Nerds like a lot of things. Games, music, comics, cars, travel, you name it, we’re into it and one of those crossovers come in the form of wrestling.
Far away from Undertaker's backstage brawls to settle beef (unless of course, it's AEW's Brawl Out at All Out), wrestlers these days have different pastimes and hobbies including comics, Disney movies and gaming, so it’s wonderful to see nerds allow nerd worlds to collide and wrestlers are able to bring the cosplay world to the wrestling stage.
We’ve loved some and loathed some but here’s our top 5 gaming cosplayers/cosplays which will hopefully give a little inspiration before Comic Con and Halloween! First some honorable mentions that aren’t included because they’re not gaming but worth you checking out.
Hounarable mentions:
Charlotte Flair as Agatha and Becky Lynch as Scarlett Witch (poetic).
Images from WWE.com and Nestia of Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch taking inspiration from Disney's WandaVision
Charlotte Flair as Thanos (she is the necessary evil the Smackdown women's division really needs. Please. Now. Those women need something. Just not against Ronda.)
Ricochet as Nightwing. In Gotham Knights yes technically he's a game character, but he was in the comics before gaming. If you ever watch the master of the sky (not to be confused with the genius of the sky) and have played Gotham Knights you’ll know why this works.
Liv Morgan, Rey Mysterio and Sasha Banks in respective Ring gear from Twitter.com
Rey Mysterio as the Joker and the Flash, Liv Morgan the ring gear general with many inspired looks from Chucky and DC, and Sasha Banks iconic look for the first ever woman’s Royal Rumble as Wonder Woman.
Top 5 Gaming Cosplays/Cosplayers across WWE and AEW
5. Tommaso Ciampa - Halloween Havoc
You were always going to see Kratos in this and with that gorgeous beard and shiny bald head if anyone was going to do this justice it would be the true God of War on the NXT black and gold brand Tommaso Ciampa. Ironically though this was just after the newly rebranded NXT 2.0. Also fitting he wore it facing the big dawg Bron Breaker, because they were truly going to war. As he was wrestling another human being, we’ll give him a pass on not being painted white. Would of been a mess from the current NXT champion Bron Breaker. . He ended up retaining his title.
4. Zelina Vega - Royal Rumble
Cosplay is Zelina Vega’s wheelhouse. This is her love and passion and like so many wrestlers she’s a nerd at heart. She plays an an amazing character too and it’s wonderful to have her back as the manager of Legado Del Fantasma on Smackdown. Not something your normally see in the women's division (or any to be honest) Zelina comes to down to the ring in the iconic mask, claws and incredible ring gear. Most normally go for more well known characters but Vega playing Vega is too dope not to include. Hopefully we’ll see the inaugural Queen's Crown winner in more inspired looks on the show.
She’s also done Jade (who we’ll get onto) D.Va from Overwatch and Jinx. She’s truly about this cosplaying life.
3. Jade Cargill - AEW Revolution
Ahh, Jade. Between her, Bianca and Willow, we’ve got a decent base of black women in wrestling. We hope to see more sooner than later. All that good stuff aside, the head baddie in charge and dominant TBS Champion looks like a star, feels larger than life and is, to be honest, getting better and better each week. She also puts on some amazing looks. She’s given us She-Hulk and Storm but one of her most iconic looks was cosplaying as her namesake Jade from Mortal Kombat. A great look to go 29 - 0 and get the whole world talking (and from some reactions that I’ve seen, some women questioning their sexuality). Let’s hope when the undefeated streak comes to an end, they book it better than resident head smasher and potential free agent, Bill Goldberg.
2. Kenny Omega
Our numer two spot on our list of 5 will be much like our first where he has had MANY gaming cosplays. It’s just who he is. A gaming nerd. His ring name is inspired by Final Fantasy and his almost unbeatable finisher One Winged Angel a reference the Sephiroth's battle music in FFVII and Kingdom Hearts, he really takes the inspiration to heart. He’s given us some other great looks as the Ghostbusters, 2015's Undertale and of course Akuma with the Young Bucks as Ryu and Ken. Maybe not a great mascot for AEW since the brawl out at All Out but he’s definitely a mascot of gaming culture in wrestling.
1. New Day
NEEEEW DAAAAY! One of, if not, the greatest tag team champions in WWE history. One of the greatest factions in history, and black men just having fun with their friends, not having to wear suits to be taken seriously. My guys. Anyway headed by the host of WWE’s gaming division Up Up Down Down Xavier Woods/Austin Creed when it comes to cosplay, they have really be giving, but we will judge them on gaming after we talk about the Dragon Ball Z looks. Too cold. At WrestleMania. Out of a giant Booty-O's box.
Legends.
Great look too. They’ve given us Final Fantasy XIV WITH a Chocobo and a more subdued Sonic look donning the colours of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles (by way of style I’ll let you guess which one was which) but my favourite gaming look must have been their Gears of War look, as themselves. In 2020 the New Day became playable characters in Gears of War 5 so it only made sense for them to come out at Survivor Series donning the armour before their champion v champion match. We know it looks like they’re there to help new talent, but we hope once Big E is back, the power of positivity showers us in more cosplay delight!
There you have it. Our top 5 cosplays/cosplayers in wrestling. We made made sure to do WWE and AEW, but we know we missed out of A LOT of people. Anyone missed our gaming list? Is there some comic book cosplayers we failed to give an honorary mention? Let us know in the comments or on our Twitter @streamcast_