Brothers in Paint: 10 best face painted wrestlers of all time

Face paint has been going on for a long time in human history. Early Celtic warriors painted their faces blue to frighten enemies. Roman Gladiators were thought to have worn face paint to make their features stand out to fans high in the upper decks of the arena.

But of course, no one mastered the art of face paint quite like Native American tribes. Most likely, the idea for painting faces in wrestling came from this tradition.

Cherokee war paint.

Let's take a look at ten of the most famous wrestlers to paint their visages.

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#10 "The Exotic One" Adrian Street

Adrian Street threatened the masculinity of fans in the 1970s and 80s.

Though he started his career as a brawler, Adrian Street discovered that he could bring massive amounts of heat on himself by engaging in gender-bending shenanigans.

After he started painting his face and acting effeminate, Street became a much bigger draw. He pushed the envelope further, sometimes kissing or tickling his foes to avoid defeat.

But Adrian Street is not credited with being the first face painted wrestler. For that, let's move on to the next slide.

#9 The Great Kabuki

The Great Kabuki

Wrestling pundits are divided over who first started the face paint wearing tradition in wrestling, but they can all agree on the man who made it famous; The Great Kabuki.

Mera Akahisa was sent to the US, as many Japanese wrestlers are, to pick up new aspects of his game and improve his in-ring work. While working in the southern promotions, he created a heel persona that fans just couldn't get enough of.

The Great Kabuki's face paint and deadly 'Asian Mist' made him stand out even more than his Japanese heritage. Collecting dozens of titles over his career, he was the first to prove a face painted wrestler could be a big draw and not just a silly gimmick.

#8 The Powers of Pain

The Powers of Pain with Mr Fuji

During the 1980s, no team was more fearsome, or more in demand, than the Road Warriors. Bigger, meaner, and stronger than the competition, Hawk and Animal were victims of their own success. It became hard for promoters to find credible opponents to the pair.

Enter The Powers of Pain, originally managed by Paul Jones. The duo of Warlord and Barbarian were created to be carbon copies of the Road Warriors and were just as big and muscular. They feuded with the Warriors and even took the six-man titles off their waists, but soon the Powers of Pain faced a foe even they were afraid of.

The scaffold match.

The perhaps ill-conceived match was a product of Jim Crockett's imagination. The idea was for the Road Warriors and the Powers of Pain to collide atop a twenty-foot scaffold erected over the ring. The problem was, Warlord and Barbarian were scared of being injured in the dangerous match. They left for the WWE and were replaced by the Midnight Express.

Once in WWE, the Powers of Pain originally feuded with Demolition before being split up into singles acts. One only can wonder what might have been if the Powers and the Warriors were able to finish their feud.

#7 Goldust

Goldust, aka Dustin Runnels, son of Dusty Rhodes

What do you do when your father is one of the most celebrated wrestlers in history? You come up with a persona guaranteed to get you out of his shadow, and that's just what Dustin Runnels did.

Originally, Goldust was meant to tie into the same homophobic vibe that Adrian Street strummed so effectively, if tastelessly. However, the character evolved into the bizarre superstar we know and love today.

Goldust is still going strong over two decades after his debut and is still entertaining.

#6 Demolition

Ax and Smash

Try as he might, Vince McMahon couldn't get the Road Warriors under contract in the early 1980s. So he made up his own version; Demolition.

Yet another homage/rip off of the Road Warriors, Demolition were arguably the more dominant team; They held gold for longer than the Warriors did. Demolition was renowned for their brutal, physical style and put more than one enhancement talent on the shelf with a legitimate injury.

Demolition began as heels, but by the end of their run, they were largely cheered by the fans. Though other men were in the stable, most fans remember Demolition as Ax and Smash.

#5 Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy frequently works in face paint

Usually, when a wrestler starts wearing face paint they will undergo both a gimmick and a name change. Not so for Jeff Hardy--unless you count his Willow character which was blessedly short-lived.

Jeff started wearing face paint after the Hardys were split up to pursue singles championships. Matt Hardy became V.1, and Jeff Hardy became the Charismatic Enigma. His face paint ran the gamut from stark black and white to neon green depending on his artistic mood.

The interesting thing about Jeff Hardy is that he didn't need the face paint to get over; He already had the fans on his side. Still, his observance of the face paint tradition gets him on this list.

#4 The Great Muta

The Great Muta was billed as Kabuki's son.

Keiji Muto was sent to America to hone his skills, and ended up with the NWA and later Ted Turner's WCW. Manager Gary Hart introduced him to the world as the 'son of the Great Kabuki.'

Like Kabuki, Muta painted his face and used 'poison mist' to blind his opponents. Unlike Kabuki, he had a face-paced, strong and Lucha style of wrestling. Muta is the first wrestler to popularize the moonsault in America and was renowned for his stiff kicks and strikes.

Muta held both the NWA Tv title and the WCW world title in the US, and far too many belts to mention on one slide in his native Japan.

#3 The Ultimate Warrior

The Ultimate Warrior

Jim Hellwig first donned face paint as the Dingo Warrior, but it was in the WWE that he became his greatest character of all.

The Ultimate Warrior stood out from his peers for a lot of reasons. For one, he ran to the ring and shook the ring ropes like a primate having an apoplectic fit.

Second, he painted his face with a distinctive winged design, meant to evoke both a bird of prey and the Superman symbol. Ultimate Warrior was a superhero long before the days of John Cena, always overcoming the odds and lifting his foes with his patented Gorilla Press Slam.

#2 The Road Warriors/Legion of Doom

Hawk and Animal

Often imitated, but never duplicated.

The Road Warriors were the first face paint wearing tag team of the 1980s, though they originally had a much different look;

The Road Warriors in their original garb.

Hawk and Animal were both motorcycle enthusiasts, and their early gimmick revolved around a 'leatherman' look that was perhaps more evocative of the Village People than a bad ass biker gang.

Then a little movie starring Mel Gibson was released--also called the Road Warrior--and Hawk and Animal developed their iconic look.

Superstars all over the world, Hawk and Animal re-defined tag team wrestling and brought a more physical style into vogue. They are the inspiration for many of the wrestlers on this list, but the original is still the best.

#1 Sting

Sting

The wrestler Steve Borden has had many looks over the years, but they've all had one thing in common; A splash of colorful face paint.

Whether he was wrestling as Blade Runner Flash or shouting cowabunga as the fun-loving 'surfer dude' in the old NWA or hanging from the rafters as the "crow" Sting, Borden has always had a great look, helped in large part by his colourful paint.

Though Sting was not the first, or even the second, man to wear face paint to the ring, he is probably the most iconic and recognizable of all the painted warriors, which is why he's on the top of this list.

There you have it; The greatest brothers in the paint of all time!