Best Wrestling Costumes of All Time

To be the man, you gotta beat the man.

The famous saying is that the clothes make the man. Well, in the world of professional wrestling, the costume makes the character. Wrestling has always emphasized over-the-top gimmicks and larger-than-life personalities, and a wrestler’s persona wouldn’t be the same without the appropriate attire.

Wrestling costumes run the gamut from flashy looks complete with sequins and latex to villain looks with war paint and weapons to the completely bizarre (like whatever Goldust wore). We’ve gone through the history books of pro wrestling and picked the best of the best of those getups.

Fans of a certain age may have worn many of these costumes for Halloween as a kid while others may have attended a wrestling event dressed like one of these guys or gals. These are the most iconic costumes in wrestling history.

50. Ultimate Warrior

Career: 1985-98

Style: Flashy

Famous words: “Feel the power!”

Bottom line: The entire Ultimate Warrior look screamed high energy and excitement from the colorful knee pads to his distinctive face paint.

Warrior also wore tassels around his biceps and legs purely for aesthetic reasons since cutting off your circulation doesn’t help you win a match.

But just like his hair, those tassels were blowing in the wind whenever Warrior made his customary sprint to the ring, adding to the visual.

49. Yokozuna

Career: 1984-2000

Style: Cultural

Famous words: “Bonzai!”

Bottom line: A Yokozuna is the highest rank in sumo wrestling, so a wrestler being given that name and gimmick meant he was the best of the best.

But while the wrestler Yokozuna portrayed a sumo wrestler with the typical mawashi clothing and traditional Japanese robe, he was neither an actual sumo or even Japanese.

As a result, this “cultural” style deserves a bit of an asterisk. Yokozuna’s costume was a nod to Japanese culture. He was a Samoan who was born in San Francisco.

48. Honky Tonk Man

The Honky Tonk Man went all out with his costume.

Career: 1977-2016

Style: Rocker

Famous words: “I’m the greatest intercontinental heavyweight champion of all time.”

Bottom line: When you’re born just outside of Memphis and bear an uncanny resemblance to Elvis, of course, you’re going to adopt an Elvis impersonator gimmick complete with a jumpsuit.

Many argue that the Honky Tonk Man more resembled fat Elvis, but he went all out with his costume, which wasn’t exactly comfortable wrestling attire.

Part of the costume included Honky carrying around a guitar, and since this is pro wrestling, the musical instrument often was used as a weapon on unsuspecting opponents.

47. Giant Gonzalez

Career: 1990-95

Style: Supervillain

Famous words: “Ric Flair, I kill you.”

Bottom line: Wrestling is the land of giants, and there have been many memorable ones in history from Andre to Kevin Nash to the Big Show. But the tallest wrestler ever was Giant Gonzalez, who stood 7-foot-7, although WWE billed him as being 8 feet tall.

One can only imagine all of the fabric that went into constructing his full body suit featuring airbrushed muscles and clumps of fur.

For more great wrestling costumes, check out Stadium Talk.