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For the audience to believe in a character, they must stand out from the crowd and be something completely different to what has come before. They must reinvent their personalities, their styles in the ring and their look to stay relevant.
A masked wrestler is fairly hard to come by nowadays, with the WWE, especially, opting to have their wrestlers unmasked as in the western countries, it is not held in as high regard. They still have Sin Cara of course, who they use as their main cash cow for selling the Lucha style masks along with Kalisto.
They have also added a couple of masked heroes to the Cruiserweight division which is where the Lucha style flourishes. Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik fall under this bracket.
Often in the wrestling business, bookers, promoters and companies make decisions that seem exciting in the short term, but they do not take into account the long-term effect that the decision can have on a wrestler’s character and on the company as a whole.
One such decision that has plagued several companies over the years is unmasking wrestlers that are popular with the fans and helping to sell merchandise. For the wrestlers in this list, who never, ever should have been unmasked, the mask was their whole character and removing it had big consequences.
#5 Juventud Guerrera
Juventud Guerrera was one of the most talented wrestlers of the late nineties. Having made his name in ECW first, he made his way over to the Cruiserweight division in WCW. WCW had a habit of taking what ECW made popular and putting it out to a national audience.
Juventud Guerrera was even Cruiserweight Champion during his time with WCW. He eventually would meet Chris Jericho at Superbrawl VIII, putting his mask on the line in his pursuit of regaining the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
He would lose this match to the man who would go on to beat Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock in one night to become the first ever Undisputed Champion in the rival WWF promotion which meant he had to remove his mask and reveal his face to the world.
Although many stories would have you believe that Juventud was successful despite losing his mask, which is kind of true given his Cruiserweight Championship reign, his gimmick where he referred to himself as “The Juice” just didn’t work on any level for me.
He’d lost his identity and what the fans loved him for. Without the mask, we were looking at just another high-flying man. As mentioned, the attire of a wrestler is a massive part of their character and what makes us care about them and buy their merchandise. Without the mask, Juventud had nothing to make him stand out from the crowd.
It’s a massive shame that he never flouted the Lucha rules and donned the mask in another problem. But that is how seriously luchadors take the decisions made by these companies.
#4 Psicosis
Psicosis was another one of the talents that helped ECW rise to the heights it did and he was also one of the wrestlers that WCW poached from the independent promotion. Known for his recognisable mask with the two horns and his unbelievable matches, WCW helped to destroy another luchador’s legacy.
They made him lose his mask not once, but twice. The first time was at a live event to Rey Misterio Sr. The second time was on TV to American cruiserweight Billy Kidman.
WCW was clearly obsessed with unmasking the luchadors for some reason but they did stay true to their word when they said it wouldn’t affect pushes. Psicosis also became Cruiserweight Champion just like Juventud Guerrera.
Despite the push though, he had also lost his identity, lost the work he had put in to make a name for himself and essentially make his mask famous.
He in did make an appearance in WWE in 2006 as he joined the company along with Juventud Guerrera and they formed a stable with Super Crazy. Unfortunately for him, it only served to show how far he’d dropped and while Rey Mysterio was enjoying multiple pushes and Championship reigns, Psicosis was riding to the ring in a lawn tractor.
Yes, that happened.
You have to wonder what might have been if the two-horned superstar had been allowed to keep his face hidden, his identity secret and his legacy intact.
#3 Abyss
Abyss has the appearance of an escaped mental patient when he’s got his mask on. He’s a stocky, 350lbs man who looks like he could do some serious damage if you came within 20 feet of him. He was TNA’s answer to Mankind, Cactus Jack and Kane all rolled into one and it just worked.
I’m of the opinion that as long as a character is consistent and over, only minor changes need to be made to keep the character fresh. Abyss had the audience behind him as they believed in his fight, they believed in his story and they believed in the character.
TNA obviously thought that Abyss needed something new to do so they introduced his portly, clean shaven, short haired brother Joseph Parks. It wouldn’t have been as bad if Abyss wasn’t the one playing him.
In this Internet age where the fans know everything about everyone, it’s hard to get different characters over. But revealing Joseph Park was like shooting themselves in the foot because Abyss was over, he had a brilliant character and this goofy comedic version of himself seemed like a waste of time.
He could be using that time to take the character of Abyss, the masked maniac in places he hasn’t been before. It doesn’t need to be a big change, but it does need to stay true to the character, which the comedic exploits of Joseph Parks did not.
I preferred not knowing what Abyss looked like as it kept a certain element of anonymity to his character. I think this unmasking could be forgiven if he ever made the move to WWE as Abyss.
#2 Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio is arguably one of the most famous luchadors of all time. Traditionally, luchadors are allowed to wear their mask to conceal their identity at all times and even their name. The mask of a luchador is extremely important in their wrestling traditions.
Once a mask has been removed in a ‘Mask vs, Mask’ match, it may never be donned again as per the rules set by the official Lucha Libre commission.
Rey Mysterio lost his mask in 1999 at Superbrawl IX in WCW. It was a tag team match and he was pinned following an Outsider’s Edge from Scott Hall. Mysterio was forced to unmask and reveal his face to the world. This was a move that shocked the crowd and the wrestling community alike due to the unbelievable talent he had as a luchador and the support he had as the most popular Mexican wrestler in America.
Rey Mysterio lost a lot of respect, a lot of merchandise sales and a lot of support following the selfish move from WCW.
When Mysterio made the move to WWE in 2002, Vince was insistent that Rey wear his mask despite the Lucha tradition. Luckily for Rey Mysterio and the fans of the WWE, he actually got permission from the Lucha Libre commission to don the mask once more on the grounds that the match was not a traditional ‘Mask vs Hair’ match.
They really got away with one here. Rey himself was extremely upset with the decision from WCW and at the time, kayfabe was a lot more alive in the business and it’s not like Rey could come out with a statement or talk with the dirt sheets or go on a podcast. He was in a situation where it was lose his mask or lose his job.
At the time, WWE was not in the Cruiserweight game as such and it’s not as if Rey could have made the transition at the time so he did not have much choice. It’s a dark patch on an otherwise glittering career, and in fairness to WWE, they made every effort when he first joined to remove any mention of him ever revealing his face.
Luckily, with the WWE Network, you can now go back and take a look at this poor decision, safe in the knowledge that it all works out for the Mexican luchador.
#1 Kane
On June 23rd, 2003, the Big Red Machine Kane lost a match that resulted in him having to remove his mask. I mark this moment as one of the worst decisions in WWE history. I grew up watching Kane, and the whole point of his character was that you couldn’t see his face and that’s what made him more demonic.
He was like the WWE’s Leatherface; a tortured soul with an incredible backstory. To give you some background, Kane was involved in a fire at his parent’s house that The Undertaker was revealed to have started. Kane was horribly disfigured in the fire and suffered from mental issues in the years following the blaze.
His mask was there to hide the disfigured face and the horrible scars that he had. He also couldn’t talk when he first joined and the mask covered the whole face. I understand cutting the mouth section out to allow Kane to join in on promos normally but even that removed some of the mystique from the 7-foot monster.
After striking up a friendship with Rob Van Dam the storyline turned to Kane being offered a World Heavyweight Championship match against Triple H with the stipulation that if he lost, he would unmask.
He lost.
There was no turning back following this. No way Kane could have ‘burn’ makeup applied every night that would be strong enough to withstand the lights and physicality of the wrestling ring. They passed off the reason he wore a mask as mental scars rather than physical. It was a bit of a cop out and Kane became just a man following this.
Despite setting Jim Ross on fire, tombstoning Linda McMahon on steel and every other deplorable act Kane attempted, he was still just a man at the end of the day. Gone was the suspension of disbelief that this may actually be a monster and gone was the continuity of a beautifully crafted character and his backstory.
They could have revamped Kane in many other ways, but taking the mask off was one of the biggest mistakes of the ruthless aggression era. It was so disappointing and ruined a fantastic character. I’m not saying he’s not had success since, he actually captured the World Heavyweight Championship in 2010, but the suspension of disbelief was gone.
The Devil’s Favourite Demon just wasn’t scary anymore.
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