Right off the bat, I’d like to make clear that I am a registered, card-carrying, Dog Person. I like the idea of cats as domestic companions, but given the choice, happiness is a warm Greyhound for me. Which I think underscores how deeply I hold the belief I’m about to present. 

If you’ve watched a pair of kittens or even a fully grown cat who has become entangled in the curtains for long enough, you’d probably agree that if there is an animal best suited for pro wrestling, it’s the species felidae. Ruthless, adorable, and dramatic, every wrestler would do well to channel the ungovernable chaos of cat mannerisms and attitude. Cats, like the type of person attracted to the difficult to master and even more difficult to explain profession of professional wrestling, crave attention but are rarely concerned with decorum or good taste and, at the risk of getting myself cancelled here, likeability. Just as a cat will happily crawl into your lap to proudly display their asshole in an effort to receive adulation in the form of pets, so will a wrestler strut down an entrance ramp wearing the most ridiculous outfit you’ve ever seen, insult your local sports team, and expect to not only be cheered, but for you to purchase a t-shirt with their face on it. 

Inside the ring there have been a few – one might argue too few – wrestlers who have adopted cat or cat-like personas. One of the most long-standing, influential, and revered gimmicks in Japan (and wrestling altogether) is that of Tiger Mask, and like many of the tenured characters in TV, film, and culture in general like the James Bonds and the Batmen, the role of Tiger Mask has been assumed by several wrestlers since the early 1980’s. While the wrestling quality and the fidelity of their cat impressions varies wildly, the Tiger Mask gimmick is steeped in lore from it’s origins as a comic in the late 1960’s and the Toei anime series into which it was adapted. Basically, the Tiger Mask persona was born of a dastardly American heel wrestler who, upon coming to Japan, was deeply troubled when a young fan expressed a desire to be as evil as he was. So, donning a mask and changing his ways to become more heroic, the Tiger Mask persona was born. He might not act much like a cat, but his tenacity and tiger-like agility have influenced both the cat and non-cat wrestlers for a generation.

Short-lived, but one of the most forthrightly cat-like of wrestling gimmicks is the little-known early 90’s Brady Boone persona of Battle Kat. This period of the WWE (then WWF) is typified with even more over-the-top wrestling characters than one might be used to seeing in other ‘eras’ of the company or in wrestling as a whole. While too many of these characters were based on racist stereotypes (Tony Atlas as African tribesman Saba Simba and Jinsei Shinzaki portraying a one-dimensional Japanese character named Hakushi come to mind) and shallow occupation-centric gimmicks (garbage collector Duke ‘The Dumpster’ Drose and a hockey player named The Goon are ‘standouts’*), but Boone really seemed to channel that cat energy.

Also little-known but possessing strong cat energy is TNA Wrestling’s Mumbai Cats, who were part of that company’s offshoot Indian promotion Ring Ka King. This pair of characters only wrestled a handful of matches, but really leaned into their cat identities and communicating almost exclusively in mewling. Allie Katch is the more serious-face version of the wrestler who started out as Allie Kat, an alleged human woman portraying a feline fighter who can be seen here mimicking the mannerisms of a nervous kitten facing off against Kris Statlander (an alien portraying a human woman and is one of my current favourites in All Elite Wrestling, albeit with a more serious character) in an early match for both. Allie paws at her face, moves around with a kind of manic, jerky agility that gives unpredictability and the capacity to strike at any moment. It’s the perfect way to approach a real fight (I assume), and this match that invokes the inherent rivalry between a cat and an alien really spits in the face of people who call wrestling “fake.” What could be more real than that?

Rather than adopting a cat persona himself, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Hiromu Takahashi started walking around (including to the ring for matches) with a stuffed cat named Daryl, and it became one of the most unexpectedly touching storylines in wrestling for me. This furry friend came complete with his own lore, story, and even side characters within the somewhat more buttoned-up and serious New Japan universe, and it was almost entirely driven by Takahashi himself. Daryl started out as an emotional support vehicle to help Hiromu deal with the loss of his Junior Heavyweight championship. The cuddly but courageous kitty would accompany Hiromu to the ring, no matter how threatening his opponent was. This ultimately spelled disaster for Daryl as he was tragically and ruthlessly destroyed by the villainous Bullet Club “underboss” Bad Luck Fale in the summer of 2017. But the fierce feline would not be deterred. Not to allow a simple rending derail his destiny, Daryl spent that fall working on himself and some major life events including a marriage to his true love Carol and the birth of their first son, Daryl Jr. that December. One of Darryl Jr’s most memorable matches happened at a Ring of Honor show I attended in Toronto back in 2018, which Uproxx’s Emily Pratt recaps here. I can verify that Daryl Jr. was as electrifying live as almost any wrestler I’ve seen in person.

Daryl, Carol, Daryl Jr, and a new member of the family, Naoru, would join up with Hiromu and help him to overcome his challenges, both mental and physical. There’s no reason why this comeback story and arc for Takahashi should have been so emotionally resonant for me (again, a Dog Person) but it was definitely one of the reasons why Hiromu has become one of my favourites.

There’s something about an outwardly-tough pro wrestler like the legendary Japanese veteran Kenta Kobashi, who can can be seen having his heart melted by the resident salon cat, Haru-chan, whenever he gets his hair done.  A wrestler like this whose heart is melted by a kitten has near-universal appeal, and the influence of cats in wrestling is undeniable, both in and out of the ring.

There’s also Stone Cold Steve Austin, whose post-wrestling career has had him retreat to a quieter life on his Broken Skull Ranch in Texas while providing charming updates about his cat, Pancho and his grooming regimen. And even Austin’s longtime rival and Canadian hero Bret “The Hitman” Hart has found unconditional love in the form of a furry feline, his cat Smokey, when the fans didn’t show him the same. 

During his less-than-memorable run in the WWF’s rival company WCW in the 90’s, Bret was so disgruntled with the creative direction for his character that he pitched an angle where Smokey would become part of the show:

“I actually remember giving him an idea about the cat, putting the cat carrier and having the cat in my corner all the time. He said he loved it. It never went anywhere, like everything in WCW. Yeah. I actually had an idea where the cat, I’d have a real cat all the time in my corner, and then for one of the matches I would put a stuffed toy cat in my cat carrier and I would have a zipper on it. I would stick the insides of the cat with a brick and then when I was in peril in the match I would reach in, say, a Boston crab or something like that, or some kind of a hold where I’m in jeopardy. I would open my cage door, reach through, grab the cat by the tail, swing it and hit the wrestler over the head with the brick, and win the match with a stuffed cat with a brick. But, I remember it was almost like a rib to see if they would just do it. Actually, to be honest, it would have been better than anything they did have me do at that time.” – Bret Hart to Fightful

In hindsight, it’s probably just as well that Bret’s idea didn’t come to fruition and encourage a generation of wrestlers and fans alike to use cats as weapons, but I’d be lying if I said that I would not watch every single moment of Bret braining someone with a stuffed cat that’s been preloaded with a brick.

Pro wrestling is unique and perfect because it depicts respect, dignity, redemption, and forgiveness via the medium of people throwing both clotheslines and each other, and trapping them in deadly submissions. Cat ownership is similar, because it allows you an outlet for love, care, and affection in the form of an animal that most often presents as something that, if not outright hates you, is at best indifferent. I’m not sure if they quite qualify as Gentlemeows of Asskickery, but their fighting spirit exists in many of the most hard-hearted of combatants in the ol’ squared circle. Despite being a Dog Person, I can admit that seeing these over-the-top heroes of the ring lay bare their emotions to a wee kitty might just, one day, do the same for me.

Sachin Hingoo would have provided a more complete history of cats in pro wrestling, but he has become enthralled with an errant ball of tinfoil and a piece of string.

*It’s worth mentioning that at least two of these gimmicks, the corrupt police officer The Big Boss Man and the undead mortician-turned-wrestler The Undertaker, managed to find success. The latter is, in fact, probably the WWF/E’s most successful gimmick of all time.