face. The design doesn’t just belong to Damian anymore, though. In 2010, Damian’s son made his debut as a professional wrestler under the name Bestia 666, and he was allowed to adopt his father’s trademark look, almost ensuring that it will continue to be in wrestling for several years to come.

1. The Great Muta – In recent years, the Great Muta has added rubber masks and other features to make his look more intimidating, but, when he first got his start, Muta was made to look like a mysterious Asian assassin by nothing more than face paint. There have been numerous designs that have adorned Muta’s visage over the years, and they have always been among the most intricate in wrestling, with fine Japanese characters being masterfully stroked on to his cheeks amid fields of color. However, you don’t have to take my word for it. If you want to check out the various looks adopted by Muta over the years, look no further than the “Many Faces of Mutoh” feature prepared by the fine folks over at Puroresu Central: http://www.keijimutohcentral.com/facesofmutoh.html

FRANCISCO RAMIREZ

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Demolition – Smash, Crush, and Axe tore ass and looked good doing it.
Doink – Matt Borne pulled this off, then twisted it when he became Re-Borne.
The Missing Link – Oh yeah, green face paint goodness.

5. Goldust – On a pure design basis Goldust has had some of the most incredible face paint designs in the WWE, add in a character played by Dustin Runnels, that originally displayed the type of mind games that would make the Undertaker blush, and you had gold, pun intended.

4. Dark Ozz – The current leader of the Black/Dark Family has some of the most incredible face paint designs that rivals some of my top picks. While early in his career there were always complaints his face paint was too similar to Damian 666, Dark Ozz eventually found a nice comfort zone. While Chessman, the original leader is just a rip-off of Sting, Ozz eventually came out with the best face paint design in AAA.

3. Sting – Prior to the Crow gimmick that is. I’m sorry but I hate the Crow design, it even brings me memories of the South Park episode where Satan throws himself a birthday party ala “My Super Sweet 16”. * A 411mania no prize to the 1st person to quote what I’m talking about!* Sting was always colorful, and always varied, while the Ultimate Warrior always had the same design with some color variation, Sting always brought something new and exciting to the table.

2. The Roadwarriors – In my mind the team that made face paint “cool”! Hawk and Animals face paint designs are a thing of legend. While Animal seemed to always have the “Spider” look, it was Hawk’s “Spiral” look that drew my attention. Once the Roadwarriors stepped to the scene, countless other power teams with face paint followed.

1. The Great Muta – Ol’ Byers got to this before I did and what more can I say. While the Great Kabuki obviously was a great influence, the Great Muta took that influence and ran with it. While during his first few years his face paint was a bit rough and plain, little by little it would get better and better. First via the color choice, then the addition of symbols and designs, finally the Great Muta dropped the face paint altogether for some intricate well designed masks. The actual evolution of the Great Muta is quite astounding, although for my taste N.W.O Muta face paint was the weakest.

Michael Uphoff

5. The Ultimate Warrior – The Ultimate Warrior makes this list because of the unique look that he portrayed with his costume and his face paint. No one can dispute the fact that he was simply god-awful in the ring, but in the 80’s and early 90’s, the Ultimate Warrior certainly looked and acted the part. His face paint is really what propelled him to be more popular than Hulk Hogan in the early 1990’s. He would be higher on the list, but the rest were either more popular or had more wrestling talent (or both).

4. Goldust – In this era of wrestling, you don’t really see very many people wearing face paint anymore. Really, about the only person I can think of that wears face paint in the ring anymore is Goldust. However, that is not why he makes this list. He makes this list because of how he wore his face paint. I can remember back to when he started using it near fifteen years ago (maybe even closer to twenty, I don’t know), and he really wasn’t using much of it. However, the use of face paint by Goldust adapted as the character evolved over the years in the WWF and the WWE and led to his growing popularity. Look at the reactions that he was getting with Booker T in 2002. Look at the reactions he still gets now. He is over with the fans because he has taken the face paint and truly made a character that has resounded with the WWE Universe.

3. The Great Muta – The Great Muta is probably the biggest innovator of the face paint. When he wore his face paint in his matches and I watched them as a little kid, I really felt that he was going to kill someone just off of how his face looked (give me a break, I was like five). He has had some of the most intricate and amazing facial designs that I have ever seen a wrestler wear to the ring. It doesn’t also help that he was really good in the ring. He’s #3 on my list because of his wearing of the face paint the way he did. He would have been higher on my list, but when I thought face paint, two names came to mind before his.

2. Sting – Sting started wearing face paint a long time ago. I think he was partnered with someone who also wore face paint (I think it may have been the Ultimate Warrior) and was given just an awful gimmick. However, he chose to go on a completely different course and changed his face paint along the way. When he became the Sting that we all know nowadays, that was when his career truly took off. The reason he is #2 on this list is because of his adaptability with the face paint and the success that he has had wearing it. Only one other person has had more success and, to me, defined face paint. Well, not really one person, more like two.

1. The Legion of Doom: The Road Warriors Animal and Hawk – When I thought of face paint designs throughout the history of wrestling, the first name that popped into my head was the Legion of Doom. The Road Warriors truly brought face paint to a new level, creating fearsome designs and backing up them in the ring with devastating moves like the Doomsday Device. As a kid, I watched them in the ring, and to me, they just didn’t draw the face paint on to intimidate their opponents; they lived it. It was part of who they were. They painted their faces because they were the Legion of Doom. It may sound stupid, it may sound silly, but to me, they are the #1 wrestler(s) to wear face paint designs.

Tony Acero

5. Doink – My age places me directly into the kid market that the 90’s WWF was targeting during that time and one character in particular never left the back of my mind (partly because he continues to show up nearly 15-20 years later). Doink was the clown I couldn’t help but laugh and be afraid of at the same time. I have no fear of clowns but when Doink was introduced as an evil clown, I specifically remember hoping that Crush would crush him!! (To this day, I don’t know why I liked Crush…) Not many could pull off a clown gimmick or that full faced paintjob, but he has been a reoccuring character in both WWE and the Indy’s to this day, with the original Matt Osborne using him in the indies and various people in the WWE representing him, I don’t see the face fading.

4. The Boogeyman – Without saying anything about his wrestling (and really, is there much to say? He sucked) the facepaint that Boogeyman went through just LOOKS arduous. The Darth Maul-like red faced Boogeyman went above and beyond just the paint from removing his teeth to swallowing worms! The design was simple enough with a red base and black polka-dots surrounding as well as a shadowed eye portion but it was probably his toothless grin and shards of broken glass that added to the costume in addition to the paint.

3. The Ultimate Warrior – There may or may not be a picture of a young Tony Acero with face paint akin to Mr. Warrior. Fact it, was the man, the Anti-Hogan, the bezerk Arsenio Hall frightening Warrior and if you didn’t want to be him at least once in your childhood (or college) life then I don’t know what to tell you. The face paint is almost as iconic as my #1 and #2 but the longevity of the two after move them up(down?) the list.

2. Goldust – Dustin Rhodes has been many a characters in his illustrious career but one has become perhaps larger than he and that falls in the hands of his facepaint. For YEARS, Rhodes has come out to the amusement of us fans covered in paint (sometimes silver, but mostly gold) and for years he has freaked us out with his variety in character just as much with his cariety in face paint. We may be able to recognize him without the paint, but if Goldust were to come out without it, I could almost guarantee a fall in popularity and fan acceptance. He is The Gilded One and is still freakin us out in 2011.

1. Sting – I’m not a WCW guy, I’m not a TNA guy, I’m not even an ROH guy. I’m WWE Biased (shocking, I know). I have been watching WWE since practically out of the womb. With that being said, Sting was a man who enticed me at a young age and was the wrestler I never knew but knew of. The hand covered Whoos and the shirts were all I was familiar with until one faithful day I watched him (a friend of mine was WCW all the way) and was in awe. Back then all I wanted was a character to latch onto and Sting was just enough to bring me into WCW as a fan. For that, I give him and his facepaint top billing.