Slam Wrestling’s Painted Faces Quiz

Welcome to your Painted Faces of Wrestling quiz created by the one and only Alex Podgorski for Slam Wrestling. With all the children getting their faces painted for Halloween, we here at SLAM! Wrestling decided celebrate in our own way: with a wrestling quiz dedicated to the many men and women who, over the decades, have painted their faces as part of their craft. So, let's dive in and take a look back at all these famous painted faces.

How much do you know?

Test your knowledge with this quiz.

According to New Japan Pro Wrestling’s own lore, who, or what, exactly, is The Great Muta?The Great Muta is arguably the most famous painted faced wrestler outside North America. Keiji Mutoh first created the character in 1989 and he became an international sensation. Not only was Muta incredibly agile and athletic, but he was also terrifying. He was unpredictable and would become vicious with little provocation. And of course, he is perhaps the most iconic user of the Asian Mist technique that pre-dates him.

A demon from Hell inhabiting the body of Keiji Mutoh

Mutoh’s twisted split personality

The reincarnation of The Great Kabuki

Mutoh’s final form

During his TNA run, Sting ‘re-invented himself’ and became a parody of which Batman character?When Sting signed with TNA in 2006, it was a huge deal, especially for those fans that watched TNA because it filled the void left behind by WCW’s closure. At first, Sting was the same Sting he had been during the dying days of WCW. But a few years into it, his character went in a different direction. He still painted his face like before, but his personality was unlike anything anyone had ever seen from him before.

Two-Face

The Penguin

Heath Ledger’s Joker

Jack Nicholson’s Joker

Whom did The Ultimate Warrior demolish at WrestleMania XII in 1996?The Ultimate Warrior is one of the most iconic wrestlers who painted their faces. His colored face was integral to him standing out from the rest of his peers and helped him become a huge merchandise seller for WWE. Even to this day, Warrior masks depicting his face paint designs continue to sell on WWE.com, and these face paint masks were a key piece of the last promo of his life.

Goldust

Savio Vega

Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Ahmed Johnson

Which of the following wrestlers teamed with the Road Warriors while they wrestled in Japan?The Road Warriors are one of the most memorable tag teams of all time. Their entrance spikes and face paint were heavily inspired by the first Mad Max film The Road Warrior. But even though Hawk and Animal were the main duo for 95% of the team’s existence, they were also joined by other members over the years as well, including this Japanese wrestler.

Kensuke Sasaki

Shinya Hashimoto

Animal Hamaguchi

Masahiro Chono

What explanation did Jeff Hardy give for painting his face?Whether wrestling alone or alongside his brother Matt, Jeff Hardy has always managed to grab fans’ attention. A part of his success in doing that has been his appearance, which has included having his face painted up in creative ways. Then in 2018, he explained one of the main reasons he paints his face before a match.

WWE approached him to do this to make him more marketable

He’s artistic and using his face and body to paint on is easier when traveling

Masks are very uncomfortable for him

He gets sponsorships for promoting certain paint brands

What was/is Abaddon’s gimmick in AEW?Wrestlers with painted faces are usually portrayed as inhuman. The paint reveals a more monstrous side of them and it helps sell the idea that the people beneath the paint, well, aren’t really people at all. This has been the case for Abaddon, a member of AEW’s women’s division. To complement her creepy face paint, she has had a tendency to…

Bite her opponents in the neck, zombie film-style

Ignore all pain and no-sell her opponents completely

Obsess over an inanimate object like George ‘The Animal’ Steele

Go absolutely insane at the sight of blood

The original Goldust character’s obsession with gold was meant to be a parody of what?Goldust came to the ring decked out in a dazzling coat, platinum blonde wig, gold bodysuit and, of course, his face painted gold and black. Most fans remember Goldust for his creepiness and at times perverted tendencies, but what often gets forgotten is what the character was actually making fun of.

Rich people

An Oscar statuette

Hollywood

Ted Turner

Why did Heidenreich suddenly start painting his face towards the end of his run?

Mid-2000s Smackdown was characterized by many wrestlers coming through hoping to become bigger stars. After all, the show was taped at the time and was seen as the ‘little brother’ to established top show RAW. One of the wrestlers introduced during this period was Heidenreich, who tried a bunch of things – including painting his face – to try and connect with the crowd. Alas, it didn’t work.

His ‘disasterpieces’ weren’t getting people’s attention

He was experiencing a mental breakdown

He started teaming with Animal as ‘The New Road Warriors’

A paint company offered him a sponsorship deal if he wore their paint on TV

Where was Stardust billed from?Stardust was one of the most unusual gimmicks of the past decade. WWE saw fit to cast Cody Rhodes as this bizarre, esoteric character not unlike his famous brother Goldust. To complete this gimmick, Stardust was billed as hailing from a place that had nothing to do with the man beneath the gimmick.

Hollywood, California

The Fifth Dimension

The Depths of Outer Space

The Andromeda Galaxy

Vampiro had a special element as part of his gimmick. What was it?Vampiro had a short but interesting run in WCW during the late Monday Night Wars after massive stardom in Mexico. Most of his time was spent in undercard feuds and him fighting other wrestlers with painted faces. But as things grew direr for WCW, it was decided that an additional ‘creative’ element would be added to make Vampiro more engaging.

Blood would fall during his matches

He cut hair from his opponents after beating them

He was the official translator for all the luchadors

He would bite his opponents in attempt to copy Mike Tyson

Whom did Demolition beat to win their first world titles?Demolition (Ax-Bill Eadie and Smash-Barry Darsow) was one of the most accomplished tag teams in WWE history. Their first reign lasted a whopping 478 days, which was the longest tag title reign in history until The New Day surpassed it in 2016.

The British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith)

The Hart Foundation (‘Hitman’ Bret Hart & Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart)

The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard)

Strike Force (Rick Martel & Tito Santana)

According to Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, what did the word ‘Umaga’ mean in Samoan?Umaga was one of many wrestlers to come from the fabled Anoa’i wrestling family. Like many before him, he portrayed a savage character that couldn’t speak beyond wild shouts and grunts. But despite that character and its limitations, he achieved quite a bit of success during his short WWE tenure. He was always treated like a serious threat; that is, until one of his cousins appeared on the TitanTron and revealed what the word ‘Umaga’ (supposedly) means.

‘The End’

‘Jabroni’

The name of a Samoan deity

‘Shriveled up monkey penis’

What was The Boogeyman’s signature ‘act’ done to scare other wrestlers?The Boogeyman was as wacky a character as any in WWE. Introduced during the mid-2000s, this creepy wrestler had a face covered in red and black paint, lacked some teeth, and entered the arena with a smoking staff and ominous mist. But the strangest part of his gimmick involved what he did once he got into the ring (and no, it wasn’t his actual wrestling).

He vomited on command

He rubbed his toes over his opponents’ faces

He ate live worms

He blew snot on his defeated opponents

Aside from his usual ‘Demon’ appearance, Finn Balor has made special appearances painted up as which famous characters?During his time in NXT, Finn Balor was basically the fan-service wrestler. People loved his normal entrance and they adored his ‘Demon’ appearance that he saved for his most important matches. Not satisfied with entering the arena painted up like a boss, Balor has also gone as far as to paint himself and dress up as a character synonymous with the city he was wrestling in. But which of those character(s) did he portray?

Venom

Jack The Ripper

Leatherface

All of the above

What did Jinsei Shinzaki have painted on his face and body?Shinzaki, also known as Hakushi in WWF/E, had a unique element to his gimmick. After taking off his entrance attire, it was revealed that his face and torso were covered in some kind of script. What was this script and what did it mean?

His script for his matches, which he’d read to himself in the mirror before a match

Messages to Japanese fans watching WWF programming

Buddhist shakyos, or hand-written sutras

Random jibberish

What reason(s) did Darby Allin give for painting half his face?Most wrestlers, when they paint their face, they do it for the whole face. But not Darby Allin. Part of his gimmick is that he paints only one half of his face to resemble a skull. People speculated why, but it wasn’t until a recent sit-down interview with Jim Ross that Allin explained it once and for all.

He feels half-dead inside since he survived a car crash that killed his intoxicated uncle

He paints himself like this to show people how we’re all the same on the inside

Being homeless for three years brought him very close to death more than once

He’s fearless and wants to express how he’s willing to dance with death in another medium

Kamala was billed as a giant hailing from which country?Kamala was one of many big men that wrestled in WWE during the 1990s. He was portrayed as a savage from somewhere in Africa. Part of this gimmick presentation included him being dressed in a loincloth and having his face painted in a menacing black and white. Later managers tried to ‘humanize’ this ‘savage’ by exposing him to the American way of life. It was a different time back then.

Madagascar

Zimbabwe

Somalia

Uganda

When did Gallows & Anderson join Bullet Club?Bullet Club is arguably the biggest and most famous stable in wrestling history, with only the NWO comparable. What started as a generic foreigners’ stable in New Japan grew to span many promotions in different countries. At the time of this writing, 44 wrestlers and non-wrestlers have been full-time or part-time members, including the famous tag team of Gallows & Anderson. But when did they join the stable?

In May 2013, as founding members alongside first leader Prince Devitt (Finn Balor now)

In April 2014, when AJ Styles took over the stable

In August 2014, when Jeff Jarrett joined the stable

In November, 2014 when Bullet Club introduced Kenny Omega

Which of the following is NOT one of the teams the Usos beat to win tag team gold in WWE?The Usos are one of WWE’s most decorated teams. They’ve been with the company for over a decade and have been a staple of its tag team division for almost that entire period. They’ve beaten many top tag teams to win gold, except for…

The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg)

The Mysterios (Rey & Dominick)

The Wyatt Family

The Miz & Damien Mizdow

Papa Shango was based on which character/figure?

Papa Shango was one of the most memorable characters of the early 1990s for better or worse. A wrestling voodoo practitioner, Shango would curse his opponents with hexes and perform wacky supernatural acts like make them vomit from afar. Unsurprisingly, Shango was loathed by many fans during that period and disappeared after about only a year in WWE.

The Yoruba deity Shango

Baron Criminel

Papa Legba

Baron Samedi

Damián 666 was inspired by which film?Damián 666 is one of the most famous Mexican wrestlers to not wear a mask. Instead of following most of his fellow luchadors by donning a mask, he decided to wear face paint and adopt a macabre persona. This personality was presented to him while he was working in Japan, and was inspired by the following film:

The Exorcist

Santo contra el cerebro diabolico (Santo vs. The Diabolical Brain)

Halloween

The Omen

Which set of teams portrayed ‘The Four Doinks’ in Doink the Clown’s feud with Bam Bam Bigelow at the 1993 Survivor Series?In 1993, Doink the Clown was feuding with Bam Bam Bigelow in WWF/E. And since Survivor Series was approaching, they decided to settle things in a four-on-four elimination match at that event. To accomplish this, Doink enlisted two teams to help him achieve this goal. Who were they?

Men on a Mission & The Bushwackers

The Steiners & The Heavenly Bodies

The Quebecers & Money Inc.

The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express & The Headshrinkers

Which of the following is NOT one of the companies Aja Kong wrestled for?Aja Kong is one of the most famous women’s wrestlers in history. She was basically a women’s version of Vader: a heavyset monster that dished out brutal punishment and could take a monumental beating. Though she made a name for herself mainly in her home country of Japan, she has also wrestled internationally as well, most recently appearing for AEW in 2021.

WWE

All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling

DDT Pro-Wrestling

Trick Question: she wrestled for all of them

The Renegade was introduced as a rip-off of which famous wrestler?WCW produced many interesting wrestlers during the 1990s. Some were great like Goldberg and its cruiserweight division. Others were silly and ridiculous, like The Ye-TAY and The Alliance to end Hulkamania. Then there was The Renegade, who had a flash-in-the-pan moment in the sun before fading into obscurity.

The Undertaker

The Ultimate Warrior

Roddy Piper

Shawn Michaels

Why did Jushin Liger summon his alter-ego Kishin Liger in 2019?Most people recognize Jushin Liger as a masked cruiserweight legend. What few people might recall is that he has an evil alter-ego named ‘Kishin Liger’. When Kishin appears, Liger’s mask comes off and his face looks like a cross between The Great Muta and Gene Simmons from KISS. Kishin has only appeared four times in Liger’s 36-year career, as it has only appeared under the most serious of circumstances.

He was unable to beat Hiromu Takahashi in a normal match

Jay White embarrassed him during the NJPW’s big Madison Square Garden show

Minoru Suzuki had desecrated his sacred mask

He did it as a tribute to Hayabusa

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Slam Wrestling’s Painted Faces Quiz

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