Wwe The Hurricane Mask

Masked Wrestlers in WWE Wrestling: Rey Mysterio and Other ...

Masked wrestlers have been part of the professional wrestling industry for many decades, and although they are less common and popular today, it is likely that there will be masked wrestlers for years to come. Wrestlers traditionally wore masks when they either did not want to be recognized or to intensify the evilness of their heel personas when the audience could not see their faces. More recently, wrestlers wear masks if relevant to the character.

Mankind’s mask was an integral part of his character. The brown leather mask that he wore was part of his psychologically tortured character’s personality, conveying the idea that he was too hideous and deformed to show his entire face. He only removed it when he became the fun-loving Mick Foley (his real name).

Even the most famous wrestler in the world Hulk Hogan was not averse to wearing a mask when he needed to. He wrestled as Mr. America, in a disguise that fooled no one when he was no longer able to wrestle under his usual name because Hogan was suspended in a storyline. This tactic has been used many times in wrestling.

The Patriot debuted in the World Wrestling Federation in 1997. He had a short-lived feud with Bret Hart. At this stage in wrestling, fans were tired of straight babyfaces and preferred someone who dabbled in gray areas like Stone Cold Steve Austin, who at the time was on the cusp of his extreme popularity. However, The Patriot’s red white and blue mask set him apart from other wrestlers at the time.

Solofa Fatu was briefly known as The Sultan in 1997 He was not well known or very popular, but he was significant for having both The Iron Sheik and Bob Backlund as his managers at the same time. He went on to become much more popular as the rump-shaking dancer Rikishi in later years in WWE.

The Hurricane’s mask has been a point of contention for him during his feud with Paul Burchill in ECW. Burchill told Hurricane to remove his mask, and challenged him to a mask vs. career match. Burchill lost and had to leave ECW. Ironically, he wore a mask and called himself The Ripper as he tried to regain his job with ECW. His sister, Katie Lea Burchill wore a mask also, calling herself The Beautiful Nightmare.

The Undertaker was forced to wear a mask for a brief period when his opponent Mabel legitimately crushed Taker’s orbital socket during a match. Undertaker wore the protective white mask for several weeks. Ironically, at one point while he wore the mask, he faced Dr. Isaac Yankem in a match, who would later portray his half-brother Kane.

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