10 Bizarre Times Wrestlers Experimented With Their Look
Braving the change, CM Punk, Ric Flair and others make bold choices with their famous faces.
There's a tremendous bit of old documentary footage on YouTube of a wannabe wrestler that was so cheap, he used to re-use his tissues, replaced his tanner with tea and taped his boots closed all in the name of saving a dollar or two.
As with wrestling itself, most of what you see is a work. If "The World's Cheapest Wrestler" as a profile on "Extreme Cheapskates" hasn't clued you in, most of the reality is semi-scripted, with young trainee Matt Rivera lifting cartons of milk and getting his mother to shave him as part of this exhibition in frugality.
The segment all leads to him getting a tryout in TNA, with Kurt Angle, Magnus and Chris Sabin on hand to share a few sobering words about his sh*tty gear and horrendous-looking sello-boots. Angle himself notes that shoelaces are less than a dollar, ripping through the staged and silly narrative with the simplest dose of logic. It's all as daft as it sounds, and the kid seemingly never made it in the industry beyond this curio.
If only he'd spent just a little more and made a few changes, perhaps the Impact lads might have gone easier on him. That's not to say shifting things with your look is the key to success. Even wrestling's biggest icons have made some strange left-turns...
10. Randy Savage
The expedited pace of pro wrestling in the late-1990s was hard on a number of talents that thrived in the era, let alone ones that were products of periods that felt bygone.
It was a pity time eventually caught up to so many pioneers, especially when it drastically impacted the quality of their output. Such was the case with Randy Savage.
The former WWE Champion hadn't ever felt stale in WCW, such was the success of his 1994 move. Re-entering a squared circle Vince McMahon had deemed him too old for, the Macho Man proved his worth all over again with some awesome displays between the ropes as well as at the box office alongside old rival Ric Flair. He was a perfect fit in the New World Order between 1997 and 1998 too, elevating Diamond Dallas Page and others with selfless and strong showings.
1999 was more than just a bad Limp Bizkit song though, even if Savage returned from a hiatus dressed like one. Decked out all in black, he drained away his unique vibrancy to try and blend in with the bland rest. Boasting the biggest body he'd ever had, Savage compromised much of the fire, grace and snap that defined his dynamic offence too. The game was very suddenly gone, but the dated legend simply wanted to keep on playing.