The 2000s were a great time for masked wrestlers around the world as the era saw the arrival of Rey Mysterio into the WWE, who was able to get his mask back after being forced to remove it while in WCW, and the debut of a small Philly based promotion by the name of Chikara. Other promotions saw top stars donning interesting designs like CMLL, AAA, and Ring of Honor just to name a few.
Masked wrestlers have been a staple of the sport since the very start, mostly starting with Lucha wrestling, but almost every promotion wanted to try and capitalize on the popularity of names like Rey Mysterio and Jushin Liger who are easily some of the most recognizable mask designs from this decade. So without further ado, let’s take a look at the best wrestling masks of the 2000s.
10 Rey Mysterio
Starting with the name that kicked off this wrestling mask boom of the 2000s, Rey Mysterio debuted in the WWE in 2002 immediately kicking off a feud with Kurt Angle. The mask would be very similar to the design that Rey had in WCW with the biggest change being that of the cross on his head replacing the crown.
Mysterio also became a massive merchandise seller for WWE during this time as he was constantly debuting new masks for almost every match that he had. The actual design features the iconic cross as mentioned before and the eagles pointing towards Mysterio’s mouth. The many different designs he had also helped rank this as one of the top masks of all time.
9 Jushin Liger
Despite Jushin Liger debuting his costume and mask in 1989, Liger would arguably reach his peak outside just his home promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling during the 2000s. Liger might have arguably been at his peak in NJPW as well with the debut of his heel stable Control Terrorism Unit, CTU.
Liger’s mask is one of the more complex designs of all time featuring long black hair, spiked horns on the top and side of his head, and the insanely off-putting demon eyes and mouth. Many fans might know that the design was based on the anime, Jushin Liger, to try and capture the same success they had with Tiger Mask prior.
8 La Sombra
The character of La Sombra would arrive in CMLL in June 2007. The name translates to The Shadow, current AEW star Andrade El Idolo would find much success in the promotion including Tag Team Championships and Welterweight gold. La Sombra would also venture outside of Mexico to wrestle in NJPW where he would beat Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in 2013.
Much like other wrestlers donning masks, La Sombra’s would feature different designs and colors to stand out on occasion but always featured the diamond-like shape on the head and jagged spikes on the head and cheeks.
7 Aero Star
Aero Star began his career in 2003 by joining Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide under the name El Acuatico, The Aquatic. After working with AAA for a few years, Aero Star would receive his new ring persona and design. Aero Star’s design would be famous for being the final design of AAA founder, Antonio Pena, before his passing a few months prior.
Aero Star wouldn’t find much of his success until the 2010s but was an amazing design despite that. The mask features many colorways and has a star sitting in the middle of a crest on the forehead and a connected eyepiece with wings tapering off the sides.
6 Extreme Tiger
Extreme Tiger started his wrestling career by training with Rey Misterio Sr before joining AAA. Extreme Tiger started with AAA in 2006 as a rudo (bad guy) and would work there until 2012 when he joined Impact Wrestling as Tigre Uno. He captured the X Division Championship before leaving and working on the Indy circuit.
His amazing mask design features striking white teeth poking out above his mouth and an often black and white cat-like design with whiskers and ears poking out on the top. The colors do change like other masks and recently has started featuring fur coming from the ears to the edges of the mask similar to that of NJPW’s Tiger Mask.
5 Mascara Dorada
Long before he made his arrival in the WWE as Gran Metalik, the luchador wrestled with CMLL under the Mascara Dorada. This character change for him would be the first of its kind as he was based on a mini luchador named Mascarita Dorada, famously El Torito in WWE. Dorada captured countless championships while in CMLL including the Super Lightweight and World Trios Championships.
Dorada’s mask looked very similar to what he had in the WWE featuring many different color designs. He also would sometimes feature designs that either covered his entire face with a piece of black fabric or paint around his eyes to give the look a darker mood.
4 El Hijo Del Fantasma
Maybe known to most fans now as Santos Escobar in the WWE, El Hijo Del Fantasma is the son of a famous luchador El Fantasma. Escobar adopted the name around 2003 and would start wearing a mask identical to that of his fathers before him. Before arriving in the WWE, Fantasma found championship success in both CMLL and AAA and was even a vital part of Lucha Underground at its peak.
The Fantasma mask is stylized to look like the comic book character The Phantom with purple and white being the main colors. A similar design would be used by Rey Mysterio during his iconic Halloween Havoc match against Eddie Guerrero in 1997.
3 UltraMantis Black
As mentioned prior, the 2000s saw the introduction of a smaller and more out-there wrestling promotion in Chikara. One of the most recognizable faces or masks of that promotion would be UltraMantis Black. He started off as a face superhero character before turning heel and adopting the Black portion of his name and changing his gear to match a darker theme.
UltraMantis would be one of many bug-related characters in Chikara with his mask featuring a striking large mantis face with massive circles for eyes. The color would often change and be accompanied by a long coat with a massive collar and staff featuring a skull at the top.
2 El Generico
One of the most recognizable names from Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Ring of Honor, El Generico was a parody character of luchadors and was famous for his ole! catchphrase. Generico would capture multiple titles including the PWG and ROH World Tag Team Championships alongside partner and rival Kevin Steen, now Kevin Owens in the WWE.
El Generico’s mask went through many changes during his career including a cat-like design and a more spiky traditional design later on. It also went through many colors but was primarily a combination of black, white, and red.
1 Mistico
Mistico has had multiple amazing designs for his mask throughout his career. Mistico started wrestling with CMLL in 2004 and would eventually become one of the biggest names in the promotion before signing a WWE contract and rebranding as Sin Cara. He would be released from WWE in 2014 and quickly went back to Mexico wrestling with AAA and CMLL once again.
His mask was a similar design to that of Rey Mysterio’s with a cross on the head and wings coming from the eyes of the mask, he also had lines similar to a sunburst on the bottom covering his mouth. The mask stood out more as well due to Mistico often wearing white contacts while wrestling.