Oct. 29 (UPI) — WWE and the world of professional wrestling has always made room for horror, presenting audiences over the years with grapplers that have ranged from undead zombies to powerful demons.
This Halloween season, check out the top five spookiest superstars to ever set foot in a WWE ring.
5. The Boogeyman
Among WWE’s roster of bionic rednecks and tribal chiefs lies The Boogeyman: a worm-eating demon who terrorized SmackDown from 2005 to 2007.
Perhaps the most frightening-looking wrestler on this list, The Boogeyman grossed out audiences by devouring fistfuls of worms. Sometimes even his opponent would be forced to eat the worms after being defeated by the red-faced Boogeyman. His signature entrance featured The Boogeyman breaking a clock over his head as fog fills the arena.
While not WWE’s most technically gifted wrestler, The Boogeyman was a character firmly rooted in horror and horror comedy. The Boogeyman is simply absurd, but in a genuine way that only wrestling audiences could understand and love. The Boogeyman has made sporadic appearances in WWE for years, proving just how memorable and effective his horror imagery was. Fun fact: The Boogeyman is one of actor Timothée Chalamet’s favorite wrestlers.
4. Gangrel and The Brood
Gangrel and his associates Edge and Christian – known collectively as The Brood – were WWE’s resident vampires during the company’s vaulted Attitude Era of the late 1990s.
The Brood looked like they stepped out of the nightclub in Blade and walked to the ring in what many consider to be one of the greatest theme songs of the era. The song, titled after their name, would work great in any haunted house.
Gangrel, with his vampire teeth, would drink blood from a goblet before and after matches. Were the members of The Brood really vampires? Only time will tell; Edge and Christian, who went on to have hall of fame careers, still look pretty good for their age.
3. Kane (masked)
The masked, secret brother of The Undertaker made a frightening entrance when he confronted The Deadman at Badd Blood: In Your House in 1997.
Kane’s famous first appearance featured The Big Red Machine ripping open the door to the Hell in a Cell cage in order to attack The Undertaker. Kane cost his brother the WWE Championship in a match against Shawn Michaels that was all but over.
Kane’s freaky red appearance, coupled with his tragic backstory of having survived a house fire that permanently damaged his face made him one of WWE’s most recognizable faces of horror.
What really made Kane scary, however, was how he was able to match The Undertaker in power and size. Suddenly The Undertaker didn’t seem as powerful. Kane enjoyed a long and storied career in WWE that included everything from him removing his mask to becoming a corporate, suit-wearing stooge, but it was during his time in the 90’s with the red and black mask that Kane was truly terrifying.
2. The Fiend Bray Wyatt
One of the most interesting and lore-rich characters WWE has ever presented, The Fiend Bray Wyatt broke wrestling conventions by not shying away from its horror influences and by not being afraid to get weird.
Bray Wyatt was already a successful, world champion wrestler when he returned with a demented version of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood that would interrupt WWE programming in 2019. The skits, which always started off innocent before swerving into dark overtones and macabre humor, lead into Wyatt’s new persona as The Fiend.
The new persona acted as an anime-powerup that would allow him to defeat all those who had wronged him. The Fiend wore a white, clown-like mask that was designed by horror movie legend Tom Savini.
The Fiend Bray Wyatt was unstoppable for a time, even leading to another world championship. For a while it seemed that Wyatt, real name Windham Rotunda, would be the new leader of horror in WWE following The Undertaker’s retirement. Rotunda sadly died at the age of 36 in 2023, leaving behind a wrestling legacy that will never be forgotten.
1. The Undertaker
Was there ever any doubt? The Undertaker brought horror to WWE in a big way ever since he arrived onto the scene dressed as a gothic funeral worker in 1990.
The Undertaker is one of the most memorable WWE stars of all time with his iconic, light-off entrance along with his flashy wrestling style that includes moves such as the Tombstone and Chokeslam.
All of WWE’s horror-themed matches such as Hell in Cell and the Buried Alive match are because of The Undertaker. Horror as an element of WWE programming is due to the Undertaker’s popularity and how he always treated the subject matter seriously. The Undertaker never let things get too goofy or out of hand, always staying consistent with his graveyard vibes and spooky demeanor.
