One of the things I have seen one the NWA’s Youtube show Power (or is it Powerrr?) is a mysterious masked bad guy that doesn’t do much beyond being a masked guy and be The Question Mark.
He wears a regular wrestling mask or not something a luchador might wear and wears a black singlet and gold color tights with black boots. I like to say he looks like a default create a wrestler that someone stuck a mask on to be “original”. I’ve done that a few times in all kinds of games.
His wrestling style is that of some mishmash of fake-looking martial arts moves or “Karate” that is pronounced like something from SpongeBob Squarepants (Karataaaaaay). He’s not super or unusual but he wins his matches and the crowd loves him beyond reason.
And the thing is, he is perfect for the show.
NWA has made Powerrr into a studio wrestling show from the 1980s and The Question Mark fits right in. In those days wrestlers didn’t blow you away with their moves like a high flying luchador or anything. He seems to be mostly a mat wrestler and finishes his opponents off with that weird spike move to the throat. Just like most of the bad guy wrestlers from back in the day. Most “karate” practiced back then wasn’t so much as hitting a guy with an open hand so this guy’s move the same way.
He isn’t a big part of the storylines either. Most of the time he is either in some useless midcard match or teaming with guys like Aaron Stevens or something. Not the main event or the featured player. But even with that kind of placement, the studio crowd LOVES him. He’s supposed to be a bad guy but the crowd loves him more than just about everyone. At least I’m not alone in my thinking good of this guy.
As for what to do with him. Well, he doesn’t seem to be headlining shows right now but he does make a good mid-carder. Put him in matches and even feuds with fan-favorite guys. Heck, I’d even have him turn on a partner like Aaron Stevens and have them wrestle each other a bunch of times. Maybe even get into stipulation matches like Texas Deathmatch or something to get fans into seats and pay money to see the masked guy in action.
I could sit here and think up all kinds of ideas of where he will be going next but I’m no booker for the NWA and will just wait and wonder where he goes next. The crowd seems to be into him and as weird as he may seem, the NWA has done something that the “bigger” companies wish they could do as well and that is create a new star. The WWE has never been good at that and when they try to, their success rate is even less. AEW wish they could create a new star at the same time it took for the Question Mark to catch on. Let alone with such a positive response.
The Question Mark is something I haven’t seen to many times. It is something that harkens back decades ago but it is not done in a goofy style and keeps me waiting to see what happens next. I am entertained so far in where they have taken this idea and can’t wait to see what is next.
