Crazy Things WWE Did For Money

One of the ways Vince McMahon had been able to sustain and grow the WWE over the past forty years is because of Vince’s ability to invest in and make money. WWE seemingly had no qualms about exploring all sorts of avenues about how to not just make money, but to expand the WWE’s global footprint all over the world.

Over the years, WWE has put itself in some unique positions with peculiar business partners. Some have paid off in droves. Others have just been silly. But all of these crazy ideas have worked to some extent or another.

World Wrestling Zombies

WrestleMania Backlash’s Zombie Match Was Lulz-Level Of Absurdity

• The word Zombie and the phenomena has been traced back to 1819 in Haiti.
• The WWE used a Zombie before in the first ever ECW On Sci-Fi.
• With the genre being so popular the past few decades, WWE also put out a toyline of their superstars as The Undead.

The Pandemic Era was a strange time for us all, both in our lives and in our wrestling fandom. For better or for worse, it was also a time of experimentation with strange match types. One of those included being a sponsor for Batista’s then latest feature, Army Of The Dead. The match took place at WrestleMania Backlash 2020 and featured The Miz taking on Damien Priest in a Zombie Lumberjack match. By the end of the match, the undead devoured The A-Lister.

Saudi Arabis Deal Helps To Affect Change

WWE Brings Wrestling And Change To The Kingdom

• The WWE-Saudi deal is currently good until 2027.
• Most of the shows are derided for seeming like glorified House Shows.
• Several big cultural changes have happened to the region during this time.

Remember just because an idea is crazy doesn’t make it a bad one. Just because it’s a controversial idea doesn’t mean it isn’t a profitable one either. Several years ago, despite all of the politics and news of the region saying one thing, the WWE decided it would deal with The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia.

For a hefty and ungodly amount of money, the WWE are contracted to do shows in Saudi until 2027. While there are still plenty of naysayers, due to the politics, these shows have been trotted out to have big match and, little by little, affect a small modicum of change in what the Saudis will allow (ie – Women’s matches or Sami Zayn stepping foot in the region).

Sin Cara Teams With Scooby-Doo

There Was No Removing This Mask

• Scooby and the gang have teamed up with several pop-culture icons over the years, including Batman.
• Try as they might, Sin Cara was the first big flop of Triple H’s career as Head Of Talent.
• Sin Cara has been in Mexico as Cinta de Oro ever since his release.

The guest host era was a hodgepodge of interesting, to say the least, antics from all sorts of characters in and around Hollywood. They all came aboard to help promote whatever they were schilling and tried their hardest to pretend to care about WWE, even when they didn’t (whose got tickets to Summer Fest?). However, every so often, a mascot would come aboard and it would get even sillier. For instance, Sin Cara being accompanied to the ring by Scooby-Doo to help promote the Scooby-Doo WrestleMania movie. You must’ve finally made it big when you have your own entry on the Scoobypedia fan wiki.

Shawn Michaels As The Colonel

Because When You Think KFC, Don’t You Think HB-Shizzle?

• After McDonalds, KFC is the largest fast-food franchise in the world.
• Another WWE KFC commercial featured Dolph Ziggler as the Colonel defeating a giant chicken costume played by The Miz.
• Colonel Sanders is also a secret character in WWE 2K18.

One of the quickest and easiest ways that WWE was able to get its superstars out in the world was through advertising partnerships. But things got really silly when WWE had a partner with American fast food giant, Kentucky Fried Chicken. The company had Shawn Michaels, possibly the greatest of all time, dressing up like their iconic mascot, The Colonel, and do his own ring entrance at the 30th annual SummerSlam to kick off the new advertising campaign.

The WBF’s Fitness Program – ICOPRO

“You Gotta Want It!”

• ICOPRO Banners were splashed all over WWE arenas to try and help sell the product.
• The retro banners returned at Raw 25 from the Manhattan Center, just like they were there in 1993.
• Bret Hart once joked about how he hated the products and gifted them to unsuspecting family members as Christmas presents.

As anyone who has followed Vince McMahon’s life, if only for a second, you can tell that he is into bodybuilding, and he was into extending his entertainment empire. In 1992, he had announced that he was bringing the world the WBF – World Bodybuilding Federation.

All the great physiques combined with the storytelling of WWE. Not only did it fail, but the company was left with their series of ICOPRO supplements, just like you’d see in any fitness store you were to walk into in 1992, except wrestling themed. The commercials were basically random wrestlers working out in the corporate WWE gym before yelling at the camera, “You gotta want it!” But none of these commercials ever explained what “it” was.

Plotting WrestleMania 3 With No Card

“If You Book It, They Will Come”

• Over 97,000 people were in attendance for this event. Dave Meltzer reports the paying amount was only 78,000.
• This record stood for WWE until WrestleMania 32, when over 100,000 fans attended.
• While rudimentary, the event featured WWE’s first special set-up with a raised ring and the mini-ring golf carts taking the wrestlers to the ring,

It has been said that Vince McMahon doesn’t operate in the present, he operates envisioning the future. That might have informed his decision to put WrestleMania 3 inside of the cavernous Pontiac Silverdome. Nowadays, cities bid to have WrestleMania in their town and in the biggest place possible. That was not the case in 1987, the card and the arena weren’t even fully mapped out in January of ‘87, just that the event was going to happen. McMahon decreed that he wanted to break the largest attendance record and booked Hulk Vs. Andre The Giant as the main event. The result was the first real WrestleMania that felt like The Grandaddy Of Them All. But Vince didn’t even have the arena booked until less than three months away!

Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match

The Eater Of Worlds Or A Batman Villain?

• The Pitch Black match ultimately was Bray Wyatt’s last match.
• The match promoted the soft drink flavor’s limited return.
• Cody Rhodes comically tried the drink during the post-Royal Rumble media scrum.

The wrestling world rejoiced when Bray Wyatt made his triumphant return at Extreme Rules 2022. Little by little, the stage was being set for his epic return match at the 2023 Royal Rumble. The match was set for Bray Wyatt against LA Knight in a Pitch Black match. Sponsored by Mountain Dew, the match was essentially held under a massive black light. Bray had painted himself up to shine under the lights and came off looking more like a villain from the motorcycle scene in Batman And Robin and less menacing. All in the name of introducing some new flavors of pop to the masses.

The Hunt For The Egg

An Easter Egg Hunt To Celebrate 25 Years Of The Rock

• Fans were disappointed that The Rock didn’t show up at this event that was largely promoted around celebrating him.
• The film itself is about several art thieves and interpol chasing them down.
• It also co-starred Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds.

When Rocky Maivia debuted at the 1996 Survivor Series, if anyone had him as the number one entertainer in all of the world 25 years later, you’d be lying through your dirty lying teeth. But he wound up truly being The Great One. Around the time of the 2021 Survivor Series, The Rock’s then-newest flick, Red Notice, was set to hit theaters and Netflix. The film involves Rock, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot’s misadventures while trying to acquire a bejeweled egg. Naturally, rather than just promote the heck out of the movie, Vince McMahon paraded around the event with an egg of his own that he stated The Rock gave the egg to him. Austin Theory then snatched the egg, this beginning A-Town’s apprenticeship under The Chairman.

The Endeavor Merger Ends An Era

The WWE Is No Longer A Family Business

• The merger had put Triple H squarely at the head of WWE Creative to the delight of fans all over.
• The Rock became the company’s most famous shareholder.
• Ari Emanuel, the company’s CEO was famously parodied by ol’ “SummerFest” himself, Jeremy Piven on Entourage.

For the past several decades, a running joke was that “when Vince McMahon chooses to die, who will take over WWE?” That insinuated that not only would Vince find a way to defeat death, but seriously, he’d probably run the company until he passed away. But Nick Khan came aboard the company and several years later, the allegations came out. That put Vince and the WWE in a rough spot. In swept Endeavor and super agent, Ari Emanuel.

They essentially made Vince an offer he couldn’t refuse. The WWE merged with UFC under the Endeavor umbrella and, for the first time in over 40 years, Vince McMahon had a boss, and he wasn’t even in charge of creative in his own company. Of course, in the recent light of all of the allegations, McMahon will likely never be heard from in a positive light again.

The Plot To Buy WCW

Vince McMahon Thought Years Ahead

• While Bischoff denies this was the plan, Kevin Sullivan maintains that not giving them names was done to purposely make fans think Razor and Diesel.
• To help show courts that WWE owned the names, they created the Fake Razor and Diesel angle.
• Hall and Nash had fun at the depositions (which were filmed). They winking at Vince and flashing The Wolfpac sign.

Buying WCW was certainly not a crazy idea. A crazy moment for sure, but not a crazy idea. What was insane was the crazy like a fox thinking Vince McMahon and super lawyer Jerry McDevitt had. It happened when WWE sued WCW over copyright infringement for Hall And Nash being misrepresented as Razor and Diesel. One of the provisions of the settlement was should WCW ever be up for sale, WWE would get first shot at making an offer. That meant the moment WCW was put up for sale, Vince’s offer was to be considered.