All sports have an intimidation factor -- competitors come into bouts trying to look as terrifying or imposing as possible in order to gain a mental advantage over their opponents before the contest even begins. In pro wrestling, though, such a look is even more crucial -- wrestlers aren't trying to frighten their opponents in order to win, they're trying to etch their images in the minds' eyes of thousands (and sometimes millions) of fans. The right look can mean memorability -- which means money -- and the wrong one can be devastating to a career. Even more interesting is the fact that, in wrestling, perception is greater than reality. While all successful wrestlers are tough simply by virtue of the fact that they've excelled in such a grueling discipline, sometimes the men (and women) we're told to fear the most aren't the ones with the most accomplished athletic resumes, or the most honed "real" fighting skills. Again, it's simply an issue of image -- fans know wrestling is predetermined, but they don't know how deep the scripting runs. If they're told to believe someone is a bad-ass (or better yet, if they're shown), it becomes the new law of the land. Here are ten grapplers who had the look down pat -- their image, their demeanor, all of it screamed "bad-ass." Got any suggestions? Leave 'em in the comments!
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
