10 Fascinating Masked 'Mystery' Wrestlers

1. Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK-3ErNvZhQ There were three bad men, daddy. One of €˜em was John Wayne, and he's dead. There was the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes, but he was chased out of the NWA for 60 days after losing an unsanctioned €œlights out€ cage match to pint-sized satanist Kevin Sullivan. That left the mysterious Midnight Rider to carry the torch. Oddly enough, just like Dusty, the Rider€™s didn't look like the athlete of the day. His belly was just a little big, his hiney was just a little big, but he was bad and they knew he was bad. There was only one wrinkle: If it was proved that the Rider was really Dusty, his two month suspension would become a lifetime ban. The Midnight Rider was spectacularly successful, even defeating Ric Flair for the NWA Title. When the championship committee demanded that he unmask, the Rider was forced to choose between vacating the title or facing permanent suspension, and so he had to let the title go back to resting on Flair's less-ample waist. Around the same time, Kevin Sullivan also got himself suspended and was replaced by a masked pint-sized satanist called Lucifer. Lucifer and the Rider clashed in - what else? - a €œlights out€ cage match, with Sullivan being unmasked and expelled from the NWA. His work done, Midnight Rider rode off into the sunset, just in time for Dusty€™s suspension to expire.
Contributor

Long-time fan (scholar?) of professional wrestling, kaiju films and comparative mythology. Aspiring two-fisted adventurer.