10 Most INSANE Things Wrestling Companies Did For The Money
You can get WWE and other promotions to do a LOT for cold, hard cash...
Most wrestling promoters the world over would gladly annoy off tutting pro wrestling hardcores if someone/anyone was happy to hurl boatloads of cash their way. Besides, upper management can always palm off such moments as "lighthearted", or point to their necessity to invest in the product elsewhere.
Nobody buys it. Ever.
These are shallow corporate money-making schemes, and that's all they are. Any claims of artistic merit are rightly shot down by the fine folks who watch Raw, SmackDown, NXT, Dynamite, Collision, Rampage and somehow still find time to ditch current WWE or AEW for a sec to check out retro content in their spare time too.
Look, everybody understands that wrestling is a business, and businesses want to make money. However, it is astonishing to check out some of the insanity top promotions throughout history have booked just so a movie studio/band/fast food restaurant/soft drink spews some delicious dollars into company coffers with a handshake and a smile.
The fact some of this gobbled up valuable television time is fascinating, but it happened. Enjoy the ride, and the erm...comforting hug of corporate, see-through money-making crossovers.
10. Scooby Doo Backs Up Sin Cara
First, the pro wrestling tag-team you never asked for.
Live on the 24 March 2014 episode of Raw, WWE had someone don a Scooby Doo costume and ride to Sin Cara's rescue. Poor Damian Sandow had to treat the mascot character as if a cartoon dog had come to life. It was silly and it was over-the-top, but ol' Scoob did get a pop from the live crowd at least.
Still, it's wild to look back on approx nine years later. WWE has produced several crossovers with Scooby and the gang over the years, but they've mostly been animated movies and things like that. Here, the mutt with the most was hanging around with somebody who'd likely fall over and botch the search for bad guys posing as ghosts or monsters.
Scooby and Cara even showed up in the Mystery Machine, which was a really nice touch. Of course, the only mystery was why the Sin Cara gimmick got such a long run in WWE after his totally crap start.