10 Forgotten WWE Masked Men

10. The Sultan

Before the days of Too Cool and his attempted murder of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rikishi portrayed a mysterious Sultan for a short time in the late 90s. Looking like a velveteen version of The Shredder, The Sultan was managed by WWE Hall of Famers Bob Backlund and The Iron Sheik.

The Sheik honed the Sultan's in-ring skills whilst Backlund acted as his mouth piece, due to his supposed inability to speak for himself. We were told in a gruesome addition to the Sultan's backstory that he had had his tongue removed. This thread was only strengthened by the aggressive grunts he would emit during matches.

His Hannibal Lecter-esc mask left only the wild eyes of the Samaon wrestler visible and he did a good job with the task he was given but the character never got over with fans and simply didn't fit in with the direction the WWE found themselves going at the time.

The Sultan did manage to get a Wrestlemania moment, challenging The Rock for his Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania 13 in a losing effort. Despite the considerable clout of having two former World Champions to represent him on television, The Sultan was canned in January 1998 and the man behind the masked wouldn't be seen again until late the following year where he was repackaged into the more recognizable, bleach blonde Rikishi.