WWE sure does love their masked wrestlers. They love them so much, in fact, that superstars hardly ever take their trademark face coverage off. Maybe it's because they bring in a boatload of cash, maybe they're so bright and colorful, fans have to pay attention, or maybe they're just cool and wearing a mask only really makes sense in wrestling, where logic and reason don't really exist.
Regardless of the circumstances regarding a hood, even unmasked wrestlers are known to pull a fast one and put a bit of fabric over their faces. Sometimes it's to hide an injury, while for others it's to protect their identity after being banned from the company. Regardless, it's pretty fun when it happens, but hard to keep track of if you have a short memory. If you're one of those people, don't worry, we have you covered.
10 Took It Off: Juventud Guerrera
Depending on when you started (or stopped) watching wrestling, it's probably surprising that this particular superstar wore or even took it off. But yeah, Juventud Guerra was an iconic masked luchador who came to prominence in America in ECW and became a bigger deal when WCW launched its cruiserweight division. Focusing on high-flying, break-neck speeds, the masked man became a popular member of the roster. Yet, eventually, for whatever reason, he was forced to remove his mask in the middle of the ring, after losing a match to Chris Jericho.
Unlike another member of this list, when he signed with WWE, he didn't bring his face-cover back instantly. Instead, he dressed like a maintenance person and teamed with fellow legendary luchadors Supercrazy and Psychosis to come down to the ring on lawnmowers as the Mexicools.
9 Wore Mask: John Cena
When John Cena was "fired" by WWE during the Nexus angle, he never really left. Instead, he wore a luchador mask and called himself Juan Cena. Unfortunately, this didn't last too long, and after some time passed, Nexus offered to bring the Champ back.
Of all the things to dislike from the Nexus story involving John Cena, we guess this is the least offensive. In fact, it was pretty funny. Yet, it's something most of us would prefer to forget when we look back at the legendary career of one of the most successful WWE Superstars of all time.
8 Took It Off: Sin Cara
So, this is kind of cheating, but Sin Cara was unmasked in a match against, well, Sin Cara. No, he didn't wrestle himself, instead, there were two Sin Caras who feuded with each other. The end result saw the evil dark luchador lose his mask and go away forever. Well, in Kayfabe anyway. These days, the original Sin Cara is gone, now wrestling as Carístico and the unmasked Sin Cara, who wrestled unmasked as Hunico, now takes up the moniker.
7 Wore Mask: Edge And Christian & The Hardy Boyz
Edge and Christian may be one of the most iconic tag teams in WWE history, but at one point in time, they wrestled under masks. Not just any maks, however, no, they wrestled as The Conquistadores. Dressed from head to toe in complete gold, they donned the attire of the memorable late 1980s tag-team when they weren't allowed to challenge the Hardys for their belts again. To their credit, the plan worked and for a brief period of time, WWE recognized E&Cs alter-egos as the champions.
Not long after, the Hardy Boyz wore the same garb, pulling a fast one on the Canadian tag team.
6 Took It Off: Psicosis
Psychosis made a name for himself in WCW when the company launched its Cruiserweight division. With horns and bright colors, Psicosis became a recognizable figure in the federation. Unlike other stars on this list, however, he actually lost his mask a bunch of times, but never truly wrestled without it until later in his WCW run. Following that, he mostly wrestled without any face-covering aside from a run-in where he wore the mask of La Parka.
5 Wore Mask: The Miz
Fans love when WWE comes to Canada mostly to see how they will troll fans, and one night in Calgary, The Miz did just that on Raw. Dressed in Calgary Flames (the city's NHL team) garb, and a mask with a big red maple leaf, The Miz came to the ring as The Calgary Kid, the Miz beat a returning Eugene in a contract on a pole match to get a full-time gig in WWE.
We can't think of a more awful thing to do in wrestling than prevent a developmentally disabled (in story) man from getting a second chance at his dream job, but The Miz did it dressed as a hometown hero.
4 Took It Off: The Hurricane
The Hurricane may have been WWE's resident superhero, but when he went bad, he dropped the moniker completely. Wrestling as Gregory Helms, the former Hurricane dominated SmackDown's Cruiserweight Division, dropping the flashy moves for a more brutal, ground-based skillset. While we love the superhero gimmick, we think this was the best the character ever was both in terms of depth and quality of matches.
Eventually, The Hurricane returned after years away, and he was welcomed back with open arms. Even when he was away from WWE, Helms wrestled as the superhero (while mixing in older gimmicks too) and fans flocked to whatever event he was at. That's longevity.
3 Wore Mask: CM Punk
CM Punk really did it all in WWE while he was there. That includes wearing a mask. During his Straight Edge Society days, the Chick Magnet challenged Rey Mysterio to a hair vs mask match, in which he lost. Embarrassed, Punk hid his face, and in turn, his baldness. This lasted for about a month until Big Show ripped off the head covering, exposing Punk's hairless head for the world to see. Interestingly enough, Punk allegedly returned to the ring in 2019 after years of being away, at least as far as we know, to hit his finisher at an independent show.
2 Took It Off: Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio may very well be the most recognizable masked wrestler of all time, but WCW didn't see money in that concept. Instead, for a pretty long time, the Ultimate Underdog wrestled without his iconic fabric covering his face. This was a pretty poor idea because, even today, Mysterio looks super young, but if you go back to 1998, he looked even younger! The wrestler himself was very against the concept but went through with the company's direction anyway.
He didn't get his mask back until signing with WWE in 2002, meaning he wrestled without a mask for years! This was partly due to longstanding traditions in the world of Lucha Libre, but after getting permission to do so, he never wrestled without it again. It's kind of crazy how this part of his career isn't really talked about these days.
1 Wore Mask: Chris Jericho
It's hard to believe, but Chris Jericho's career could have been very different. While working for WCW, Jericho was given the opportunity to wrestle for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) as the two companies had a talent exchange agreement. The Japanese promotion liked Jericho, and wanted him to be the nemesis of the legendary Jushin Thunder Liger, Jericho agreed and wrestled as Super Liger. Unfortunately, he only did it the one time, as NJPW weren't impressed with his showing. So, he went back to WCW and became one of the biggest stars in the world.
Since then, Jericho wears masks all the time, mostly just to beat up unsuspecting wrestlers, but he even wrestled for NJPW again, winning the Intercontinental Championship in the process.