While in most cases, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery in the wrestling world it can be seen as the ultimate insult. When you wear the outfit or the shirt of one of your enemies that’s akin to ancient warrior tradition smearing their blood across your body (and thankfully that is not advocated for anymore!).
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It’s always a pop-worthy moment. Donning what your opponent wears makes the fans just want to boo you more for the audacity of doing such a thing. It’s an easy way to get heel heat and a tried and true way too.
10 Undertaker As Kane
Just two weeks after the infamous 1998 King Of The Ring, Mankind, The Undertaker, and Kane fought each other in the main event of Raw to see who the number one contender would be. But when bell tolled, there was no Deadman.
The match would carry on without The Phenom. Mankind decided that he would not fight his friend Kane, only to reveal that The Big Red Machine wasn’t the one under the mask, it was in fact The Lord Of Darkness, and he once again obliterated Mankind.
9 The Miz And Maryse As John Cena And Nikki Bella
On the road to WrestleMania 33, The Miz and Maryse let out their true feelings on their opponents, John Cena and Nikki Bella. But the 'It' Couple did with style.
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They parodied the two in several skits, showcasing how vapid Maryse thought Nikki was and all the ridiculous demands that John Cena placed on his then-girlfriend.
8 Rick Rude
While The Ravishing Hall Of Famer never wore his opponents’ gear, he does deserve to be on this list for being a master of mind games when it comes to putting his opponents’ on his own tights. At WrestleMania 5, he challenged the Ultimate Warrior for the IC title and had it already on his tights.
A year earlier he was locked in combat with Jake Roberts and famously has Mrs. Cheryl Roberts airbrushed on his tights. Rude made it a habit of many big matches to go all out and mess with his opponents.
7 Seth Rollins
Thanks to wearing Polka Dots, ala Dusty Rhodes and several months prior resurrecting his Shield getup to get in Roman Reigns’ head, he has become a master at manipulating crowds and opponents through his gear. His first go around was at the 2020 SummerSlam.
Taking on Dominik Mysterio in the kids first ever match, he wore gear reminiscent of Rey’s Phantom garb from his classic with Eddie Guerrero from Halloween Havoc 1997.
6 Various Wrestlers As Sting
Thanks to the face paint, more often than not, people have impersonated the man called Sting. First was Barry Windham when the Stinger was set to defend the WCW title against Sid. Windham played Sting but the real Stinger came out to have the decision reversed and defeated Sid to retain.
Years later, guy like Jeff Jarrett and even Kevin Nash have donned the face paint of the Icon. Of course the most famous instance was the impetus of The Crow character when Jeff Farmer and the nWo pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes leading up to Halloween Havoc 1996.
5 Raven Wearing Sandman T-Shirts
During ECW’s heyday, one of the most despicable but intriguing villains was Raven. He was waging war with the likes of Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman; often at the same time. With the man behind the character, Scott Levy being an avid comic book reader, it made perfect sense to wear all sorts of comic book shirts.
But the one that would get under The Sandman’s skin the most would be wearing the shirt of the titular character of Neil Caiman’s amazing Vertigo title.
4 DX As The Nation
No matter what has happened on Raw in the past nearly thirty years or so, D-Generation X roaming around dressed as their rivals, The Nation Of Domination takes the cake as one of the most beloved segments in WWE history.
Yes it’s tawdry, and on the wrong side of what’s acceptable nowadays. But during The Attitude Era, watching The Crock run around with Mizark and B-Lo was grade-A television.
3 AJ Lee As Kaitlyn / Nikki Bella
The anti-diva was able to go for the gusto against not one but two of her opponents during her run. First was when she was taking on her former bestie, Kaitlyn and had a pretty funny fake body suit to show off some muscles. Kaitlyn actually returned the favor to raise the ire of her former friend.
Just a few years later, AJ Lee was at it again, this time prancing around the ring as Nikki Bella shortly before losing the Divas title to her.
2 Kevin Owens As Stone Cold Steve Austin
No matter what he has done or will do throughout the course of his career, Kevin Owens will always be a WrestleMania headliner and the man who got Stone Cold Steve Austin out of cryo-sleep for a fight. But prior to that huge moment from WrestleMania 38, Owens derided Austin and his home state of Texas (coincidentally’Mania’s host city) every chance he got.
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On one occasion, The Prizefighter stomped to the ring dressed up as The Rattlesnake.
1 CM Punk As Jeff Hardy
It’s been said many times over, CM Punk is a great good guy, but he is a way better bad guy. It takes a lot of talent to get a crowd to chants your name to want to then see you get punched in the face. Punk did it with ease in 2009.
After cashing in his Money In The Bank briefcase on Jeff Hardy, he consistently derided the Rainbow Haired Warrior for his life choices. On one particular edition of SmackDown, he juked and jived to the ring dressed up as Hardy in a performance that could have fooled anyone.
