10 Wrestlers Who Insulted Their Opponents With Their Attires
WARdrobe Malfunctions.
What's the most effective way to land a blow on your opponent before or during the big fight, without actually swinging for them?
Scripted promos have killed the business according those that saw the industry functioning just fine without it, but there are enough hideous freewheeling efforts doing the rounds on Reddit to suggest that maybe the best case scenario is somewhere in the middle if the message is to be clear, concise and commercially successful.
Most advocate for bullet points as a compromise, though with so many wrestlers entering in via WWE's carefully controlled machine, it's likely that future generations will rely almost entirely on carefully constructed verbiage rather than their freedom of expression or imagination.
So if not verbal, what about visual? Becoming ever-present on pay-per-views because wrestlers enjoy a little bit of autonomy once in a while, tributes to everything from old wrestlers to Marvel characters have become the norm on attires more for the Superstars to pop themselves than the the punters. It's clearly enjoyable for the men and women behind the mad gimmicks, but it's not as though the flashy colours help start fights. These, however, were all about triggering the opposition...
10. Rick Rude
The original and best absolute b*stard, Ravishing Rick Rude's airbrushed tights often mocked his opponents inadequacies compared to his reflection of pure manly perfection, but none were as controversial as the time he splashed Jake Roberts' wife all over his gyrating crotch. It doesn't help, on reflection, when considering how much he looked like an upgraded version of 'The Snake' at the time.
Revealing the tights during his SummerSlam 1988 skirmish with Junkyard Dog, Rude assumed he'd be protected from any comeuppance by virtue of his participation in the match.
He got in Jake's head, but found his own the victim to a pounding the second he decided to show the world.
Roberts shot to the ring quicker than he'd ever moved in a match, assaulting his rival with venomous lefts and rights in attempt to claim a slither of revenge for the arrogance-fuelled flex. It fed into the incredible drama of their feud in general, servicing several months of house show and television taping clashes between the two that even included Cheryl Roberts herself as the married couple used the angle to spend more time together in real life.