Kishin Liger & 9 Other Great Wrestling Alter Egos

Pro wrestling is entirely made up of athletes portraying fictional characters -- or, at the very least, fictionalized versions of themselves. Overall, most wrestlers tend to work one gimmick at a time, but some wrestlers have worked multiple gimmicks. The best examples of this are the various wrestlers who used to work double and even triple duty for CHIKARA, but generally in those cases they’re considered different characters in kayfabe.

Then there are the wrestlers who actually have alter egos on top of their usual gimmick. Let’s take a look at 10 of those personas, which include superheroes, demons, and a lawyer.

10 Kishin Liger

Jushin Thunder Liger is one of the most influential junior heavyweights of all time, but he had something dark lurking within him. In 1996, The Great Muta attempted to remove Liger’s mask during a match, prompting his alter-ego of Kishin Liger to emerge.

A demonic persona, Kishin Liger was more vicious than Jushin Liger, and only appears on rare occasions. The last time Kishin Liger manifested was during a feud with Minoru Suzuki, as the heel basically coaxed the persona out of Liger to violent results.

9 Joseph Park

One of the best storylines going on in 2012-2014 Impact involved the mysterious disappearance of “The Monster” Abyss and subsequently, the introduction of his brother, dopey lawyer Joseph Park. Joseph Park -- obviously an unmasked Abyss -- was in search of his missing brother, and ended up taking part in matches in the process.

He was such a fun character who stood on his own that it was still kind of a surprise when it was revealed that Joseph Park was just an alternate personality of Abyss.

8 Matt Hardy

By 2021, it feels like Matt Hardy at this point can be considered the superior Hardy. After all, he’s taken his entire career and turned “having had multiple gimmicks over the years” into a gimmick unto itself, which has been rife for entertaining shenanigans.

After debuting in AEW in 2020, Hardy started to display the ability to switch between personas on command. This was best seen during the pre-taped stadium brawls between The Elite and The Inner Circle, where Hardy was able to transform into Broken Matt Hardy, Matt Hardy Version 1, and other iterations of himself.

7 The Blue Blazer

The late, great Owen Hart spent his early WWE years wrestling as the masked Blue Blazer, famously fighting Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania V. In the Attitude Era, Hart returned to the gimmick, but it was presented as one of those alter egos where everyone on screen knew it was just Owen in a mask.

It was a pretty silly gimmick -- and one that would lead to his untimely death -- but the concept was perfect for Hart because he wasn’t a huge fan of WWE’s edgy content at the time.

6 The Great Muta

Keiji Mutoh is one of the top stars of 1990s New Japan Pro Wrestling, but Western fans know him best as the poison mist-spitting Great Muta. However, the two personas aren’t mutually exclusive, as Mutoh used them interchangeably, often employing the more unpredictable, heelish, and violent Muta gimmick when it was time for an important match.

He’s done this as recently as 2021, having won the GHC Heavyweight Championship as Keiji Mutoh in February, but becoming The Great Muta to fight Kenou.

5 Mr. NXT

The third-ever NXT Champion, Bo Dallas had one of the most entertaining title runs in developmental as a heel who was convinced he was a plucky babyface. After dropping the title to Adrian Neville at NXT Arrival, Dallas tried to win back the belt to no avail, and was forced to beat Big E Langston in a match or leave NXT.

Bo lost, but then donned a mask, returning as hot new signee Mr. NXT. This hilarious attempt at a ruse failed, and Dallas was dragged out of Full Sail University kicking and screaming.

4 Dude Love

After making a career as Cactus Jack in WCW and ECW and putting on insane deathmatch wars with Terry Funk in Japan, Mick Foley came to WWE as the deranged masked sadist Mankind. After feuding with The Undertaker, Foley revealed an additional persona -- and one opposing all his other identities.

Dude Love was a character Foley portrayed in home movies as a kid, and brought the persona to WWE as a funky hippie character clad in tie dye. It was stupid, but stupid enough to be funny and therefore good.

3 The Fiend

As a swamp-dwelling hillbilly cult leader, Bray Wyatt was set to go down as one of WWE’s best performers of all time, despite shoddy booking constantly killing his appeal, mystique, and momentum. But when he changed his gimmick in 2019, he all but proved that he’s going to be considered one of the best.

Now a wholesome children’s TV show host, Wyatt gained the ability to transform into a demonic entity called The Fiend, the rare supernatural character who’s often actually capable of being scary -- that is, until WWE booking messed that up, too.

2 Willow The Wisp

Due to the fact that Matt has been so prolific with his alternate personas, it’s easy to forget that Jeff Hardy has one too -- and it’s somehow way wackier than his brother’s. Donning facepaint and an umbrella in a black and white motif, “The Charismatic Enigma” becomes Willow (a.k.a. Willow The Wisp), a character extremely reminiscent of Tim Burton’s aesthetic.

In 2013, Hardy introduced the character to Impact and even briefly returned to it during the legendary Final Deletion.

1 The Demon

On the indies and the international scene, Prince Devitt had a tendency to don elaborate body paint, notably making himself to look like Venom, the Joker, and other characters. But after becoming Finn Balor in WWE, he decided to make that gimmick into a full-on alter ego, transforming into The Demon whenever it was time for a high-stakes matchup.

However, Balor made a conscious decision to stop relying on that gimmick, and he hasn’t become The Demon since 2019.

NEXT: Why Finn Bálor Should Bring Back The Demon (& Why He Shouldn't)