Sneaker Brands Which Came to Rule the Wrestling Ring
If I asked you to imagine a wrestler, chances are you’d probably picture a grown man in a speedo, some elbow pads and knee pads, boots laced halfway up his legs – the peak male form. Some would rock a singlet, others tights, but for most of wrestling history, the only footwear wrestlers wore in their matches were sturdy wrestling boots. They offered ankle protection and decent cushioning under foot, and they provided a certain level of “I’ll-kick-your-ass” to the wearer (to offset the speedo). I’m not sure Stone Cold Steve Austin would have reached icon status had he been stomping mudholes in a pair of Vans.
Wrestling is having a bit of a revival and a number of modern wrestlers have chosen to forgo boots in lieu of more athletic footwear. Considering that wrestling has become more about high-flying action than mudhole stomping, it makes sense that wrestlers have gravitated towards shoes optimised for running and jumping. From Reebok Pumps to Nike Air Jordans, sneakers have become a regular sight on wrestling programmes. Not only are they comfy, but they offer wrestlers another avenue to flex their unique style. Sneakers have now become such a normalised part of modern wrestling culture that Complex regularly invites wrestlers from WWE and AEW on their Sneaker Shopping show.
While The Killer Bees were likely the first to wear sneakers in the ring with their iconic yellow and black Nike Dunk Highs back at Wrestlemania III, they usually wore boots in their matches and it’d take an entire generation of wrestlers before sneakers became a mainstay in the ring.
The jorts-wearing superman, John Cena, and the daredevil rich-boy, Shane McMahon, were the first two big-name wrestlers who regularly went toe-to-toe with their opponents in classic sneakers. The Dr of Thuganomics’ Reebok Pumps would be inflated as part of his routine in dropping the 5-Knuckle-Shuffle, and Shane-O-Mac could be seen flying off of anything and everything in a variety of Air Jordans.
The 2010s are when wrestlers began to up their sneaker game. Batista wrestled in boots for most of his career but when he came back in 2014, the Air Jordan 28s were his shoe of choice. After breaking his leg in the ring while wearing boots, Enzo Amore found Jordans to be a better fit for his feet and his character. He was hard to miss in his outlandish Jersey-influenced outfits, regularly given the finishing touch by a pair of Js.
At Wrestlemania 35, 32 years after The Killer Bees laced up their Dunks while Kofi Kingston won the WWE Championship wearing a pair of Basquiat-inspired Mache custom Nike Adapt BBs – a much better choice than the Under Armor Curry Two Low Chefs which he got mocked for on global television.
Mache, who has created a number of customs for wrestlers, also leant his touch to a pair of Dunk Highs for Diva’s Champion Nikki Bella in 2015, branding them with her logo and slogan. He followed that up in 2018 for her return to Monday Night Raw with a customised pair of Supreme x Louis Vuitton Jordan 1s. However, the reigning queen of Jordans is arguably, Carmella, who cycled through countless pairs to match her ring outfits.
Nike might have the monopoly on footwear in wrestling, but punk princess AJ Lee had every My Chemical Romance fan frothing in a variety of knee-high Chucks. Her husband, CM Punk, has taken a similarly alternative route, wrestling in Otomixes with kickpads over them (a common occurrence in modern wrestling). While they’re more weightlifting shoes than sneakers, they’re still not boots, and he’s not the only AEW wrestler who finds they give the comfort and support needed. Orange Cassidy rocks a pair of Marty McFly-inspired Otomixes that perfectly encapsulate his too-cool persona.
It’s impossible to mention AEW and sneakers without bringing up The Young Bucks. In a bid to get everyone to hate them, they have branded themselves the kings of Jordans with their weekly (full retail) shopping sprees on their vlog, Being The Elite. They routinely drop thousands of dollars on Jordans whilst taking shots at other wrestlers and talking trash about how poor you, as in the viewers, are. They recently caused a stir by wrestling in Jordan Dior 1s, $10 000 shoes most people wouldn’t take out the box on a special occasion, let alone bring into a boxing ring.
As sports have evolved, and competitors’ needs with them, the brands they don are an increasingly personal representation of their style – both in and out of the ring.
Will we one day see an update to the time-honoured tradition of wrestlers leaving behind their boots in the middle of the ring upon retirement: a lonely pair of Reebok Pumps in the middle of a wrestling ring as John Cena walks up the ramp in his socks and his jorts? Now what a clean finish that would be.
