10 Most Embarrassing Product Placements In Wrestling History
5. The Kiss Demon: WCW “Main Eventer”
Brace yourselves for a back-to-back helping of WCW silliness.
Eric Bischoff was negotiating with rock band KISS in late-1999, and wanted them to play on WCW television. There may also have been some Millennium wrestling-show-meets-rock-concert bash discussed around this time. As part of the deal that was agreed, journeyman pro Dale Torborg became “The KISS Demon”.
The contract WCW had with Gene Simmons called for this new character to be a company headliner, but that was never realistically going to happen with Dale. He was far too limited a worker, and WCW was holding out for technical wizard Vince Russo to become World Champ the following year anyway.
So, as a workaround, WCW laughably promoted Demon's midcard bouts as “Special Main Events”. Announcers like Tony Schiavone had to sit there and call his matches that with a straight face, and allege that Torborg vs. The Wall could've headlined the entire pay-per-view with ease.
To be fair, it wouldn't have been much worse than some WCW closers.