ESPN's Chris Fowler Totally Screws Up Wrestlepalooza Announcement: "John Sayna vs. Brock Lester" (WWE News)

Ready for the big Sayna vs. Lester match at WWE Wrestlepalooza?

by Andrew Pollard
WWE Wrestlepalooza 2025 John Cena Brock Lesnar
WWE.com

Hey, WWE fans, are you ready for the big John Sayna vs. Brock Lester match at WWE Wrestlepalooza this weekend? ESPN's Chris Fowler certainly is.

Of course, Wrestlepalooza will see long-time rivals John Cena and Brock Lesnar lock horns for one final time, with that bout likely to serve as the PLE's main event. However, when promoting Wrestlepalooza, Chris Fowler fell into Mike Adamle and Jeremy Piven territory.

In the case of Adamle, he was, by all accounts, a heck of a college football player, had six solid years in the NFL, was a brilliant sports anchor, and did a stellar job on American Gladiators. Unfortunately, an on-screen pro wrestling persona, he was not, as infamously hammered home by referring to Jeff Hardy as Jeff Harvey during Mike's WWE debut. As for Jeremy Piven, he was one of the many, many celebrity names who appeared during Raw's Guest Host era back in 2009, where he fumbled his lines and blurted out SummerFest instead of SummerSlam during a segment with John Cena and the Miz.

Advertisement

During the Las Vegas Raiders vs. Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football, ESPN's Chris Fowler was tasked with promoting WWE Wrestlepalooza, which will be the first PLE as part of WWE's deal with ESPN. But Fowler is clearly not much of a wrestling fan, as he seemingly didn't know either Cena or Lesnar...

Even if you're not a pro wrestling fan, John Cena has made a notable name for himself away from the squared circle, slowly but surely taking Hollywood by storm. As for Brock Lesnar, this is somebody who dominated the UFC's heavyweight division for a spell, not to mention all of Brock's amateur background, his NCAA success, and his brief, but newsworthy attempt to make it in the NFL.

Given how certain ESPN personalities are going to be promoting WWE events for the first time, it's fair to expect more gaffes like this in the short-term from those ESPN staff not all that familiar with the wacky world of pro wrestling.

Advertisement

Get 76% off and three months for free when you sign up to NordVPN here: https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=704&aff_id=3013&source=WCWRE

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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.