Pop culture finding its way into the world of professional wrestling is nothing new, and the modern wrestling landscape is seeing wrestlers' love of gaming seep into the ring more and more. Wrestlers will typically look to their own fandom to bring a fresh twist to their look when it comes time for a big show to help stand out from the rest of the pack. This was the same at AEW's first pay-per-view for 2022, Revolution, where two of the company's biggest stars were seen representing Mortal Kombat and Halo, respectively.
First was the TBS Champion, Jade Cargill, who was scheduled to defend her title against Tay Conti as part of the former's ongoing open challenge. For her attire, the champ took inspiration from Mortal Kombat's own Jade with gear inspired by the character's appearance in 2011's Mortal Kombat. It also complimented the green hair Cargill recently changed to, reflecting her self-confidence as a money-drawing star for the young wrestling company.
Halo was then given a visual shout-out by Adam Cole, who was set to challenge AEW World Champion "Hangman" Adam Page in Revolution's main event. Cole, who is an outspoken fan of the Halo series, came to the ring with jacket and body armor in the style of series protagonist Master Chief. The rest of his gear followed the same design and color scheme to fit with the custom entrance jacket the undisputed star was rocking.
These are just the latest in what is becoming a long list of gaming-inspired gear and looks wrestlers are can be seen in. The New Day, for example, will regularly look to game and nerd culture for new gear designs every few months to freshen up their look, previously pulling from Mortal Kombat and Final Fantasy for new gear. NXT wrestler Tommaso Ciampa and AEW wrestler Stu Grayson were also seen in 2018 God of War-inspired looks a day apart from each other to celebrate Halloween 2021.
Viewers shouldn't be surprised to see more gaming-inspired gear from AEW wrestlers in the future, in particular from Cole.
As mentioned above, Cole is avid gamer who viewers can regularly see indulging on his Twitch channel, where he goes by the screen name TheCHUGS. He can be seen playing Halo fairly regularly, given his love for the series, but can also be seen playing games from the Legend of Zelda series and, more recently, Elden Ring, as he is also an outspoken fan of FromSoftware.