Power & Paint: Who did it best?

[justtxyank]

Throughout wrestling history, the Power & Paint gimmick has survived (until recently perhaps.) Names like The Roadwarriors, Demolition, Sting, Ultimate Warrior and many others have donned the face paint as part of their persona.

So, who did it best? This isn't about who was the best wrestler, but who played their gimmick the best when it came to being a painted warrior.

 

[Olan]

Have to go with The Road Warriors. You go back to the early days and they were scary. They were tough guys that made other tough guys cry in the corner. They werethe definition of a power team.

 

[sanefan_har]

I would have to go with the Ultimate Warrior. It was a tough decision, but The Road Warriors were really good with their facepaint, but I felt their spiked gear they wore during their entrances did the intimidating bit the best. As for Demolition, I didn't have a problem with it until WWE logic had referees confused between Crush and Ax, which was just stupid. Surely face paint can't hide physique differences now can it?

 

[enviousdominous]

I voted for the Ultimate Warrior in that his face paint was more indicative of his persona than any other performer on the poll. Obviously Road Warrior Animal comes very close in that regard, Hawk's face paint was very generic in comparison though.

The Ultimate Warrior was supposed to represent some kind of frenzied Conan the Barbarian type with an insatiable desire for battle. His face paint was more like war paint as opposed to the other performers who wore it mainly for flair, like he's channeling the spirits of ancient Celtic or Cimmerian warriors before doing battle.

In Sting's case, it just seemed like something that he refused to give up from his Blade Runner days. I see no reason why a howling surfer gimmick had to have face paint that made him look like a wanna' be Maori warrior. The Crow face paint was neat for its time, these days his face paint seems more like a mild aesthetic as opposed to a necessary part of his character.

Demolition really didn't need face paint in my opinion. They came to the ring looking like gimps from the seventh layer of hell, silver face paint seemed kind of excessive when they were already giving kids nightmares with their spiked hockey masks.

Muta obviously spooked the hell out of American audiences when he debuted with ghost-like face paint and would twitch like a canary with an attention disorder. After a while it seemed like his only purpose for wearing face paint was more to make him stand out as a performer and less to freak out an increasingly desensitized audience.

 

[thebarber]

The Road Warriors, hands down. The originators of the face paint, wrestled their entire career under the paint. They were innovators, not imitators. Sting and Ultimate Warrior=Imitators, they came along in 1985, 2-3 years after the Road Warriors with their paint and power gimmick. Vince brought in Eadie and Culley/later Barry Darsow) to perform under the paint as Demolition, and he wanted them solely as his own version of Road Warriors. Look what happened to Demolition in WWE the second Vince got the Roadies on contract.......jobbed them out in quick time and Repo Man and Hawaian Crush bored us. Cant be bothered reading the rest of the list, quite frankly their is only one real answer to this thread.

 

[asiatic7]

When you think of face paint and wrestlers, The Road Warriors and Ultimate Warrior come to mind. They pretty much set the standard for painted guys, especially Hawk and Animal who inspired the spin~ offs Powers and Pain and Demolition. ULTIMATE Warrior inspired the Renegade, so as far as the best who did it face painted, there you go. These guys drew money when they were at their apex respectively and when other promotions saw this, they tried to imitate the originals, but it was never the same...

For longevity, Sting deserves an honorable mention. I was never a big Sting advocate, because like a poster said above, he was a surfer dude. What was his purpose for wearing face paint? He certainly didn't have the demeanor of a guy who paints his face. Nothing about his character screamed warrior (not Jim Hellwig, I meant that in the most literal sense). The only time the paint on Sting made sense is when he started doing the Crow gimmick.

But, to answer the thread topic, I think the obvious answer is Warrior and LOD/Road Warriors.

 

[HBsam31]

For me it is The Road Warriors with Muta a very very close second. Muta creeped the hell out of me as a kid. He play the mysterious wrestler perfectly, and the face paint really helped make that stand out. The Road Warriors just embodied the word badass. The spiked shoulder pads, the mohawks, and most certainly the face paint. I couldn't even see them the same way without the paint. Even though I have loathed The Ultimate Warrior since I was a kid, (I was a Hogan guy to say the least) he has to be mentioned as well. Pretty much says it in the name. He was a face painted Warrior. The paint was probably a big reason he got so mega over.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

So the poll is flawed right away against my pick.. The Powers of Pain...cos you got it wrong... it wasn't just the Warlord!

Now I get why people will all say the Road Warriors or Ultimate Warrior but Powers of Pain were the first true "monster" team that had the gimmick... LOD had Hawk and Animal, beasts but different... POP were two massive guys who really could just steamroller anyone... AND unlike LOD could make it work as heel or face.

They came into the WWE I guess as fodder for Demolition but managed to get over themselves, once LOD came in that was done and it was splitsville for them... Go back and watch the matches, Sionne/Barbarian was a f***ing good worker and Warlord was a great foil, learning admittedly but I think unfairly maligned...

Hey it's my pick and it ain't a "WHAT A RUSH" love fest...

 

[jameyt2003]

DOINK! woulda been totally cooler if he had sharp, bloody teeth and kidnapped children from the audience!

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

Road Warriors/ Legion Of Doom.By far the best. Not the best wrestlers but they were massively over with the crowed and pulled in global audiences. It is true the same can be said of Warrior - but he wasn't the draw in Japan that the Road Warriors were and he also did not have the career length of the RW.

As for Sting- he is by far the best wrestler to have donned the facepaint and have a great character (several in fact) but he was never a power house (which i presume is the implied discussion from the title of the thread).

 

[EastCoastFan]

I think Kabuki was the first one to wear the paint but the Road Warriors made it cool, leading to a long list of imitators. The Blade Runners (Sting & Ultimate Warrior), the Powers of Pain (Warlord & Barbarian), the Maxx Brothers (an AWA team from the mid-80's) and Demolition.

 

[Mr_billy]

The Road Warriors, Hands down. Everyone else was cheesy knock offs, The Warrior had intensity, and Sting was a Surfer with paint. The Road Warriors were two huge guys who were over every where they went and every kid in Chicago wanted to be them in the 80's.