10 Wrestling Legends' Biggest Crimes Against Fashion

Ripping Threads To Shreds.

Hulk Hogan
WWE Network

As with most pop culture entities, so much of professional wrestling's success or failure is determined by a product's ability to set, or at least grab onto, a prevailing trend.

With the New World Order, Eric Bischoff crafted an idea that matched his enormous vision for WCW as Executive Vice President in the mid-1990s, harnessing his keen awareness of the broader wrestling audience's need for realism and antiheroes in keeping with American societal shifts at the time.

He set the trend for it within the genre, giving himself a year's start on Vince McMahon, who notoriously prefers to be just behind the curve rather than a year in front of it despite dedicating huge chunks of his television time to Twitter after one day finding out about social media approximately a year after most platforms had plateaued.

Wrestlers are similarly guilty of chasing or embarrassingly falling behind on prevailing trends, only many of these manifest in the overall presentation of their visage.

Their stylistic choices both in and out of the ring so often come to define them, perhaps justifiably in an industry so image-conscious despite transparent claims to the contrary in recent years.

Never exactly the height of fashion especially when trapped within a wrestling bubble, even the biggest superstars have committed unforgivable fashion sins, and with most of their movements preserved on camera, the clothes live forever, even when the style most definitely does not.

10. The Rock

The Rock
WWE/Instagram, @The Rock

Perhaps wrestling's most famous fashion faux pas thanks to The Rock's megastar status and mainstream appeal, his utterly absurd 1997 publicity shot was mercilessly abused when it resurfaced on Twitter several years ago.

With industry staples such as the bumbag/fanny pack (delete as appropriate, chuckle at both) and overtly showy timepiece, Rock's brave decision to pair the turtleneck and chain a decade or so after it was socially acceptable was only topped by his protection of the aforementioned sweater's integrity with a napkin under the elbow.

Wrestling fans knew only too well that before becoming the 'Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment', Rocky Maivia was something of a luckless loser. Release of this image let his brand new 'millions' in on the secret.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett