As a child, there were many things which fascinated me about the colourful world of professional wrestling and, without a hint of shame, I admit that – for a few years – one of the elements which drew me in the most was face paint.
Wrestlers with painted faces looked like superheroes come to life and I was a voracious consumer of all things superhero. However, in the UK at the tail end of the 1980s, there wasn’t that much for me to consume — comic book culture wasn’t the mainstream behemoth it is today. Sightings of these masterful looking men were rare and hard to find in the information Stone Age of pre-internet days. I had a few comic books and VHS tapes of cartoon shows, but there were no superhero movies available besides Superman. This meant that seeing real flesh and blood muscle-men with painted faces and colourful costumes from the world of wrestling sent my young mind into a tailspin, as if characters from the pages of my comics had stood up and somehow crossed into our dimension.
Just who the hell were these guys? Superpowered beings who got bored of saving the world from the evil clutches of crime, deciding instead to give combat sports a try?
Like many others, I was drawn to the likes of Ultimate Warrior, The Road Warriors, Demolition and even the Warlord like a blissful moth to an ecstasy fuelled flame. I could see through any level of clumsiness in the ring; flashy moves and actually being able to work didn’t matter a damn bit to my eight-year-old self. Face paint meant you were on another level to me.
Not a normal wrestler – more of a superhero above and beyond mere mortal unpainted men.
WWE
Only having access to WWF in my home, I would catch images of other painted supermen from strange exotic federations like WCW in the wrestling magazines and books. I was fascinated by ‘surfer’ period Sting for years before I ever saw him actually wrestle a match. He was a mystical master of violence. So dangerous that he couldn’t compete in the WWF; he must simply be too powerful. And the Road Warriors? They looked like they came from outer space, never mind the road. I had a photobook by George Napolotano, the back cover of which was a full page shot of the Road Warriors in classic black spiked shoulder pad gear and matching paint. I remember staring at it often just awestruck.
These men were out of this world.
Wrestling was real, heroes were real and, therefore, so was hope; it was the security blanket I must have needed at the time and I gladly wrapped myself in its welcoming folds.
The general consensus online seems to be that the first men to appear painted on TV in the States and the UK were the Great Kabuki and Adrian Street respectively, yet it’s sadly impossible to definitively know who first went to the ring with a painted face.
The first face paint to dominate my memory was the neon mask of a lunatic named The Ultimate Warrior. His design is undoubtedly the most iconic of all time; its silhouette still emblazoned on shirts, hats, mugs and much more by the WWE to this day. I was reluctant to like the Warrior at first, as the Hulkamania reigned strong in my young self, but resisting seemed futile when the Ultimate Warrior just looked so cool. I don’t think I ever really believed that he could fight very well – even back then. He just looked so strong and heroic. The gimmick rose above the work and its iconography is implanted in the minds of a generation, hence the alarming number of thirty-something males with the Ultimate Warrior logo tattooed on their skin. I’m one of them.
In hindsight, it does seem strange to me that in the kayfabe atmosphere of the old days, any promoter would accept workers painting their faces for matches. I’m sure the posters featuring these comic book like characters helped to shift a few tickets. Nonetheless, the risk of ‘exposing’ the business by displaying its more theatrical aspects must have been notable at the time. Can you imagine if a boxer hit the ring with his face painted? He would be ridiculed and quite possibly be in breach of some obscure rule. A UFC competitor in the octagon with neon-green Ultimate Warrior style paint? His face would be a giant target begging to be punched and kicked right off his head.
Entering a serious fight with a spider painted over your face isn’t the most realistic thing in the world, no matter how cool it looks. However, from Kabuki through to Papa Shango, to Jeff Hardy and Abadon, it’s something very unique and exclusive to the bizarre and beautiful world of professional wrestling.
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