For many wrestlers, their ring attire is sort of like their uniform. The red and yellow of Hulkamania, the bright colors of The Macho Man, the pink and black attack of various Hart members. It doesn’t always help them to get over (Austin did with just black boots and black trunks), but your ring attire helps get you noticed.
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In the generally multi-colored world of Sports Entertainment, when a superstar comes out wearing all-white or mostly white that they don’t ordinarily wear, it pops the crowd. It pops the crowd because of how crisp it looks on the sea of color throughout the arena. Plus, if you’re an uber full-of-yourself heel like Seth Rollins, you can play that up for major heat.
10 Seth Rollins - SummerSlam 2015, WrestleMania 36
Seth Rollins perfected the all-white gear. Since his debut with The Shield, all the guy wore was black. But at SummerSlam 2015. The WWE Champion came into battle wearing all-white for the first time in his career. It garnered such a reaction that the commentary even called attention it. Vince McMahon demanded that he never do that again. Never was approximately four years - Rollins as The Monday Night Messiah donned white attire again for his battle with Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 36.
9 Shawn Michaels - WrestleMania XII
One of the first stars in the modern era that faded to white was The Heartbreak Kid at WrestleMania XII. For the now-mythic 60-minute Iron Man match, Shawn Michaels wore white gear that had silver hearts flare all over them as well.
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After weeks of WWE TV making Bret look like an old man compared to his younger, cooler opponent; the tights just cemented that fact as Shawn just looked crisper compared to the same old’ pink and black that Bret wore to the ring.
8 Rhea Ripley - WrestleMania 36
It took a few years of working for the Indies across the world for the young Aussie, Rhea Ripley, to find her footing and transform herself into all-black wearing Nightmare. The new persona helped her find her way in NXT and become so far the only lady to hold both the UK and US NXT Women's titles. She was also the first every reigning NXT champion who had a WrestleMania match - defending the Women’s Title unsuccessfully against Charlotte Flair. But she did it in attire much different than her standard black - a white top with blue pants; The Nightmare looked like Vegeta for the evening.
7 The New Day - Elimination Chamber 2020
On a recent New Day: Feel The Power podcast, the trio talked with their designer, Jonathan Davenport, about some of their favorite ring gear. Their Color-By-Numbers gear was right at the top of the list. Debuting at Elimination Chamber 2020, the gear was bright white and featured a get well message for the injured Xavier Woods, as well as which colors to color each section with. After the event, Kofi started coloring the tights in to resemble the more colorful gear The New Day has become known for.
6 Yokozuna - Royal Rumble 1993
The mighty Yokozuna had an over nine-month grip on the WWE Title until losing it at WrestleMania X. His career and himself can be remembered for being one of the best big men the sport had ever seen. Yoko was most known for wearing red trunks matched with black Sumo wrap. But while becoming the first-ever superstar to win the Royal Rumble WrestleMania title shot, he wore white tights instead to go with his black wrap.
5 Bayley - WrestleMania 36
As a babyface hugger, Bayley was known for wearing all kinds of bright and colorful shades of neon colors. Once she turned heel, she started to wear solid matching colors.
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At WrestleMania 36, the SmackDown Women’s Champion had her gear wash away all that was once good and kind about the leader of Hug Life. Her all-white ring gear brought back images reminiscent to the Bayley fans grew to love. However, those images had giant black Xs across them, signifying a full-blown nasty heel had emerged.
4 Torrie Wilson - Royal Rumble 2018
The first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble has plenty of big-name returns, perhaps the biggest was Torrie Wilson. The fitness star had plenty of fans thanks to her girl-next-door looks, while some pure wrestling fans were amongst her detractors. For her grand return, she donned an all-white attire that highlighted her blonde locks and amazing physique.
3 Jake Roberts - WrestleMania VIII
Leave it to a nasty vile Heel to wear near all-white to face off against The Undertaker. In what proved to be Jake’s final WWE match for a few years, the man known for wearing mostly dark-colored tights would good and pure white tights (to show how much we all could "trust him"). The idea that Jake wore any kind of white is comical once you learn about the mind behind the mayhem. To show he might not be as pure and sincere as his tights were, he also added a unique snake lady on the side.
2 Finn Balor - SummerSlam 2019
The current NXT Champion is once again atop the brand that he helped to establish. Finn Balor has an interesting few years on the main roster, from becoming the first-ever Universal Champion to being fed to The Fiend on the latter's debut match at SummerSlam 2019.
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Balor must’ve thought it was still a special enough occasion to contrast the dark colors of Bray Wyatt by wearing all white on this evening, from his leather jacket to his armband, and all points in between - maybe if he dressed The Demon in all white, he might have had a better chance against The Fiend.
1 Sunny - WrestleMania XII
The original Diva didn’t just stand in the corner and wait for The Bodydonnas to defeat the Godwinns for the Tag Team Titles during the WrestleMania XII pre-show. She attempted to seduce and ensnare Phineas, who like many fans were easily distracted by the villainous vixen. At WrestleMania, he caught Sunny dressed in all white at the Shows Of Shows, and the distraction was all that was needed to cost The Godwinns the gold.
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