WWE Celebrity Integration & Sponsorship

[Tennessee Moltisanti]

Kenny Omega was right, they are incher closer and closer every day to Logan Paul Vs Mr Beast at Wrestlemania

[simonworden]

There's got to be tons of other places they haven't put ads yet. 

-Goodvye custom side plates on belts. 

- Has the ramp been made to look like a subway station yet with loads of adds on the side barriers and floor?

-surprised each individual ring mat isn't an ad and the led barrier doesn't have Netflix series previews on it. 

I've got to throw my hands up and say now it's too much for me. I already dislike the amount of screens/lighting but the badly positioned ads just make the whole thing look terrible. It's not so much that they have ads it's that they are badly styled and positioned so it's so noticeable/ awkward. 

But thats 2025 marketing in a nutshell isn't it. Everything in your face, made awkward so you notice it more and all of it bollocks. 

[The King of Old School]

16 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Based on?

I think this was the article I read the other day

https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2025/6/4/24443299/kevin-owens-wont-guarantee-return-wwe-after-neck-injury-still-needs-surgery

[Merzbow]

I'm surprised they haven't changed PLE names to fit in a sponsor yet. SummerSlimJim, Money in The Barclays Bank, Royal Rumbelows.

[tiger_rick]

11 hours ago, FUM said:

He’s said he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to wrestle again. Not certain he’s even been for the surgery yet.

 

6 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

I think this was the article I read the other day

https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2025/6/4/24443299/kevin-owens-wont-guarantee-return-wwe-after-neck-injury-still-needs-surgery

Cheers chaps. That would be a massive shame. The guy is brilliant.

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

I'm surprised they haven't changed PLE names to fit in a sponsor yet. SummerSlimJim, Money in The Barclays Bank, Royal Rumbelows.

NestleMania?

[tiger_rick]

King of the Ring!

[wordsfromlee]

I wouldn't put it past them to start sponsoring the names of finishing moves too.

"MY GOD! RKO (brought to you by our friends at Boost Mobile™) OUTTA NOWHERE!"

[tiger_rick]

5 minutes ago, wordsfromlee said:

I wouldn't put it past them to start sponsoring the names of finishing moves too.

"MY GOD! RKO (brought to you by our friends at Boost Mobile™) OUTTA NOWHERE!"

I'd laugh at that possibility but given how completely unsubtle the Slim Jim table stuff is, you never know. They can easily do that in a "Slam of the Week" style spot. But then they could easily ignore the Slim Jim stuff during actual matches and come back to it with a clear promotional spot called "Snap into a Slim Jim table" or something equally stupid that doesn't break the flow of your event.

It's funny how commercialised wrestling felt before, like all American TV, but it seems completely subtle now compared to this stuff. If I was watching, I'd give anything to hear a "brought to by Valvoline" spot over this crap.

[Ro_y Disco]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

King of the Ring!

Royal Rum-bell, sponsored by Ring. Replace the countdown horn with the doorbell chime.

And then Sting's chin shows up on the big screen and the referee has to let them into the arena.

[Carbomb]

49 minutes ago, Ro_y Disco said:

Royal Rum-bell

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Based on this thread I watched a clip or two from Raw. 

 

Eh. Sure, the mat adverts were a bit more than I liked, but the pile of Prime. Fuck off. ? 

[Statto]

2 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

It's funny how commercialised wrestling felt before, like all American TV, but it seems completely subtle now compared to this stuff. If I was watching, I'd give anything to hear a "brought to by Valvoline" spot over this crap.

Yep, it's the total lack of subtlety that is dreadful.

FWIW I thought the Fireball ladder looked quite cool, and it makes total sense for a piece of equipment you know is going to be used in a sporting contest to bear a sponsor's logo. But feeling like I was being smashed over the head with it more than the actual wrestlers were was the terrible bit. 

[SuperBacon]

10 minutes ago, Statto said:

But feeling like I was being smashed over the head with it more than the actual wrestlers were was the terrible bit.

As I mentioned in the MITB thread, this whole thing felt tongue in cheek. You could see Cole laughing and trying to hide that as McAfee screamed about the ladder.

I don't mind if they're having fun with it Maggle.

[BomberPat]

I think a sponsored ladder during a ladder match, while a bit silly, at least makes sense. Sponsored tables in ordinary matches, though? Immersion breaking nonsense. 

I know we are long past anyone giving a shit about this, but I feel very strongly that the weapons used on a wrestling show should be things that the audience can relate to, and which make sense as to why they are there anyway. A decent commentator could bullshit together a justification for why you might keep spare chairs, tables, or ladders under the ring. If someone pulls a bag of thumbtacks or a single kendo stick out from under the ring, I think the commentators should be duty-bound to at the very least heavily imply that they must have planted them there prior to the match. But when underneath the ring is full of kendo sticks and bin lids, then they're just there to be weapons in a wrestling match, there's no effort to make it it contextually make sense. The same goes for a branded table - the moment you have a sponsored table under the ring, that's something that you have put there for the sole purpose of being brought out on TV for a choreographed spot agreed upon with your corporate sponsor.