How wrestling game fans worked together to get the best unlicensed outfits

polygon.com:

Modern character creators are stunning feats of game technology and design, letting players build nearly anyone — or anything — they can imagine. And for years, pro-wrestling games led the way in this regard. Wrestling creation tools came about years before they became standard in other genres, spawning passionate communities of fans who connected over a shared love of wrestling. They also learned important fashion lessons along the way, in part because of a unique quirk of the wrestling industry.

Unlike many other sports, pro wrestling has never been united under one umbrella organization. Because of this, a single game hasn’t ever been able to feature every famous wrestler, as big names have had their rights tied up in different places. So as a workaround, games have included pieces of outfits inspired by wrestlers from other brands in their character creation options, letting players piece outfits together themselves.

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This use of these parts was discussed in a court case when The Ultimate Warrior sued THQ in 2005, arguing that featuring the elements needed to create him in its games — especially his signature facepaint — was trademark infringement. THQ argued the parts were all generic and that no consumer would presume their existence meant the game was officially associated with Ultimate Warrior. Both parties settled out of court.

By that point, though, unofficial replications had become common practice. Starting in the late ’90s, wrestling fans flocked to sites like GameFAQs to share guides explaining how to make wrestlers using lookalike parts. This became known