Comic book superheroes and professional wrestling characters have long been viewed in the same vein of entertainment as colorful characters that are larger than life, and numerous wrestlers have appeared or been referenced in comic books.
Spider-Man's first costumed appearance was the result of Peter Parker's need for a colorful gimmick, as he planned to enter and win a wrestling challenge.
Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia written by Ed Kuehnel & Matt Entin, illustrated by Dan Schkade, colors by Marissa Louise and lettered by Dave Lanphear. Published by Suspicious Behavior Productions[8]
"Arachnaman" (portrayed by Brad Armstrong) appeared in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the early 1990s wearing a costume resembling that of Spider-Man's aside from its yellow coloration instead of red. His gimmick included shooting 'webs' upon his ring entrance.
Sting changed from a colorful flamboyant performer to a dark brooding figure after being falsely accused of betrayal in the nWo storyline in late 1996. As a result, he adopted a black and white look and brooded in the rafters of the arenas, mimicking The Crow by James O'Barr in appearance to the point of actual birds appearing as well. Scott Hall suggested the idea to Sting, knowing of the concept but not having seen or read any of the materials himself.
Tiger Mask was originally a popular Japanese manga character; as a result, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) decided to capitalize on this by employing the young Satoru Sayama to play the character as an actual wrestler. The resultant success led to the character being reassigned, following Sayama's retirement, to other wrestlers, namely the now high-profile Mitsuharu Misawa and Koji Kanemoto. The current incarnation is the fourth, played by Yoshihiro Yamazaki.
Gangrel was a vampire character from the White Wolf brand of comics and role-playing games. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employed a wrestler previously known as the Vampire Warrior (real name: David Heath) to play the character, as the leader of a cult-like faction called The Brood, which also consisted of the wrestlers Edge and Christian.
Rob Van Dam is an avid collector, who cites Ghost Rider as his favorite character, and operates his own store, RVD's Five Star Comics, in California, and plans to write his own series.
Raven wrote an issue of Spider-Man: Tangled Web for Marvel Comics. The issue featured a partial rewrite of Spider-Man's history, and focused on Crusher Hogan, the wrestler whom Spider-Man first tested his powers on.
CM Punk has also been hired as a writer for Marvel Comics.
