Johnny Gargano, Alexa Bliss and Ricochet showed their fandom by incorporating comics and Disney into their ring gear during the WWE events over the weekend.
Johnny Gargano As Wolverine Is The Best At What He Does And What He Does Isn’t Very Nice
During Saturday’s NXT Takeover: Toronto Gargano came out in gear reminiscent of the Wolverine from the 90’s era X-Men. However, Mauro Ranallo kept making Iron Man puns and references while Gargano was making his entrance. Mama Mia, that must have been embarrassing for him and the tweets he must have received. The good thing is JBL isn’t on NXT to bully him about messing that up.
However, the following night was SummerSlam and the main roster superstars were not to be out done and had some unique ring gear of their own.
Alexa Bliss Is Going To Infinity And Beyond With Her Buzz Lightyear Ring Gear
In a tag match for the Women’s Tag Titles Bliss and Nikki Cross defended their titles against The Iconics. Bliss was sporting some Buzz Lightyear inspired ring gear. However, this is far from the first time Bliss has taken on inspired ring gear. She has also done Harley Quinn, Freddy Krueger and Iron Man in the past.
Ricochet’s Gear Channels His Inner Nightwing To Fight AJ Styles
Later in the night The Future of Flight himself, Ricochet, sported ring gear which was perfect for his in-ring style, Nightwing. In case people are unfamiliar with Nightwing his is the original Robin aka Dick Grayson’s solo persona once he split from Batman. Grayson’s parents were world famous acrobats in the circus and Ricochet has a very acrobatic in-ring style.
Wrestlers Are The Nerds Of Today
I am not surprised that this wrestlers want to show their love for these comic book heroes and Disney heroes.
In the past, pro wrestling was for good ole boys who wanted to see people fight. The wrestlers were tough and grizzled men and women who loved to fight. They came from hard lives and found an outlet for their aggression by slapping and strangling people in the wrestling ring.
However, those days are over and the modern wrestler is typically a nerd. They traded playing a drunken game of cards with playing a sober game of Rocket League. These guys and girls took their nerd obsession and put it into wrestling and their gear.
In the future, I expect more and more wrestlers to let their nerd flag fly as wrestlers break further and further away from the barroom brawler wrestling stereotype and we see more gymnasts and backflips.
Wrestling is changing before our eyes and it will be an interesting transition. We will see the level of wrestler become much more technical as they nerd out over moves. The access to the internet will allow wrestlers to learn about obscure wrestlers and be influenced by them. However, we still need those gruff brawlers and there will always be a place for them in my heart and in wrestling.
