Evaluating wrestling gear- past and present.

[AegonTargaryen]

Ring gear can make a lot of difference to a wrestler's persona and the way they are perceived. I really can't look at Seth Rollins as an ordinary guy wearing tights from FCW, after having been acquainted with his awesome leather garb from 2014/15, as well as his Shield uniform. Personally, I feel Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins look far more superstar-esque in their Shield Uniform/leather gear, than in trunks.

Let's go through some of the best and worst ring gear in history.

I don't watch/follow TNA, so we shall only be considering the ring gears of various WWE superstars, past and present. When we do it, we might as well categorize, evaluate and rank them.

1)Wrestlers who are only clad in, sometimes black trunks!
From Austin to Goldberg to Cesaro. Their ring gear doesn't really say much about them, even though Austin had his jacket.

Then there are wrestlers who have printed trunks- HHH, Randy Orton, The Rock, and Brock Lesnar(pre-2004).

Personally, I feel there's nothing really special about printed trunks, and these wrestlers didn't really need any other embellishments to serve as their garb, but at least they're better than black default trunks used by Goldberg/Austin/Cesaro.

My favourites:- Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar and The Rock.

2)Wrestlers who wore/wear really ugly/unimpressive trunks:- I think CM Punk and Daniel Bryan had some of the most unimpressive-looking trunks as their gear. I'm probably the biggest Punk fan out there(Yes, despite Punk being perceived as such an asshole by the IWC post-2014) but I found his gear pretty ugly. The colour yellow? Jesus. Oh, and there's William Regal and Eugene too!

3)Wrestlers who wear tights. These include Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Christian, Shawn Michaels, and Chris "OMG" Benoit.

I think Edge and Christian had some of the weirdest tights out there, or that, I simply never found them cool. Nonetheless, some of my fondest wrestling memories involve EDGE with those silver tights of his with some black design?

My favourite in probably ALL categorize could well be Shawn Michaels. Especially from 2002-2004.

4)Wrestlers with custom/unique gear. This may include Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose(if being clad in a fucking jeans could be considered "unique"), John Cena, and Seth Rollins from 2014(That black leather thing?), as well as Rob Van Dam, Ryback, Kurt Angle, Mr. Perfect?, and Kane.

I think I LOVED every design of Rob Van Dam's gear and it'd be one of my top 3 of all time- the other two being Shawn Michaels and Seth Rollins.

I also love Roman Reigns' gear.

Kurt Angle's gear was fine.

As stated in the beginning, I love Seth Rollins' leather gear the best. What do you guys think of it?

Also, I must've omitted quite a few wrestlers. But feel free to go ahead and list/state your favourite gears categorically, or otherwise.

I omitted the divas because I'm probably a chauvinist(kidding). I just don't like the divas division and don't think there really is anything to what they wear. As long as they wear something, of course.

But I think Aksana's leather gear(non-wrestling?) from 2010/11 was the hottest and I could say this a 100 times and more- She was a BOMB. And I'd be totally willing to have it explode around me. She was too hot a talent to let go.

Go ahead and mention your favourite divas gear if you like, though. (Ugh).

 

[John Cena's Sweatbands]

Top three tights/full length of all time are:

Undertakers "Ministry of Darkness" gear. Think Over The Edge 1999, Summerslam 1999 etc.

Shawn Michaels attire at DX: In Your House 1997. Including his entrance outfit with the big green "X" on the front. Only worn once as far as I know.

Kane's costume in 1999 with the see thru mesh on the front. Also the reverse colour scheme with black being the primary colour, same outfit, was also great.


Wrestling trunks would be:

Scott Hall's nWo in late WCW. The black trunks with the white font (e.g. 2 sweet). It was more consistent with the nWo's colour scheme than the red and black ones he used when not with the wolfpac.

Triple H's first trunks with the big "HHH" on the back.

Billy Gunn around King Of The Ring 1999 - Very bright green with the crown logo on the back.

 

[AegonTargaryen]

Top three tights/full length of all time are:

Undertakers "Ministry of Darkness" gear. Think Over The Edge 1999, Summerslam 1999 etc.

Oh man, it never occurred to me that The Undertaker existed too. But yes, his attire from 1998-1999 was awesome, and there were quite a few variations. Also, I loved him grey(from 1990-'94) and purple('95 onwards).

Shawn Michaels attire at DX: In Your House 1997. Including his entrance outfit with the big green "X" on the front. Only worn once as far as I know.

I don't think I've ever seen this one. Gotta watch IYH: DX, for that.

Kane's costume in 1999 with the see thru mesh on the front. Also the reverse colour scheme with black being the primary colour, same outfit, was also great.

Exactly. Kane had the most dazzling attire with a few variations, between 1999-2000. After that, he sort of had this sleeveless thing, which he continued with until returning with a new one in 2002. And after that, disaster!

I think the one you're talking about was hellishly picturesque. So were his entrance music/effects at that time. He actually seemed like a demon from hell.

 

[J-sin]

WORST:
When Cody Rhodes used to wear trunks without kneepads it looked like he was in his underwear with boots on.

Also when Regal wears that gear that looks like a woman's one piece swimming costume

 

[J.J.]

-drops mic-

-walks off stage-

Hey I liked the Max Moon ring attire. It was pretty cool how he could shoot pyros from the cannons on his hands. Very expensive ring gear from my understanding. Thankfully he's remembered more as Konnan than that ridiculous gimmick.

 

[J.J.]

Favorites: Rick Rude having Jake the Snake's wife picture air brushed on the back of his tights during their feud was cool and creative at the time.

The original ring attire Kane wore was always my favorite as well as the original mask.

I cannot leave off Bret Hart and his pink and black color scheme throughout his career.

Undertaker's black attire, purple gloves and necktie. I also liked his Big Evil attire.

Just about anything Randy Savage wore was loud and colorful which was fitting to his persona.

That light up jacket that Chris Jericho wears.

 

[boozinjedi]

Although his in ring boots and tights were pretty normal,
Who could forget the guy who always wore the best robes on way to ring...
WHOOOOOOOOO!
NATURE BOY RIC FLAIR!!

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Who's the guy in the middle?

If we're talking worst gear I think Doink ranks right up there.

Also any wrestler, and Regal and DB come to mind specifically, who wear basic trunks that go up way too high looks stupid to me. DB's trunks got better throughout the years, but at first they were just bad.

I liked Razor/Hall's trunks with the vest.

 

[Navi]

My God Chyna looks more muscular then HHH and Michaels, what a horrible picture.

On topic. Wresting gear has to change with the times. I personally hate it when Randy Orton comes out with his trunks and boots on, it looks strange in this day and age. Ziggler looks like the groupie of Motley Crew these days, and don't even get me started on the Ascension and Stardust.

I guess they wear what fits their character, but in most cases their gear is okay for what they are trying to convey. The Wyatts and the Shield had the best gear going, it fit with their groups and the Wyatt's still do. Reigns should ditch his though. The Shield is no more so get rid of it.

 

[CrunKSinatrA]

I think they should bring back arm tassles and those crazy boots that Ultimate Warrior and Texas Tornado wore.

They can sell those like the John Cena arm bands and have have the Ultimate Warrior boots as pullovers for people's regular shoes.

I also liked it when wrestlers have allusions to pop culture with their tights. Like Rey Mysterio Jr. used to wear the Spider-Man theme trunks and then his special Wrestlemania gear.

I heard Finn Balor used to dress up as Venom, Carnage, and Joker back in his New Japan days but the WWE wants to stick to his demon character.

WWE should test the waters by putting out DLC of Finn Balor in his comic book character make up for WWE 16 to help advertise big movies. It would be smart marketing for everyone involved and would help protect Finn Balor's demon from getting stale.

 

[Heartbreak_Kid_707]

My favorite would be HBK's white pants with red heartbreaks...I also like Kane's debuted attire. I actually like Zigglers current 80'd rock theme pants...Seth Rollins white WM 31 pants I loved!!!

As for tights I like about any that has over knee high boots and pads.

I like ambrose but despise his look..

 

[SmattyG]

I couldn't let this thread pass without mentioning the boots of Iron Sheik. Those curly points at the ends could do some damage back in the day! Also, special mention to John Morrison's furry boots.

 

[whoopin' ass]

I found that since Austin, too many guys want just plain black trunks and boots, trying to get the Austin rub. I know the plain colors have been a part of wrestling for years but too many seem to be going just for black and not red, blue, etc. Even with someone like Orton, it is still very much that Austin style just with his name on it which i found a bit off since Orton was supposed to be this great wrestler, better than everyone else because he was 3rd generation yet he has plain trunks? Shouldn't someone with that much ego have more elaborate gear? Personally I like Ryback's gear. Like RVD's, it stands out and shows a little bit of character. It's just a little extra that goes back to what like like Rude has back in the 80's that made them stand out more.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I heard Finn Balor used to dress up as Venom, Carnage, and Joker back in his New Japan days but the WWE wants to stick to his demon character.

WWE should test the waters by putting out DLC of Finn Balor in his comic book character make up for WWE 16 to help advertise big movies. It would be smart marketing for everyone involved and would help protect Finn Balor's demon from getting stale.

Yeah, when he was Prince Devitt he used a wide variety of different paint for his big matches, including The Joker, Bane, Darth MaulVenom and Freddy Kruger. You can see a few of them on the picture below.

I'm sure it's something to do with copyright or licensing issues why WWE is making him stick to the one "demon" paint idea rather than using all these recognisable characters. I'm guessing Vince wouldn't want to pay for the rights of using the likeness of Darth Maul or Venom.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I think Bastion Booger gets an honorable mention for worst ring attire ever. The tight straps around his fat, hairy frame made him look uglier that he already was. Some of the best were Ravishing Rick Rude , HBK and Undertaker.

 

[J-sin]

ANOTHER NOMINATION FOR WORST.
Big Daddy V... Could of at least worn a bra... But they probably couldn't find one big enough!

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

ANOTHER NOMINATION FOR WORST.
Big Daddy V... Could of at least worn a bra... But they probably couldn't find one big enough!

I think they WANTED him to show off his torso to shock people even more. He looked absolutely disgusting. It is amazing that someone can let themselves get that fat and still be classed as an "athlete".

I felt sorry for the guys who had to wrestle Big Daddy V when he was dressed like that, with his sweaty, saggy man-boobs jiggling all over you....fucking revolting.