The Use of Celebrities in Wrestling - What are the best and worse examples and is it worthwhile?

On the podcast last night we discussed a few examples of when WWE and WCW used mainstream celebrities in their product. 

It is a practice that I would say became a real goer for WWE because of the success of Mr T and Muhammad Ali at Wrestlemania 1, but there have been many notable examples of both WCW and WWE using celebrities to bring mainstream appeal to their companies. Arguably the crossover power in both markets of The Rock is why his name is so often pushed and has been used in Wrestlemanias for three years running.

So, I ask, what have been the best uses of celebrities in the wrestling and what have been the worst, both comically horrendous to watch and commercially poor ideas too.

And is it a practice that still has appeal to you or the WWE audience?

Pete rose vs Kane was always good

Tyson,without a doubt.It was the coming together of two legitimate bad asses...dont think there'd have been the same hype around Tyson and Cena if I'm honest.
I think he made it ok for the casual closet fan to admit an interest.
It certainly made me interested,as well as my dad who was a boxing nut and has kept an interest in wrestling ever since.

Cyndi Lauper and Mr T were true A listers in 1985 and when Piper attacked Lauper they nearly took the roof off the Garden, it ushered in the Rock n Wrestling connection and was the major hook for the first ever WrestleMania, Vince was always going to go for WrestleMania anyway but it was these two celwbs that transformed this from just another Wrestling super-card into a main stream must see phenomenon

Worse case? Any old Poopie they used for 2 years on that guest host pish

I actually liked the Floyd Mayweather vs Big Show fued. The build up with Mayweather legitimately breaking Show’s nose and Show’s reaction of chasing him through the crowd was all very intense, it was probably some of Show’s best work. The match was a lot better than I expected too. Mayweather is money though.

I always wondered if that was a botch from Money, Big Show is a massive guy but Im not 100% convinced he'd let a Pro Boxer World Champion still in the prime of his life take free shots at him, it all felt very real, possibly the best build up I've saw for sheer whataboutary

I enjoyed Pee-Wee Herman as GM

That's exactly what I thought mate. Show seemed legit p*ssed when chasing him out the ring, it did feel real. Money was probably told to give him a few slaps but being a heavy handed boxer his version of a few slaps was enough to break Show's nose. Floyd took a few bumps in the build up and match too so fair play to him.

Jay Leno in WCW.
 
Wasnt David Arquette(sp) used for a bigish story line in WCW aswell?
Was it him that won a title??

How about Dwayne Johnson? He done quite a good parody of The Rock at the beginning of the year.

Mr H wrote:How about Dwayne Johnson? He done quite a good parody of The Rock at the beginning of the year.

OH SNAP!

Any time WCW used 'celebrities' in the latter stages it was always a total bust. Remember Chucky cutting a promo on Rick Steiner just to promote the new movie?

Tbf i like seeing the celebrities in WWE, always gets better viewing and i can use it as an excuse to say i watched wrestling last night, to my friends and family!

I don't mind have celebrities guests on the show, i really enjoyed Floyd Mayweather when he was in WWE and the Raw when Shaq O Neal was there.

Cast your minds back to 1995...

"Vinnie baby, I'll be honest with ya, we're in trouble this year. We've gonna have to run with Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash to take home the show. I've got Pammy and McCarthy signed up for it too. At least we can go out on a high."
"I got a better idea. An idea that'll really put bums on seats."
"You wanna push Luger again? Ok, we can make that work, he's still got something"
"Noooo, I want him as the curtain jerker"
"I get ya, we'll run with Bret. Safe. Maybe we can work in something with Calloway, he's really coming along"
"Not yet, no. Stick Calloway in with Bundy. Bret... the people don't want to see him top the card again. But they do want to see him face Backlund. Make that happen."
"You're losing me Vince. I've got Scott Hall left, but he's a bit glug glug glug if you know what I mean, and there's Owen Hart. You think he's ready to Main Event Mania?!"
"No, but I'll tell you who is. Lawrence Taylor."
"Who?"
"Lawrence Taylor. Bam Bam Bigelow. Book it"

And that was the most tragic use of celebrity in wrestling there has been.

Hogan and Rodman vs Page and Malone at Bash at the Beach was quite possibly one the most dire matches I've ever seen. Didn't even end with a proper finish either. WCW were really trying to incorporate celebrators into their product.

Don't get me started on the Kiss lipsync segment either.

Taylor vs Bigelow was quite a big deal at the time, and a critically acclaimed match by celebrity standards.

Robocop.

Samo wrote:Robocop.

Bugger, i was just about to say that.

"Sting has been caged by the Horsemen but here comes Robocop"

 

Again.

 

Suprised nobody mentioned The Muppets. Some of the most cringeworthy moments ever!!!

crippledtart wrote:Taylor vs Bigelow was quite a big deal at the time, and a critically acclaimed match by celebrity standards.

But did you enjoy it as it played out in 1995? As a 14/15 year old Crip T, and not with hindsight? You saw the 80's heyday first hand, with Hogan, Macho Man, Andre, Warrior and DiBiase all rocking the Main Event. Is Lawrence Taylor worthy of such an accolade? A crossover match sure, anything to boost those dying figures back then, but the Main Event of Mania?! With Hart, Nash, Michaels and Luger on the card? Was he really that big of a deal? Was Bam Bam Bigelow really the guy to close the show? If Vinnie Mac was given another chance, do you think he'd do it exactly the same, or he'd play it out like he eventually did with Big Show and Mayweather and stick Michaels and Nash on last?

I remember the match and the feud well, I must admit as a 12 nearly 13 year old I didnt think to much of it and while at the time I saw it as a special attraction match I didn't really see it as the Main Event even though it went last, im still not quite sure why it did go on last to be honest

I thought the match itself for what it was had a pretty decent pace to it and it was of decent standard

I don't know anything about American football but wasn't Taylor quite a huge star at the time?

The WWF was so dreadful around that time (witness the 95 Rumble) that a celebrity was probably their best bet in the main event. Anyway wasn't it given equal billing with Diesel-Michaels?

I agree it seems utterly lame to us Brits though!

Yeah it was equal billing, think the WWF went with double Main Events for a while after WrestleManis VIII

I think sometimes people can get a bit too hung up on the last match being thr Main Event, the Main Event is usually the match they sell you hard and the one thats expected to draw, dont think it always has to be on last.

Hogan would go on last for most PPVs but at tapings or house shows he'd go on 4th although that was only because he wanted to hit the town before it got too late

But there's a HUGE difference between Hogan and Beefcake wanting to get cuddly after a House Show and closing WrestleMania. However they marketed it, that was the one you went home with. That's not necessarily my opinion as a 32 year old (the match isn't even that bad), but 14 year old Kid V was bitterly disappointed with that WrestleMania, and that final match was a huge anti-climax to me. I even liked the American Football back then (remember when it exploded on Channel 4? Go Brian Bosworth!), and should've been marking for it. But I instead kinda went "Royal Rumble CM Punk Fan" with wrestling for a few months until Horowitz won.

12 year old kayfabe wasnt too fussed, I was more disappointed Marty Jannetty didn't run in and help Shawn Michaels win the title

That WrestleMania was one of the worst for me, I dont think my opinin would change if we could swap the order of the matches tho...I think I remember even popping for Taylor...such is life