With the mecca of all nerdy fanboy events (San Diego Comic Con) starting this week, and Brian Cage demonstrating how easily wrestlers can bring comic book characters to life, here’s a playlist of matches involving wrestlers cosplaying as superheroes/villains.
Without Finn Balor’s way better comics-inspired paint job from his New Japan Pro Wrestling days, or Sting’s Nolan-esque Joker look, this playlist leaves quite a bit to be desired of. Still…
Scott Steiner & Firebreaker Chip vs. Johnny B. Badd & Arachnaman
Starrcade – 12/29/1991
Here’s another one of those classic Lethal Lottery random-ass tag team matches involving WCW’s own bootleg Spider-Man.
Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan
Starrcade – 12/28/1997
Here we have Sting, cosplaying as The Crow per Scott Hall’s suggestion. It’s not his finest moment as it should’ve been, but it was the culmination of WCW’s hottest feud and one of the biggest match-ups in wrestling at the time. If you rather not relive that finish, here’s a better moment of Crow Sting attacking the nWo at Uncensored, and not looking foolish.
Trish Stratus vs. Mighty Molly
SmackDown – 12/27/2001
Women’s Championship Match
Mighty Molly was definitely ahead of her time. Not only was she a great wrestler, but she also had a great gimmick here that the WWE definitely could’ve done more with.
The Hurricane vs. The Rock
Raw – 3/10/2003
The Hurricane will always be remembered for not cosplaying as a superhero, but actually basing his whole gimmick on being one. He even went the extra mile by having a regular civilian persona. Here he is winning the biggest match of his career, which he still brings up to this day.
Rosey & The Hurricane vs. Tajiri & William Regal vs. The Heart Throbs vs. Simon Dean & Maven vs. La Résistance
Backlash 2005 – 5/1/2005
Tag Team Turmoil Match for the WWE Tag Team Raw Championship Titles
In true superhero fashion, The Hurricane found himself a sidekick in Rosey. After his completing his training the duo went on to win the Raw tag team gold.
Rey Mysterio vs. JBL
WrestleMania 25 – 4/5/2009
Intercontinental Title Match
In my opinion, this definitely isn’t the best of Rey Mysterio’s cosplay attempts, but definitely the most colorful. He tried for the Heath Ledger Joker look, but ended up looking as goofy as Cesar Romero’s interpretation.
Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes
WrestleMania 27 – 4/3/2011
Mysterio’s best superhero cosplay resulted in Cody Rhodes’ first WrestleMania win.
Stephen Amell & Neville vs. Stardust & King Barrett
SummerSlam – 8/23/2015
The CW’s Green Arrow found himself in a feud with Stardust that led to this celebrity match. It would’ve been way cooler if Stephen Amell came out dressed as Green Arrow, and not looking like a student from the WWE’s Performance Center without the Tapout logos on his gear.
Alexa Bliss vs. Naomi vs. Natalya vs. Nikki Bella vs. Carmella
SmackDown – 9/13/2016
5-Way No. 1 Contenders Match
Alexa Bliss sent many a wrestling nerd into even more of a frenzy when she adopted the Harley Quinn look for a while.
Like I mentioned earlier, with the limitations of the WWE Network library, and not much nerdy fanboy inspiration from the wrestlers, aside from Mysterio and The Hurricane, this list is pretty limited. Here’s hoping a wrestler, or a few, go all out like The New Day did, but inside the ring instead of outside of it.
Cheap Pop Culture 