Quick Links
The Christmas season creates opportunities for festive moments in just about every medium of entertainment. Wrestling is no different from other television shows and movies when utilizing the Santa Claus character in relevant segments for the time. However, WWE has showcased Santa in a more violent manner than you’ll see in the average holiday movie or at your local mall.
Santa appearing in WWE is almost guaranteed to lead to him getting involved in a scuffle or two. Various eras of WWE have told this story in different ways. WWE loves playing into the holiday theme and usually getting a strong reaction for the segments. The history of Santa in WWE will be viewed deeper to see how violent the jolliest holiday entity can get.
Santa Claus Has Been Treated As A Babyface In WWE
WWE placed Santa Claus in the face role for a few moments of violence. The Tribute to the Troops shows featured WWE using it twice when Mick Foley and Steve Austin were respectively under their Santa Claus suit. Foley got the better of JBL, and Austin delivered another noteworthy attack on his arch nemesis Vince McMahon. It was a nice way to play into the holiday spirit.
RELATED: 10 WWE Superstars Who Dressed As Santa Claus
However, that isn’t always the case when a Santa character is interacting with heels. One of the more absurd ideas came when Alberto Del Rio’s signature car entrance led to him running over Santa in a comical moment. John Cena getting revenge for Santa was the bigger story of the night. WWE just wanted to find a way to tie in Christmas, with Cena scoring a win over Del Rio.
Santa endured another painful moment as a face character at the Armageddon 2004 PPV. Kurt Angle was in his stage of having an open challenge to anyone willing to test their limits in a ring against him. Santa ended up being the opponent of Angle in a match that put the Christmas figure in a tough spot. Angle destroyed Santa within a minute and forced him to tap out to the ankle lock submission.
Santa Claus Has Also Worked Well As A Surprise Heel
There have also been instances of Santa Claus on WWE television on the heel side of things. Santa Claus cutting a heel promo running down the fans in 1997 came right around the time of Steve Austin’s rise. Fans loved Austin and reacted quite well to Austin interrupting the heel Santa. WWE created a scenario where Austin could stun Santa Claus to prove that no one was safe, and they made Santa the heel to have it make sense.
Mick Foley’s love of Christmas makes it humorous today that he once had a Boiler Room Brawl against multiple guys dressed as Santa Claus. All three unknown heels were easily decimated by Foley in his Mankind persona, but he was met two other heels in Santa outfits afterwards. Road Dogg and Billy Gunn attacked Foley to get the better of him at the end of the segment.
Another overlooked violent Santa moment in WWE with Santa playing a heel featured The Boogeyman getting the better of him. Lower mid-card act Vito was the one playing Santa with Nunzio as his elf when Boogeyman easily defeated him and placed worms all over him.
Not Every Portrayal Of Santa Claus In WWE Has Worked
WWE’s history with Santa Claus extended beyond one-off segments for Christmas themed episodes. ECW star Balls Mahoney had a chance in WWE before he moved to the hardcore promotion. WWE signed Mahoney to play the evil version of Santa named Xanta Klaus. The New Generation Era helped the in-ring product move forward, but quite a few gimmicks were extremely hokey.
Ted DiBiase leading the Million Dollar Corporation faction led to the evil rich heel declaring that everyone had a price and he would prove it by buying off Santa. The story was that DiBiase paid Santa to become part of his heel group and no longer care about the children of the world. As ridiculous as this concept was, the audience was quite young at the time.
Xanta Klaus flopped and was removed from WWE television after a few weeks. The visual of seeing an evil Santa wrestle matches was hilarious, but it wasn’t going to lead to fans caring. Mahoney thankfully saved his career with the ECW run. However, it shows exactly how WWE used the Christmas figure in wilder scenarios than your annual Christmas television experience. Santa appearing in WWE means that violence is bound to follow for better or worse.
