Queer Eye for the Wrestler Guy

[The Show Off]

Every since Wrestlemania XX ended and I read on the message boards about everyone's reaction to the New Dead Man look, I was wondering how much does ones look affect there likability, or lack there of, in the wrestling industry?

Over the years many wrestlers have changedm there looks. Sting, going fronm a bleached blonde surfer guy look, to long brown hair and crow face paint. Hulk Hogan, going from the yellow & red, to the black of nWo. There are countless amounts of changes to one's looks that have happened, not only in the WWE, but in all of wrestling.

The question still remains, are these changes in look really necessary? I'm sure it'll go on a case by case basis. And just to get a sence of where you people are on thjis subject answer some or all of the following questions:

How important is a wrestlers look?
What are some of your favorite looks?
What are some of your least favorite looks?
What past "change of look" did you find unecessary, or horrible?
What current wrestler do you think is in desprate need of a new look?
What kinda look whould you give him?

[Nark Order]

How important is a wrestlers look?
Extremely important. If you don't have a good look then you aren't going to sell...Plain and simple. No matter how talented you are in the ring or on the mic, if people hate the way you look then you'll be stuck in midcard hell forever

What are some of your favorite looks?
Christians's new look is 100 times better than the old one. Love it. Also, the whole Kane "freak" look is awesome

[The Show Off]

How important is a wrestlers look?
Fairly important, the looks mainly has to be coupled with the attitude of a wrestler. The wrestler's mic work, in ring work, and look all have to work together, and have to seem as though they are broken from the same mold. For instance Chris Jericho, is cocky and arrogant when he talks basically telling people he's the king of the world, and just being overtly arrogant. Also in the ring Jericho has some what of a flashy dominance in the ring, where it seems like his moves have great impact, but he'll always pull something off that is very flashy. Jericho's look supports the arrogant feel of his ring, and mic work, he'll often wrestle in elaboratly designed, and shiny tights, or when he comes out on the mic he'll always be dressed in expensive shirts and pants thus giving his arrogant persona a boost. Also his long hair give him sort of a rock star image that goes along with being overtly arrogant. All and all I'd say image is the least important of the three factors that make a good personality (ring work, mic work and look) but it could make or break a wrestler as to wether they are top teir or not.

What are some of your favorite looks?
Some of my favorite looks go along with what I stated earlier. Like Kurt Angle claims to be an American Hero, and he'll always incorporate that in his look, be wearing a singlet with red white and blue. I also like The Undertaker's revamped Dead Man look, I think it's a good looking merge of the American Bad Ass and the old Dead Man, fitting of the evolution that the man has gon through over the years. Also like I said before Jericho's one of my favorites as well. Rick Rude's style was always kinda cool, because he always talke about how sexy he was and he always looked kinda sleazy like a 70's porn star which really enhanced the viability of his gimmick. A real simple look like I enjoyed was Arn Anderson's there was really nothing to it and that's what made his look so great, he was a no nonsence enforcer, all he cared about hurting people, so just wearing red trunks worked, because it seemed like dressing for his matches wasn't important to his aim, hurting people.

What are some of your least favorite looks?
Least favorite looks are really though to think of because usually, if a look is really all that bad it very forgetable so it's tough to recall. Most of the bad looks come with bad gimmicks, but the look is necessary for the success of the character. Some bad looks woulf be the KISS Deamon, which was just complete utter crap, but like I said before it's a bad gimmick, and the look went with the gimmick. Personally, I didn't like when The Rock shaved his head for Wrestlemania XIX, just because when a guy has movie star good looks he should have movie star good hair, but that's not really a big gripe. I though Owen Hart's look where he basically looked like his tights were bad up of caution tape, I though that didn't fit Owen at all. Rikishi's thong always pissed me off too. Other then that I'm drawing a blank with look I didn't like.

What past "change of look" did you find unecessary, or horrible?
The only one of these that I can really think of was when Sting joined the nWo Wolf Pac and was wearing the same old crow face paint but instead of white they put red, that pissed me off. Sting's whole crow, black and white look was suppose to represent duelity of his character, just like in the movie "The Crow." The black and white represents the fact that he has to destroy people and hurt them (the black part) but he was doing that all for revenge of a wrong done to himself, to right what has been wronged (the white) When it became red and black it just looked really stupid and no longer went along with the symbloic nature of his look. Perhaps if insetad of chainging the white to red, they changed the black to red, that would have looked cooler (it would have looked like he was bleeding from his eyes, kinda blind to what's right and wrong) But that wouldn't have gone along with the fact that the Wolf Pac was nWo red and black. Then again I never really liked the crow look any way, but Sting was one of my favorites.

What current wrestler needs a new look?
Not only does the guy need a new look but he also kinda need a new gimmick as well, actually he needs a gimmick. That man is Billy Kidman. I've been a huge fan of Billy Kidman since I first say wth guy in Raven's Flock and his Shooting Star Press was called the "7 Year Itch." He definitly need to do something better then where stupid blue tights and come out to bad music.

What kinda look whould you give him?
With Billy Kidman I'd have to do a complete overhaul of what he looks like and his whole image in genral, I'd basically give his a real life gimmick. It might sound kind of a wacky idea to do, but I'd give him kind like a 1950's greaser look where he's wearing the stone washed jeans, the tight white t-shirt and the greased back hair. I'd try to make him look kinda like James Dean, comming out to the ring with a red windbreaker. Basically his gimmick would be that he's too cool for the world. Obously, this would mean that he would have to develope mic talent. He could go around and be like the bully in high school, that always beats up and people that are defensless to stop him. (ie Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, behind the scenes personell) He would never actually physically harm any of these people, he'd just intimidate them with like a look. You get him to the point where people back stage are so afarid of him the ask so random face wrestler to defend them from him, then Billy beats the guy, and continues to run rough shot over the whole backstage. He could even start la gang with so 50's biker gang name like The Falcons or something cheesy like that. In no time he could be United States championship ready. Also having a girel by his side would be essential to make him look really cool, say his real life wife Torrie Wilson...