[Seafort]

Watching the Royal Rumble right now, it is striking just how colorless and generic much of the ring attire is. In the past when two wrestlers faced off, there was always a clash of colors:

Hulk Hogan (yellow)
Randy Savage (red)
Mr Perfect (neon)
Warrior (various colors)
Andre (black singlet)
Steamboat (red or white)
Dino Bravo (blue)
Honkytonk Man (various)

Yet in recent years, the default color is black. Roman Reigns wears black. Seth Rollins generally wears black. Stardust is black. John Cena's jorts are now black. Sheamus is quite often wearing black. Del Rio and Rusev wear black. Randy Orton usually wears black. And so on.

Visually, it makes for a dull presentation.

Fast forward to tonight's Royal Rumble and what do we see?

Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens: We have Ambrose in a black shirt and jeans versus Owens in a black t-shirt and shorts.

When did colorful attire go away?

How did we go from this....

...to this?

 

[They LIVE]

Re: Colorless wrestling attire in today's WWE

Well, Usos vs New Day should make you happy haha.

 

[HorsemenTerritory]

I'm more concerned with guys like Orton, who used to wear the same tights in a multitude of colors, switching to almost all black (although to be fair, Orton started going back about a year and a half ago, with blue, grey, and red tights).

It's what I loved about Punk, the same design every time with a different color scheme, made it cool. Plus he'd throw in special patterns for big shows.

I know it's a dumb thing to "mark" for, but I've always been like that. HBK in 1996 is the best example of this.

 

[Seafort]

Re: Colorless wrestling attire in today's WWE

Well, Usos vs New Day should make you happy haha.

Yeah, but New Day is the exception and the throwback...not the rule.

 

[CEEJ]

Plenty of guys still have colourful ring gear and plenty don't, it's always been that way

 

[Seafort]

I'm more concerned with guys like Orton, who used to wear the same tights in a multitude of colors, switching to almost all black (although to be fair, Orton started going back about a year and a half ago, with blue, grey, and red tights).

It's what I loved about Punk, the same design every time with a different color scheme, made it cool. Plus he'd throw in special patterns for big shows.

I know it's a dumb thing to "mark" for, but I've always been like that. HBK in 1996 is the best example of this.

Exactly. I thought it was cool when Rollins debued the white tights for SummerSlam last year.

Basically, the ring attire should enhance the gimmick and character that the wrestler is displaying. Going with the same color scheme for most of the roster is lazy and greatly reduces the spectacle on screen. If they're going to do this, why not go the full Ring of Honor route, turn down the lights, make the mat color black, and the ring ropes black too?

A few more examples:

 

[Seafort]

Plenty of guys still have colourful ring gear and plenty don't, it's always been that way

No, I think it's different now. Ideally, each wrestler should have a primary color and an alternate color, so that there is contrast in each match. WWE in the 1980s and most of the 1990s did this. Even HHH did it at WrestleMania in his match against Booker T.

Think the NFL - The Miami Dolphins would not wear their alternate orange uniforms when playing the Denver Broncos at home.

 

[TNA is Here]

The only time black has worked was in the WWF during the AE and on WCW Nitro.

But the whole content and raunchier product fit it. Now it just makes things tame.

 

[T'Challa]

I feel like it is a thing in modern media in general tbh.

 

[Honeymoon]

Queen of colour! Poor lessors, with their bland attire.

 

[P.H. Hatecraft]

It has been scientifically calculated by Vince's researchers that having the arena be sesame street in color in addition to colorful attire would give children massive convulsions. So they make wrestlers wear black to contrast with the rainbow colored arena.

 

[Oneiros]

Re: Colorless wrestling attire in today's WWE

Well, Usos vs New Day should make you happy haha.

Party hard in the paint baby :dance

 

[Miss Sally]

Huh? New day and Usos were colorful, Sandow and most of the tag teams were in color, Del Rio and Kalisto were in colors, the divas are in colors, also Jericho has always worn black with lots of color added in. Lesnar would look stupid in anything but black.

 

[Seafort]

Huh? New day and Usos were colorful, Sandow and most of the tag teams were in color, Del Rio and Kalisto were in colors, the divas are in colors, also Jericho has always worn black with lots of color added in. Lesnar would look stupid in anything but black.

I should have clarified. The Divas are colorful. It's the male roster that is generally wearing black.

Miz and Sandow:

Prime Time Players (although they have alternate colors):

As for Lesnar, he has previously worn red:

 

[Seafort]

Let's use this year's Royal Rumble entrants as the sample:

#01 Roman Reigns - black t-shirt and pants
#02 Rusev - black tights
#03 AJ Styles - predominantly black tights with blue accents
#04 Tyler Breeze - black and gold tights
#05 Curtis Axel - black trunks
#06 Chris Jericho - black and red trunks
#07 Kane - black and red trunks (and a visit to the Sheamus tanning booth!)
#08 Goldust - black body suit with gold
#09 Ryback - blue singlet
#10 Kofi Kington - pink
#11 Titus O'Neil - black trunks
#12 R-Truth - blackish/gray pants
#13 Luke Harper - blue jeans
#14 Stardust - black and purple bodysuit
#15 Big Show - black singlet with gray accents
#16 Neville - red and black tights
#17 Braun Strowman - brown pants
#18 Kevin Owens - black pants, black shirt
#19 Dean Ambrose - blue jeans
#20 Sami Zayn - black trunks
#21 Eric Rowan - black body suit
#22 Mark Henry - black body suite with red accents
#23 Brock Lesnar - black shorts
#24 Jack Swagger - black singlet with silver
#25 The Miz - black tights (with gold)
#26 Alberto Del Rio - black trunks with red accents
#27 Bray Wyatt - black pants, black shirt
#28 Dolph Ziggler - black and white pants
#29 Sheamus - black trunks
#30 HHH - black trunks

 

[neolunar]

#RumbleSoBlack
#BoycottMania

 

[Drago]

Budget cuts? Black attire means you're washing it less. :jericho2