Outside of Wrestling Videogames, there have not been too many ambassadors to the world of professional wrestling. Granted, Mayor Mike Haggar of Final Fight is a former wrestler but his career probably inspired wrestler turned governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura more than anyone else. Plus, Haggar only has two moves – a Spinning Clothesline and a Lead Pipe Attack – and one of those is illegal. The Videogame ambassador is Zangief of the Street Fighter Franchise; he even appears in PIXAR’s upcoming Wreck it Ralph film. Despite this accolade, Zangief is not a cover model: that’s reserved for guys like Ryu and Ken, which was the case for the Street Fighter IV cover. Luckily there are sites like PaletteSwap, which showcases artists re-design videogame covers, and artists like Ramon Villalobos to give Zangief his moment in the sun:

Villalobos created a version with El Tigre, the newest wrestling-based World Fighter, putting Zangief in a standing Koji clutch, showcasing his wrestling knowledge as he did with his depiction of Bane putting Batman in an abdominal stretch. Zangief isn’t the only wrestler becoming a cover model on PaletteSwap, however. Rusty Shackles (Great Wrestling Name) decided to take on the NES classic Pro Wrestling:

Rusty corrected what the issue was with the original cover: No Starman!

Check out PaletteSwap for cool re-interpretations of vidoegame covers, even the non-wrestling ones.