10 Amazing Stories Behind One-Off WWE Attires

What's the best part of pro-wrestling? Is it the grace and athleticism of a group of men and women putting their bodies on the line to create something that isn't just like ballet, but as Kenny Omega recently opined, pretty much is ballet (minus the tutus)?

Perhaps it's the larger-than-life characters, screaming out of their spandex like superheroes not constrained to comic or cinema, setting the world to rights before your very eyes in 20-foot roped section of it?

Or maybe it's a combination of everything wonderful about the the industry, an ineffable, intangible, what the French call 'I don't know what' which creates electricity and anticipation the moment the bell rings. The atmosphere, the buzz, the occasion, the sense of belonging?

Nope, it's actually none of those things: it's the gear. Wrestling gear is flipping brill, and nothing is more exciting than a grappler busting out a totally unique set of kegs. More often than not, it's simply to commemorate the gravitas of the occasion, and obvious to boot. But other times, a one-off set of attire has a hidden story beyond what is self-evident. Here's some.

It's unanimous amongst wrestling fans that the mucky brown pants that the otherwise sartorially-spot on Shawn Michaels donned for his Survivor Series 2002 World Heavyweight Championship victory are perhaps the worst crime ever committed against the very concept of vision. Even the Heartbreak Kid himself has described it as the most embarrassing night of his career thanks to the excremental attire (although he may have privately revised that opinion following the Crown Jewel farce).

So why exactly did the Showstopper don such disastrous dress? In the same autobiography that he laments the leggings, Shawn explains that having recently discovered Christianity, he wanted 'Earth' coloured kegs to represent his creation by God (we're not sure, either). Unfortunately, he pitched the request to WWE's seamstress way too late, and on the night of the show she only had an unfinished set of dirty brown peasant pants, emblazoned with just a single trademark heart. To be fair, it's probable they'd have looked just as bad completed.

Backstage, WWE's resident Noel Coward Stephanie McMahon told Shawn he "looked like a giant turd", whilst Triple H - who, as we'll get onto, wore three-quarter cycling shorts a year later, let's not forget - laughed in his buddy's face. This was sh*t attire on every level.