8 Secrets Behind WWE Posters You Never Noticed
6. The Batista Redemption?
Wrestling has never been averse to liberally 'taking inspiration' from the finest popular culture has to offer - that is to say, stealing it wholesale and repackaging it in lycra - and that practice has obviously applied to WWE's pay-per-view posters, which have frequently borrowed from the world of cinema, even when it doesn't necessarily make any sense.
The Undertaker prepared to take on Yokozuna in a casket match at Survivor Series '94, with martial arts cowboy Chuck Norris overseeing proceedings. WWE decided the silhouette of their Western mortician perfectly matched that from the iconic poster of Clint Eastwood's rootin 'n' tootin' revenge epic Unforgiven, released two years earlier, and duly fashioned their own publicity around it.
Annoyingly, the concept was never revisited once the outfit began promoting an event actually called Unforgiven - this despite subtlety never being their forté. That isn't to say it never had posters influenced by the silver screen. The 2008 edition's, which saw Chris Jericho prevail in a barmy 'Championship Scramble', for whatever reason depicted Batista hollering in the rain à la Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption - just 14 years after the movie had been released. Perhaps Vince McMahon went on IMDB for the first time that week?
