What ever happened to face paint?

[It's Damn Real!]

Have the real characters of wrestling truly eliminated themselves from modern story lines so much so to the point that such a classic old time profile like face paint has really begun to die off as much as it has in the last decade?

I think back to big time names like Ultimate Warrior, Sting, Legion of Doom, Demolition and more – all of whom wore face paint; all of whom really made things happen with it, so what happened?

This isn't really exclusive to either company, either – really neither utilizes mainstay players who paint their faces anymore.

The closest the WWE gets to it is Hornswaggle's dirty face, unless you count the spray on tanner Zack Ryder uses as make-up since it's obvious Golddust certainly doesn't matter any, and the only guys who uses it in TNA are Kiyoshi and Raven who hasn't been on TV in what feels like a year. I certainly don't think that football-style eye paint Alex Shelley uses counts...

Why isn't face paint used more often? Jeff Hardy has to be one of the last guys who really used it in that traditional sense last I checked, and it certainly helped make Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli relevant as Rellik (OK, that's a stretch, but you see my point).

So what's the deal – why no face paint? Are modern story lines and characters just not fit for it? Was it too cartoonish? What say you?

 

[Miko]

I was talking to Marquis on MSN the other day about facepaint needing to make a comeback, remember Marquis? Well anyway, we both decided that the greatest wrestlers of all time wore facepaint, I of course am talking about Sting, Ultimate Warrior and my personal favourite Rico.

Me thinks it just went out of fashion sadly, what with wrestling getter fewer and fewer actual characters and more guys who are "NO GIMMICK NEEDED, MY FUCKING SUPLEXES WILL GET ME OVER!!!!!" or "I AM THE FUTURE OF THE COMPANY, THAT'S MY CHARACTER!" there is less and less call for facepaint .

We can only hope it makes a reappearance.

 

[Alex]

I think it's because it can be classed as cheezy. If you look at Goldust you see a cheezy guy in gold paint.

I think it also depends on the style as well, Sting, Raven and Jeff Hardy's style of paint was good because it had that war paint feel whereas Goldust's is cheezy and so was Rico's.

I think it's the changing of the times, Ultimate Warrior and Legion of Doom were in a different time and it was good back then, but if they were around now people would be calling it cheezy and out of touch

 

[Via Armbar]

I group this with the decline of gimmicks overall. Wrestling is slowly distancing itself from the cartoonish and moving into the realm of reality where the need for over the top characters seem completly out of place. Undertaker seems to be the last great gimmicky wrestlers who found success, and I think the breed is close to extinction.
If it were to be brought back it would need to be the right wrestler with the right gimmick. Hardy pulled it off pretty well and gave im a certain mystique and aura about him, and that shows the use of facepaint can still serve a purpose.

 

[Crippler CrossFace]

I remember the hurricane used to wear facepaint but it would bleed into his eyes and was affecting either his vision or the color of his eyes. I don't know if this has anything to do with it or if this is an isolated incident.

I do agree that facepaint when done right can be loads of fun.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I wasn't always that big a fan of the face paint. It works when used with the right characters. Guys like Sting or Ultimate Warrior wouldn't be the same without their face paint.... but for most gimmicks it's really not needed. It did help Jeff Hardy look a bit cooler more recently, but no other recent characters come to mind that needed it.... heck even Hardy didn't NEED it honestly, it just helped a bit. The face paint can be fun when used by the right characters but nobody truly needs it unless their character has become associated with it over the years. I don't think it was phased out by being "too cartoony", but perhaps it is becoming a thing of the past since most gimmicks don't need it. Guys like Sting still do but only because they have had face paint for so long and it wouldn't be the same if they didn't.

 

[BladeRunner]

Yeah, bring back the face paint.

And, hey, Joker wore face paint in one of the highest grossing movies of all time.

And that came out what, a year or 2 ago.

So in this day and age you can still get away with it and it can still be cool.

It's also a good way to seperate yourself from all the bodybuilder lookalikes that clog up the wrestling circuits.

For instance, every one of the WWE NXT guys looks generic. But slap on some face paint, you got yourself a character

 

[GenMe]

Well the only one that sports the face painting very well is Jeff Hardy,And it really goes with him with the gimmick that he has.But there some wrestlers that use face paint and it really doesnt go well with then.

But hey im a fan of it, So really if WWE or TNA wants to use some bad ass face painting on some of there wrestlers im down with that.Only if they bring someone with some bad ass scary face painting.

 

[Papa Shango]

Face paint can still work. In fact, given how hard it is for newcomers to distinguish themselves nowadays, I think face paint should and will make a comeback. One of the hardest parts of breaking into the business today is that WWE wants a uniform look. Most young guys are all made to look clean cut, with short hair, maybe some facial hair, and wear short trunks. Hell, even guys like Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes have a hard time standing out (Jerry Lawler confuses the two for each other on a weekly basis). I think things like tattoos and face paint are the perfect way to make young wrestlers distinguishable. I would put Sheamus in face paint. He's supposed to be The Celtic Warrior, but I really don't think he looks that intimidating. But put him in some badass green and black paint, maybe a design similar to Ultimate Warrior's, and yeah, I think he would look more intimidating. It's better than that big-ass tacky cross he wears.

 

[Eriksson]

As long as it look cool I think it would get over. Umaga looked great with it while Samoa Joe just looked terrible and thankfully got rid of it.

 

[Tastycles]

Facepaint's disappearance is symptomatic of the general trend of wrestling attempting to be realistic, while simulataneously being obviously not real, which is why it isn't as popular as it used to be. Obviously, this is ******ed. I think it should make a comeback for no other reason than it could really help the story of the match. The Ultimate Warrior spent about 10 minutes no selling everyone and yet he still looked like he'd been through a war because his facepaint was melting off. Facepaint is one of those gimmicky things that can actually help tell a story, and it can help give otherwise boring wrestlers a character, for evidence of that look up Hardy, Jeff.