Accident, homage, or outright copying?
Highlights
- Preparations for King and Queen of the Ring have begun, including the poster for the PLE being revealed.
- Fans immediately noticed the similarities between it and the poster for Marvel’s Black Panther.
- The debate over whether this was an accident, an homage, or WWE stealing Marvel’s IP is now bubbling away.
After being unceremoniously changed to Night of Champions in 2023, King and Queen of the Ring will make its PLE debut later this month in Saudi Arabia on May 25. It will be the first time the women’s tournament has been called Queen of the Ring, and both brackets have technically already begun, the opening matches taking place on Monday’s Raw. That has prompted the poster for the PLE to be revealed, and some fans have been left a little confused by its similarities with a poster for a major Marvel movie.
King And Queen Of The Ring’s Black Panther Poster
The poster for the next Saudi PLE features a selection of WWE’s main roster champions, Cody Rhodes getting prime real estate with Logan Paul right behind him, likely because Saudi fans will all know who the US Champion is. A Saudi city skyline and the logo for the event can be found at the bottom of the poster, and a metallic gold pattern is behind the Superstars. It didn’t take long for fans to notice the poster is remarkably similar to the one for Marvel’s Black Panther.
Raw Winners And Losers: First-Round King and Queen Of The Ring Matches
This week’s Raw kicked off the 2024 King and Queen of the Ring tournament with some incredible matches.
Direct comparisons of the posters started to pop up almost immediately. The superhero movie poster WWE appears to have pulled inspiration from has T’Challa in the Rhodes spot and Killmonger where you’ll find Paul on the King and Queen of the Ring poster which is somewhat fitting. The Black Panther logo is in the same spot as the PLE’s logo on the WWE poster, a Wakandan city skyline replaces the Saudi one, and a very similar metallic gold pattern can be seen behind the featured cast of the movie.
Was This Accidental?
The similarities between the two posters mean it’s almost impossible to claim this was an accident. There are two possibilities – either the designers of the poster have straight-up copied the Black Panther design, or someone in the design department is a big Marvel fan and has taken inspiration from it. Even if it is the former, those responsible would never admit to it. If they have since been confronted after the similarities were highlighted, they will either claim it’s an homage or that it was a very unlikely accident.
I see no issue with a WWE poster pulling inspiration from a movie if that is what has happened here. My only qualm is other than T’Challa being a king, I don’t really see the connection. Black Panther has no connections to Saudi Arabia. I guess you could claim part of the first movie’s plot is T’Challa becoming king in the wake of his father’s death – apologies for the spoilers for a six-year-old movie. Whatever has happened here, I like the poster and I love Marvel, so I’m a fan of whatever’s going on.
