The pro wrestling obsession with Nike

When Batista returned to the WWE this year, a lot of people made a big deal out of his new look. Which was pretty much the same look as his last run in the company, only this time around he was wearing Nike Jordan XX8s instead of calf-high wrestling boots. And by the time he took a leave of absence from the company, he had taken to coordinating his entire ring outfit with the colorway of his sneakers.

A portion of Batista’s new DVD features a behind-the-scenes look at his first match back, at the 2014 Royal Rumble. In particular, it focuses on a mishap with his Jordans, which he refers to as his “new boots.”

Nice kicks. Shame about the zipper.

Here’s a shot of Big Dave at Extreme Rules, wearing his all-red gear to match his XX8s:

And here’s the one that really got the Internet into a tizzy, as his blue colorway XX8s and his blue trunks spawned the insta-meme “Blue-tista.”

But although Batista may be the most visible sneakerhead in the WWE, he’s far from the only one. Here’s just a pair of the WWE stars who wore Nikes on television and in the ring the same week of the “Blue-tista” debut.

Nikki Bella of the Bella Twins rocks the Nike Blazer:

Damien Sandow, in the midst of garnering some cheap heat from the Indianapolis crowd, donned a Lance Stephenson jersey and a pair of Jordan True Flight:

And of course, no one is more obsessed with Jordans than the most iconic pro wrestler of all time:

Heck, Hogan loves Jordan shoes so much that he wore the “Crimson” Air Jordan IIIs at WrestleMania XXX in April:

But this obsession with Nike is far from new in the wrestling game. In the mid-1990s, you could find Sycho Sid stepping out of a Cadillac backstage at a pay-per-view while rocking Js:

And ca. 1997, even Jim Ross was wearing Jordan 1s while doing in-ring interviews:

This isn’t even counting Bret and Owen Hart wearing matching Nike Zoom T-Bug Flights, or Kevin Nash wearing Garnetts in the late WCW days. Arguably, the most high-profile wearer of Jordans in the business was Shane McMahon, who pretty much wore Jordans every single time he wrestled.

So why are wrestlers so obsessed with Nike shoes? What started their fascination with the brand and what has led to this unexpected overlap of wrestling and hip-hop culture?

For Global Force Wrestling founder and former multiple-time world champion Jeff Jarrett, the trend started way back at the beginning ... with the help of a famous benefactor.

“I graduated high school in 1985,” Jarrett begins. “And as you know, a guy named Michael Jordan busts onto the professional scene around that time. The first Jordans came out and they were nowhere to be found in [the] Nashville area, but I had a friend of mine you might know; at the time, my dad’s business partner: Jerry “The King” Lawler. He actually got me a pair of Nike Jordans -- my first pair ever. I was a senior in high school and I was one of the only [people] around to get them. So my affinity for Nike goes that far back.”

Another wrestler who has a long history with the Jordan brand is former WWE and TNA wrestler (and former American Gladiator) Matt Morgan. “It started with the very first pair of Air Jordans that came out. Those were going to be the very first $100 sneakers, as I recall. The way it went was, my mom just laughed when I asked her if I could get a pair. Straight-up, I asked her, how do I get [these shoes]? My allowance was a joke. My allowance was like $5 for the month, to do basic chores that every kid’s supposed to be doing anyway. She made a deal with me and I had to wait a little bit, obviously, but the deal was: I had to make the next semester’s honor roll. So that whole next half of a year, I busted my butt. I wanted that pair more than anything. So I busted my tail, got honors and she had to go out, in the end, and get me those Jordans.” Morgan’s mother offered him the same deal every semester starting in third grade. “By the third pair, she obviously smartened up, so by the third pair she said, ‘You need a full year of first honors, no more of this half-a-year crap.’ So I was always about eight or nine months behind the trend.”

Morgan has remained fiercely loyal to the brand ever since. “[When I was a kid], I thought I was gonna get better performance out of it and I thought they were the most comfortable shoes on the planet. But as I got older, it became more of an aesthetic thing. It sounds arrogant, but like a status type thing. Plus, I’m a huge Jordan fan and I loved showing it at any turn I could. I’ve got every Jordan jumpsuit on the planet, too.”

Beyond wrestling (where, like Jarrett, he wears wrestling boots instead of Nikes), Morgan also played Division-I basketball for Monmouth University and got to play in the 1996 NCAA Tournament, which coincided with his deep love for Nike. “What was sweet was, when you play D1, Nike keeps sending each guy on the team a fresh pair whenever you ask! I went through nine in one season! No, 10, because for the tourney I made sure I had another new pair, just for that occasion. I was awestruck!”

Frankie Kazarian, former TNA World Tag Team Champion, also started in on Nike young, sparked by the inaugural Jordan craze. “I was first turned on to Nike in the 80s with the whole Jordan thing. I figured if I wore them I’d: a) obviously be a way better basketball player, and b) would be the envy of all my friends. Though convincing my mom to get them for me was rather difficult.”

Sonjay Dutt came into collecting later on, but his dedication is no less intense. “I first got into the shoe game in 2006 [or] 2007. I’m a big hip-hop fan and part of the hip-hop culture is dressing the part. With that comes the sneaker game. I fell in love with Nike Air Force 1 and it skyrocketed from there. I started with a couple pairs and then it became an obsession that I needed to get every pair; I needed to mix and match.” Although he prefers Air Force 1, he’s also a fan of Shox and the Air Max.

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s current IWGP Heavyweight Champion, AJ Styles, isn’t as clear on how he began collecting, but that doesn’t mean he’s any less devoted. “I really don’t know how I started collecting,” says Styles. “I think before I knew it, I just had bunch of shoes.” His current favorite is the Air Max model, but he loves the brand as a whole. “I think what drives [my devotion] is the fact that, overall, Nike puts out great shoes with great performance. But most importantly ... they look cool.”

But what keeps wrestlers sticking with Nike through thick and thin? “It’s all about branding,” says Jarrett. “I actually had a foot doctor, when I had a lower back problem, tell me that Nikes probably weren’t the best fit for me. They recommended I wear Reeboks for whatever reason. So for several years, I would wear Reeboks for training, but gradually, over the years, I’ve gravitated back towards Nike. And for no other reason and no conscious decision of mine, but just because of how well Nike brands. Reebok, adidas, Asics ... they’re all basically the same type [of] shoe, but Nike, from the “Just Do It” days, or “Bo Knows,” or “Be Like Mike” ... just one campaign after another. Nike, they don’t just hit a double, they hit a grand slam nine times out of 10, in terms of branding. And I think that’s why I have a collection of Nikes.”

Morgan also believes in branding and in the connection between the consumer and the athlete. “Being a Michael Jordan fan, I’m always gonna jump higher and run faster if I’m wearing my Air Jordans.”

“My devotion is based on comfort,” says Kazarian. “But having a bad ass pair of sneaks is always appealing.” Kazarian, unlike most of the other wrestlers I spoke with, does wrestle in Nike shoes, currently preferring the Nike boxing shoe. “At one time I had about eight pairs of Shox that were customized to match all my different wrestling gear. I kept a few pairs just for nostalgia reasons.”

The connection between shoe culture and hip-hop is always going to be prevalent, which may make the wrestler fixation on Nikes strange when someone like Jeff Jarrett has been collecting them for nearly 30 years. Dutt believes the popularity of Nike sneakers proves just how massive the influence of hip-hop has been. “I think the reason people have this obsession with shoes stems from hip-hop. It stems from that culture; from looking the part. I think that some people don’t even realize that hip-hop has influenced them to get into this type of thing, or even be interested in getting different shoes, different colors. But I’m biased; I feel hip-hop has influenced a ton of things that people wouldn’t even realize.”

Jarrett says he currently owns only one pair of Jordan but has “about seven colors” of Nike Air Free running shoes, his main Nike fixation these days. His longtime Nike obsession has spread to his family, all of whom also collect.

Morgan is down to about six pairs of Jordans, after he had to throw out a pair he accidentally left out and got rained in after he mowed the lawn. (Yes, Matt Morgan even wears Air Jordans to mow the lawn. He’s serious about his dedication.)

Dutt currently has over 50 pairs of Nike Air Force 1s. “I prefer the lows, but I do like mids and highs as well. I sprinkle the mids and highs in during summertime.”

Dutt’s other collecting habits extend to New Era, which manifests in owning around 70 fitted caps. “My thing is shoes and hats. Different colors, different teams, different styles. To me, there’s nothing better to me than a pair of white Air Force 1s, but I like the wacky color schemes.” He tries to coordinate his caps with his sneakers. “All the time,” he says. Everything’s got to match.”

As for the link between shoe obsession and professional wrestling, Jarrett sums it up quite succinctly: “As professional wrestlers, image and connecting with an audience ... you might not be the very best wrestler; you might not look the best, but if you can make that audience connect with you, you’ve got a winner on your hands. And I think that’s what Nike does, day in [and] day out. They connect with their audience.”