Professional wrestlers are always looking for outside inspiration when it comes to their gear, mostly to signify major moments in their careers. A regular source for modern wrestlers is video games, a recent standout being theMortal KombatgearWWE’s New Day wore for several months while wrestling onMonday Night Raw. However, PlayStation’sGod of Wargot a Halloween shoutout this week from WWE and AEW on live TV thanks to Tommaso Ciampa and Stu Grayson.
On the Halloween Havoc edition ofNXT 2.0, Tommaso Ciampa was scheduled to defend his NXT Championship against upstart Bron Breakker, son of famed wrestler Rick Steiner and nephew of Scott Steiner. Breakker came out his typical tie-dye gear, in reference to his father and uncle, while Ciampa payed homage to Kratos with his entrance attire. The outfit was based, largely, on Kratos appearance in 2018’sGod of Warwhile his typical red tattoo was blue to match Ciampa’s regular wrestling gear.
RELATED:WWE 2K22 Leak Points to NBA 2K Style Microtransactions
The next shoutout came in the main event ofAEW Dynamitewhich saw Dark Order’s Evil Uno, Colt Cabana, John Silver, and Stu Grayson take on Kenny Omega, Adam Cole, and the Young Bucks, also known asThe Elite. Halloween spirit was on display as The Elite came out dressed as theGhostbusterswhile the Dark Order team wore a variety of costumes. Stu Grayson was the standout of the team, as he also dressed as Kratos with pale white body paint and a red body tattoo.
While hardcore fans on both sides will likely argue one wrestler stole it from the other, players should applaud the job Ciampa and Grayson both did in bringingKratosto life on wrestling television.
Grayson going this route for his gear shouldn’t be surprising to wrestling fans, though, given his career alongside Evil Uno while on the independent circuit. The pair were formerly known as theSuper Smash Bros, with Evil Uno going by Player Uno and Grayson occasionally going by Player Dos. Given the team’s name, most of their moves were homages to video games, the most notable being their finisher, which is still called the fatality.
Ciampa, on the other hand, may have caught some viewers and players by surprise. The wrestler has never spoken about any video game habits or if he is a fan of any particular franchises. That being said, Ciampa is widely regarded as one of the top guys in NXT even after the2.0rebrand. And what better way to show that than bringing the man who brought down Mount Olympus to life.
MORE:AEW Opening the ‘Forbidden Door’ Could Help the Video Game Roster
