8 Wrestling Events That Pulled Inspiration From Strange Places

6. AEW Fight For The Fallen – South Park

AEW South Park
Twitter, @MrJacobCohen

From the horse’s mouth, Tony Khan confirmed that the setup for AEW’s Fight for the Fallen event was inspired by an episode of South Park.

Khan revealed that he’d originally had the idea for such a layout over a year before Fight for the Fallen took place this July 13th.

A pretty impressive like-for-like setup, right?

This isn’t the first time that the influence of South Park has been felt in the wrestling world, of course. Billy Gunn and Golga were just two of WWE’s Attitude Era names who proudly showcased Eric Cartman and South Park on WWE television back in the ‘90s, when Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s animated show became the hottest thing on TV.

Much like WWE has been a staple a weekly television for as long as we can all remember, South Park is a show that's now been going for 22 years - and the reach of that animated comedy offering is seemingly still just as influential as it's ever been.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.