10 of the Most Memorable Horror-Inspired Professional Wrestlers
John Squires
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Okay, so I know I used the word ‘memorable’ in the headline for the post, and though this next wrestler is far from memorable, I simply wouldn’t feel right not giving at least a brief shout-out to pro wrestling’s very first – and to my knowledge only – zombie character. After acquiring fan-favorite independent promotion ECW, WWE made a brief attempt to revive the company, and it was in 2006 that the revival began, with the new ECW show airing on the Syfy network. On the show’s very first broadcast, a character simply named ‘The Zombie’ was introduced, and after making zombie sounds into a microphone, he was demolished by ECW superstar Sandman. The Zombie was presumably created for the sole purpose of attempting to appeal to the Syfy crowd, and since it didn’t quite work, he never appeared on the program again. Unfortunately, Tim Robbins, who played The Zombie, passed away earlier this year.
Though horror-inspired wrestlers here in the States don’t typically make direct reference to actual big screen genre icons, things are a little bit different over in Japan, where a character by the name of Leatherface had an extended run in the W*ING promotion. Just like in the movies, Leatherface was clad in a human skin mask, wore a butcher’s apron and carried around a chainsaw, and was fittingly known for competing in particularly brutal and bloody ‘death matches.’ Other characters in the promotion included knockoff versions of Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers; and if you’re ever in the mood for a good laugh, we encourage you to look up some of their matches on YouTube!
The WWE’s most recent horror-inspired gimmick was that of the heavily-bearded Wyatt Family. The clan debuted in 2012 and was introduced through a series of particularly creepy vignettes, which depicted them as a backwoods trio ripped straight out of a horror movie. Leader Bray Wyatt is a Charles Manson-like character, speaking in riddles, while Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are silent but brutish characters, with the latter coming to the ring in a plastic lamb mask – looking very much like one of the killers in You’re Next. The Wyatt Family came to the ring in total darkness, lit up only by a lantern that Bray carried, and they made a name for themselves by getting inside the heads of some of the top WWE superstars. The faction recently disbanded, though all three superstars are still on the active roster – and still creepy as ever.
There are of course many others where these came from, and we encourage you to drop us a comment below and make your own additions to the list!
