Happy Halloween! It’s that one night a year where the ghosts and ghouls come out to play. Kids get their candy and adults try their best to scare them. That, or you could be one of the boring adults that hand out fruit and pennies (don’t be that person!) But, in wrestling, sometimes ‘Spooky Season’ is all year around with some of the scariest characters being showcased 365 days of the year. Yet, one question remains, who’s the scariest?
From Michael Myers, to Chucky, to Freddy Kruger or even Jason Voorhees, there are plenty of classic horror movie icons. Or, you may be someone who’s scared of supernatural demons and possessions like an insidious or hereditary type movie. Regardless, we’re all scared of something. But, what about in Pro-Wrestling? Who’s the scariest pro-wrestler of all time? Let’s take a look.
As said before, scary could be defined by many things, depending on what you’re scared of. Maybe it’s just looks, in that case, a guy like Kamala was pretty scary for young WWF fans as a big dude sporting face paint and looking menacing. Much like me as a kid, I was scared of Goldust. He wasn’t a scary character at all, but the look and mannerisms made my young brain think he was scary as hell. It’s all up to interpretation.
As many young children grow up watching wrestling, Kane and The Undertaker are probably the two most common names brought up when “scary WWE superstars” are mentioned. One wore a mask and somehow made fire shoot from the ring posts and the other wore all black, could control lights and crack down lightning! That’s seems unreal as a kid, mostly because it was, but also a certain shock to the system. But, controlling lights and shooting fire never really scared me. I needed something more to strike fear into my heart.
WWE has also played on phobias, much like The Boogeyman. I mean, the guy is already named after a horror movie and a tale as old as time. But, what WWE’s Boogeyman brought to the table was more grotesque. Not only did he look the part, but he played on people’s possible phobias of bugs and worms as he ate real life worms and had them all over his mouth and sometimes opponents mouths, too. I hate worms, I think they’re gross, so Boogeyman did make me flinch a little. Yet, it was more-so the worms than the man himself. I need more.
Papa Shango is another throwback character and WWE’s true first attempt at scaring people. The devious heel character was using JuJu to corrupt other WWE stars and even seemed to have Ultimate Warrior in a near death situation. For kids in the early 90’s, there’s no doubt they were scared. People were crying in the crowd. But, it quickly got played out and it just wasn’t scary anymore. As time went on, horror evolved and so did the minds of people, having a gear switch about what they found terrifying.
We’ve seen many characters in wrestling try to spook people. Waylon Mercer was a weirdo who tried to strike a mysterious fear, Jake Roberts had his play on phobias with his snake, Doink The Clown played on many peoples fear of clowns, WWE tried to use guys like Great Khali and Big Daddy V to use their size and stature as a point of fear, but they never got to me. More was needed.
Whats truly scary? Is it a Vampire like Kevin Thorn or The Brood? Is it AEW’s version of a spooky monster like Abadon who’s not afraid to spit blood out of her mouth? Or a monster on the independent scene that seems indestructible like KRULE? Maybe for you, that’s scary. Or, maybe you’re like me and the realism is what really makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
My favorite scary movie franchise of all time is ‘Scream’. The early movies and acting may be ‘cheesy’ to some, but it has tropes that a lot of horror movies don’t. What do Michael Myers, Jason, Chucky, even Art The Clown have in common? They seem unbeatable. You can’t kill them, they always come back. That’s not believable, but, Scream is. GhostFace, the main character of the movie, could be anyone. Spoiler alert, Scream dies multiple times, but psycho fanatics of the ‘stab’ franchise based around the character in the movies, continue to inherit GhostFace’s ways and try to out-do the previous killer.
That’s real. That’s scary. A normal, psychotic human who is looking to murder you and when/if they die, another psycho is ready to come fight back and keep the legend alive. So, in terms of pro-wrestling, what does this look like? Well, there’s been a few that have touched this side of fear. The first massive psychotic character was Mankind. Birthed by WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley, Mankind was a psycho in a leather mask who had a personality disorder. His shrieking promos and raspy voice were enough to raise an eyebrow, and shoving his fingers in your mouth was just enough to make you clench your teeth. The man could also snap into a hardcore Cactus Jack or a Dude who just Loved to have fun. Either way, his psychotic ways were pretty off-putting.
But, while Mankind was creepy, there was a bit more to be desired when it came to the psycho character. In comes a look at two psychos, one named Dexter Lumis and another named Charles Mason. Dexter is currently in WWE as apart of the Wyatt Sicks, but throughout his time in TNA and NXT, he basically played a stalker. A quiet guy who creeped up behind you, put his hand over your mouth and drug you away to wherever he stored bodies. But, the opponent always seemed to escape. In theory though, that’s scary. Kidnapping is terrifying. Yet, Dexter never seemed to finish the job.
In comes Charles Mason, an independent pro-wrestler who works for the likes of HOG, JCW, GCW and many more. He’s weird, he’s off-putting, he’s surely psychotic and when he has a vendetta against you, he’ll do anything to end you. Including attempted murder. While Dexter Lumis kidnapped his opponents, it’s clear WWE can’t have attempted murder on their show. But in a world of indie wrestling where the same rules don’t apply, Charles Mason is choking people out, suffocating them with plastic bags, stalking women and even attempting to stab people with knives. That’s a real-life killer and that’s nothing to sneeze at. Charles Mason is terrifying.
But, in order to send chills down the spine, someone needs to wrap everything into one big ball of scary. That one man, is Bray Wyatt. Bray doesn’t just have one attempt, he has multiple. One of the scariest things to think of, is imagining getting lost in an abandoned woods and running into 3 creepy, bearded, burly men who look dirty and have no problem ending you. That’s what the original Wyatt Family brought to the table. Alongside Luke Harper and Erick Rown, these three backwoods harmful hillbilly’s are real. There’s no magic, there’s no fake vampire teeth or spooky spells, just men who look like they can kill you and will do-so if need be.
Now, we could get into a long history of lore into Bray Wyatt. But, when the character continues to play out and evolve, it was clear Bray Wyatt was psychotic. He preached his ways and any other way was wrong, just ask John Cena. Then, he had two giant killers alongside him, one sporting a creepy sheep mask and the other looking like he hasn’t showered in years. As time went by, much like Mick Foley, Bray started to reveal his true self and he also had multiple personality disorder. There’s Bray Wyatt, a backwoods country killer, there’s Bray Wyatt the sweater wearing, Mr. Rodgers-esque weirdo who talks to puppets and thinks they’re real and there’s The Fiend. A man that Bray turns into if you harm him. A man that wore a mask, despite everyone knowing what’s behind it. As The Fiend, he had the powers to pop up behind you when the lights went out. He had a glove to shove down your throat like the mandible claw, he finished victims and remained unbeaten for a very long time. Bray Wyatt had it all. Everything rolled up into one. You want super natural? He had it. Backwoods killer? He had it. Psycho with multiple different personalities? All boxes checked off.
But, much like my favorite scary movie ‘Scream’, Bray Wyatt can die, but the idea never will. Sadly, Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper, two of the original Wyatt Family members passed away. But, when a horror icon (like GhostFace) dies, someone is there to pick up the pieces and continue the haunt. Now, Bray is no longer with us, but, his brother Bo is. Bo Dallas continues to carry on his brothers terrifying legacy as a split personality of his own. Uncle Howdy. As Howdy, he’s brought Bray’s puppets to life and have them along side him on his way to conquer the WWE. While Bray Wyatt died, the legacy never will, and it’ll continue on for years to come. Bray Wyatt has almost every creepy trope wrapped up into one and has future generations to carry his message on. To me, that’s scary and that qualifies Bray Wyatt/The Wyatt’s to be the #1 pound-for-pound scariest pro-wrestler.
Chime in, who do you think is the scariest, do you agree? Disagree? Let us know!
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