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Today in Cong Man's corner, I'm going to approach the subject of wrestlers wearing masks. Seems like quite a random subject, but it's one I've been doing quite a bit of thinking about recently, so here goes.
Masks were introduced to wrestling in Mexico, where to this day, the fans believe the masks bestow special powers upon the wearer. The idea of using masks came from the early days of Mexican wrestling when the competitors used to live and work in or around the village where they would put on shows. The mask hid their true identity and let them go about their daily life without being recognised for their achievements in the squared circle. The 'mystique' that this added to the wrestlers personality was a lucky coincidence, but the reason that wrestlers from all around the world have adopted masks.
Throughout the 'attitude' area of the WWE, we didn't really get to see too many guys in masks. Part of the reason behind this is that the whole 'attitude' concept was based in real-life, gritty characters, something a mask isn't conduitive to. The noteable exception was, of course, Kane. Kane's mask was basically a device for his character, we were lead to believe that he wore the mask to hide the burns he suffered in the fire started by his brother, The Undertaker. Possibly without realising they were doing it, this really helped put Kane over as a monster heel. One of the main abilities any good monster heel should have is the ability to look impervious to pain. Inadvertantly, Kane's mask was hiding his facial expression, addidng to the aura that he was feeling no pain from the punishment he would take. The mask ensured we could never tell if Glen Jacobs, the man behind the mask, was in pain, happy, sad, feeling unmotivated, it didn't matter because we couldn't see the most expressive parts of his anatomy, his eyes and his mouth. Without these, it become impossible to read someone's body language.
The reasoning above ia also, I feel, why Kane has been so unsucessful since removing his mask. His facial expression now betray the pain he feels to us as viewers. Meaning we'll never again see him as quite the monster he once was. Unmasking Kane may well have got him across if he unmasked as a face (sorry Ric), as we would feel more sympathy towards him, but unmasking him as a heel, was a serious own-goal by the WWE.
WCW evidently understood the other end of this concept, as alomst all of the Cruiserweights who worked for them were forced to unmask at one point or another (with the exception of La Parka, who I'll get to in a minute). WCW did this because the Cruiserweights were typically smaller guys, whose facial expressions could earn them sympathy when they went up against the bigger guys. Rey Mysterio for example, got over as a face better when he unmasked, as you could see the beating he was taking from the likes of Kevin Nash written all over his face. Conversly, the mask worked better for La Parka, as he was the biggest cruiserweigh, to appear as a monster heel when he worked the smaller cruisers. However, when he attempted to wrestle in the Heavyweight class, he flopped, no small coincidence...
So, have WWE scored another Own Goal by re-masking Rey Mysterio? Well, yes and No, from a commercial stand-point, Mysterio is very unique in the WWE and they make a small fortune out of selling Mysterio masks, but in terms of his in-ring product, he has gone back to having no facial expressions, which particularly as a babyface, is damaging to the level of sympathy the crowd will show him.
Masks also prevent 'blade-jobs' which can really add to the drama of an important match. Even if a masked wrestler manages to bleed under the mask, the mask soaks it all up and in wrestling if something isn't apparant to the guys sitting in the back row, then it's pointless...
So in summary, masks work better on big monster heels, but not so good on small baby-face cruisers...
I've been the Cong Man, until next time when I'll be sharing my thoughts on another aspect of the wrestling business.
Masks were introduced to wrestling in Mexico, where to this day, the fans believe the masks bestow special powers upon the wearer. The idea of using masks came from the early days of Mexican wrestling when the competitors used to live and work in or around the village where they would put on shows. The mask hid their true identity and let them go about their daily life without being recognised for their achievements in the squared circle. The 'mystique' that this added to the wrestlers personality was a lucky coincidence, but the reason that wrestlers from all around the world have adopted masks.
Throughout the 'attitude' area of the WWE, we didn't really get to see too many guys in masks. Part of the reason behind this is that the whole 'attitude' concept was based in real-life, gritty characters, something a mask isn't conduitive to. The noteable exception was, of course, Kane. Kane's mask was basically a device for his character, we were lead to believe that he wore the mask to hide the burns he suffered in the fire started by his brother, The Undertaker. Possibly without realising they were doing it, this really helped put Kane over as a monster heel. One of the main abilities any good monster heel should have is the ability to look impervious to pain. Inadvertantly, Kane's mask was hiding his facial expression, addidng to the aura that he was feeling no pain from the punishment he would take. The mask ensured we could never tell if Glen Jacobs, the man behind the mask, was in pain, happy, sad, feeling unmotivated, it didn't matter because we couldn't see the most expressive parts of his anatomy, his eyes and his mouth. Without these, it become impossible to read someone's body language.
The reasoning above ia also, I feel, why Kane has been so unsucessful since removing his mask. His facial expression now betray the pain he feels to us as viewers. Meaning we'll never again see him as quite the monster he once was. Unmasking Kane may well have got him across if he unmasked as a face (sorry Ric), as we would feel more sympathy towards him, but unmasking him as a heel, was a serious own-goal by the WWE.
WCW evidently understood the other end of this concept, as alomst all of the Cruiserweights who worked for them were forced to unmask at one point or another (with the exception of La Parka, who I'll get to in a minute). WCW did this because the Cruiserweights were typically smaller guys, whose facial expressions could earn them sympathy when they went up against the bigger guys. Rey Mysterio for example, got over as a face better when he unmasked, as you could see the beating he was taking from the likes of Kevin Nash written all over his face. Conversly, the mask worked better for La Parka, as he was the biggest cruiserweigh, to appear as a monster heel when he worked the smaller cruisers. However, when he attempted to wrestle in the Heavyweight class, he flopped, no small coincidence...
So, have WWE scored another Own Goal by re-masking Rey Mysterio? Well, yes and No, from a commercial stand-point, Mysterio is very unique in the WWE and they make a small fortune out of selling Mysterio masks, but in terms of his in-ring product, he has gone back to having no facial expressions, which particularly as a babyface, is damaging to the level of sympathy the crowd will show him.
Masks also prevent 'blade-jobs' which can really add to the drama of an important match. Even if a masked wrestler manages to bleed under the mask, the mask soaks it all up and in wrestling if something isn't apparant to the guys sitting in the back row, then it's pointless...
So in summary, masks work better on big monster heels, but not so good on small baby-face cruisers...
I've been the Cong Man, until next time when I'll be sharing my thoughts on another aspect of the wrestling business.
Very true Congy.
Grandprix wrote:
> I think the cruiserweight mask thing is interesting because I don't
> think The Hurricane has had much trouble getting over even though he
> does wear the mask.
The Hurricane's mask is a little bit different as it doesn't cover very much of his face, hence you can still see his facial expressions.
> I think the cruiserweight mask thing is interesting because I don't
> think The Hurricane has had much trouble getting over even though he
> does wear the mask.
The Hurricane's mask is a little bit different as it doesn't cover very much of his face, hence you can still see his facial expressions.
Yeah, I'd agree with that. Kane unmasking was a big mistake as I believe the mask really helped him get over. It didn't help that Kane kept jobbing to every man and his dog but that's what you get when you don't continue to push the monster.
I think the cruiserweight mask thing is interesting because I don't think The Hurricane has had much trouble getting over even though he does wear the mask.
Having not seen Rey in WCW (didn't watch much WCW at all), I can't really comment.
I think the cruiserweight mask thing is interesting because I don't think The Hurricane has had much trouble getting over even though he does wear the mask.
Having not seen Rey in WCW (didn't watch much WCW at all), I can't really comment.
†hë_Çøñg_Mðñ wrote:
> Throughout the 'attitude' area of the WWE, we didn't really get to
> see too many guys in masks.
remember Aldo Montoya - The Portuguese Man of War??
what a dismal character he was!! :)
> Throughout the 'attitude' area of the WWE, we didn't really get to
> see too many guys in masks.
remember Aldo Montoya - The Portuguese Man of War??
what a dismal character he was!! :)
La Parka is great, I've seen him on TWC a lot but I can't remember what federation he works for...
Today in Cong Man's corner, I'm going to approach the subject of wrestlers wearing masks. Seems like quite a random subject, but it's one I've been doing quite a bit of thinking about recently, so here goes.
Masks were introduced to wrestling in Mexico, where to this day, the fans believe the masks bestow special powers upon the wearer. The idea of using masks came from the early days of Mexican wrestling when the competitors used to live and work in or around the village where they would put on shows. The mask hid their true identity and let them go about their daily life without being recognised for their achievements in the squared circle. The 'mystique' that this added to the wrestlers personality was a lucky coincidence, but the reason that wrestlers from all around the world have adopted masks.
Throughout the 'attitude' area of the WWE, we didn't really get to see too many guys in masks. Part of the reason behind this is that the whole 'attitude' concept was based in real-life, gritty characters, something a mask isn't conduitive to. The noteable exception was, of course, Kane. Kane's mask was basically a device for his character, we were lead to believe that he wore the mask to hide the burns he suffered in the fire started by his brother, The Undertaker. Possibly without realising they were doing it, this really helped put Kane over as a monster heel. One of the main abilities any good monster heel should have is the ability to look impervious to pain. Inadvertantly, Kane's mask was hiding his facial expression, addidng to the aura that he was feeling no pain from the punishment he would take. The mask ensured we could never tell if Glen Jacobs, the man behind the mask, was in pain, happy, sad, feeling unmotivated, it didn't matter because we couldn't see the most expressive parts of his anatomy, his eyes and his mouth. Without these, it become impossible to read someone's body language.
The reasoning above ia also, I feel, why Kane has been so unsucessful since removing his mask. His facial expression now betray the pain he feels to us as viewers. Meaning we'll never again see him as quite the monster he once was. Unmasking Kane may well have got him across if he unmasked as a face (sorry Ric), as we would feel more sympathy towards him, but unmasking him as a heel, was a serious own-goal by the WWE.
WCW evidently understood the other end of this concept, as alomst all of the Cruiserweights who worked for them were forced to unmask at one point or another (with the exception of La Parka, who I'll get to in a minute). WCW did this because the Cruiserweights were typically smaller guys, whose facial expressions could earn them sympathy when they went up against the bigger guys. Rey Mysterio for example, got over as a face better when he unmasked, as you could see the beating he was taking from the likes of Kevin Nash written all over his face. Conversly, the mask worked better for La Parka, as he was the biggest cruiserweigh, to appear as a monster heel when he worked the smaller cruisers. However, when he attempted to wrestle in the Heavyweight class, he flopped, no small coincidence...
So, have WWE scored another Own Goal by re-masking Rey Mysterio? Well, yes and No, from a commercial stand-point, Mysterio is very unique in the WWE and they make a small fortune out of selling Mysterio masks, but in terms of his in-ring product, he has gone back to having no facial expressions, which particularly as a babyface, is damaging to the level of sympathy the crowd will show him.
Masks also prevent 'blade-jobs' which can really add to the drama of an important match. Even if a masked wrestler manages to bleed under the mask, the mask soaks it all up and in wrestling if something isn't apparant to the guys sitting in the back row, then it's pointless...
So in summary, masks work better on big monster heels, but not so good on small baby-face cruisers...
I've been the Cong Man, until next time when I'll be sharing my thoughts on another aspect of the wrestling business.
Masks were introduced to wrestling in Mexico, where to this day, the fans believe the masks bestow special powers upon the wearer. The idea of using masks came from the early days of Mexican wrestling when the competitors used to live and work in or around the village where they would put on shows. The mask hid their true identity and let them go about their daily life without being recognised for their achievements in the squared circle. The 'mystique' that this added to the wrestlers personality was a lucky coincidence, but the reason that wrestlers from all around the world have adopted masks.
Throughout the 'attitude' area of the WWE, we didn't really get to see too many guys in masks. Part of the reason behind this is that the whole 'attitude' concept was based in real-life, gritty characters, something a mask isn't conduitive to. The noteable exception was, of course, Kane. Kane's mask was basically a device for his character, we were lead to believe that he wore the mask to hide the burns he suffered in the fire started by his brother, The Undertaker. Possibly without realising they were doing it, this really helped put Kane over as a monster heel. One of the main abilities any good monster heel should have is the ability to look impervious to pain. Inadvertantly, Kane's mask was hiding his facial expression, addidng to the aura that he was feeling no pain from the punishment he would take. The mask ensured we could never tell if Glen Jacobs, the man behind the mask, was in pain, happy, sad, feeling unmotivated, it didn't matter because we couldn't see the most expressive parts of his anatomy, his eyes and his mouth. Without these, it become impossible to read someone's body language.
The reasoning above ia also, I feel, why Kane has been so unsucessful since removing his mask. His facial expression now betray the pain he feels to us as viewers. Meaning we'll never again see him as quite the monster he once was. Unmasking Kane may well have got him across if he unmasked as a face (sorry Ric), as we would feel more sympathy towards him, but unmasking him as a heel, was a serious own-goal by the WWE.
WCW evidently understood the other end of this concept, as alomst all of the Cruiserweights who worked for them were forced to unmask at one point or another (with the exception of La Parka, who I'll get to in a minute). WCW did this because the Cruiserweights were typically smaller guys, whose facial expressions could earn them sympathy when they went up against the bigger guys. Rey Mysterio for example, got over as a face better when he unmasked, as you could see the beating he was taking from the likes of Kevin Nash written all over his face. Conversly, the mask worked better for La Parka, as he was the biggest cruiserweigh, to appear as a monster heel when he worked the smaller cruisers. However, when he attempted to wrestle in the Heavyweight class, he flopped, no small coincidence...
So, have WWE scored another Own Goal by re-masking Rey Mysterio? Well, yes and No, from a commercial stand-point, Mysterio is very unique in the WWE and they make a small fortune out of selling Mysterio masks, but in terms of his in-ring product, he has gone back to having no facial expressions, which particularly as a babyface, is damaging to the level of sympathy the crowd will show him.
Masks also prevent 'blade-jobs' which can really add to the drama of an important match. Even if a masked wrestler manages to bleed under the mask, the mask soaks it all up and in wrestling if something isn't apparant to the guys sitting in the back row, then it's pointless...
So in summary, masks work better on big monster heels, but not so good on small baby-face cruisers...
I've been the Cong Man, until next time when I'll be sharing my thoughts on another aspect of the wrestling business.