15 Scariest Wrestling Masks Of All Time

We all wear masks (and not just now, when it's largely mandatory).

'Personae' - named for the literal coverings once donned by theatre actors - are the social vizards we present to the world. Without necessarily realising it, pretty much everybody reserves a persona for each setting, mentally substituting as appropriate. Who you are at work is probably not who you are out with friends, and nor is it likely to be who you are with family.

It's only when you remove this mask - usually in a dramatic anime sequence set to pulsating J-rock - that you can be your true self.

Wrestlers, like actors and execrable social media influencers, make a career out of their personas. They also - kind of the point of this ramble - wear, you know, actual masks. And not as a social construct, but because they look cool. Wrestling is all about looking cool.

Someone must have skipped that last bit when they outfitted poor RETRIBUTION with their pound store fancy-dress, then; they look about as scary as my nana in her hand-knitted cardi. As we approach spooky season, here's proof that wrestling masks actually can be menacing.

Any mask which requires a fire extinguisher on stand-by is, by its very nature, pretty frightening stuff. When it's plonked, all Giger-esque metallic spikes and horns, onto the colossal frame of Vader, a certifiable Big Van if ever there was one, it becomes utterly menacing. It's time... to change your undies.