This is a script for a video on my YouTube channel. You can find the full video: Here
At both Wrestlemania and Summerslam this year, WWE had some brand sponsored matches where the only real difference was on screen ads for the product, as well as ads on the LED barricades and ring apron. While these might have taken some getting used to, they are fairly harmless once you can focus on the match. They also kind of remind me of any time I've tried to watch Lucha Libre, and am completely distracted by adverts, usually for petrol it seems, playing on the big screen behind the action. Sometimes though the brand has more influence on the match itself, to some fairly mixed results.
Admittedly this was less of a brand deal and more a part of a match, but at this years Wrestlemania KSI entered wearing a giant Prime bottle costume for his mate Logan's match with Seth Rollins. One thing I couldn't stop noticing was that the fans behind KSI couldn't see the ring for most of the match as he largely stood in place waiting for his moment to interfere, leading to him showing some classic British politeness, by kneeling down so the fans could see better.
A more egregious example of a brand deal getting too involved came at Backlash 2201, when the Miz faced Damien Priest in a match sponsored by 'Army of the Dead' a film starring Dave Batista. With WWE shows still taking place in the Thunderdome, WWE could pull tricks that you couldn't necessarily in front of a live crowd. Before the opening bell an army of zombies arrived from all angles of the arena, trapping Miz, John Morrison and Damien at ringside, leading to the two opponents having to fight them off together. The match played out sort of like a reverse lumberjack match, where ordinarily the aim would be to throw the wrestlers back into the ring, while these Zombies would try and drag them out. Once Damien won the match, this apparently allowed the zombies into the ring, where they would devour a prone Miz. Suffice to say Miz wasn't out of action for long, therefore not selling his zombie attack injuries.
There have, to be fair been some occasions where a brand being involved in a match has worked out way better than anyone expected. One that sticks out in my mind being Sami Zayn versus Johnny Knoxville at Wrestlemania 38 night 2. While this match wasn't explicitly promoted as sponsored by the recently released Jackass Forever movie, it played out like a clear nod to many of the more famous aspects of Jackass through the years, even including comical weapons never before seen in a WWE ring that I won't spoil here as if you haven't seen this match you should for yourself. This match was regarded at the time to be one of the highlights of a Wrestlemania weekend that also featured the long awaited in ring return of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Thats high praise.
Of course, AEW has also had it's up's and downs with sponsorships. Perhaps the most infamous one being the barbed wire everywhere shark cage match from the July 20th 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite. The match featured Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho settling their lengthy and violent feud, but members of the Jericho Appreciation society were also held captive in a shark cage in the crowd. Shark cages have had a long history in wrestling going back decades, in which usually a heel manager or ally of a participant in the match would be suspended over the ring or placed on the entranceway in a small cage to prevent them from interfering, but this was AEW's first and hopefully last try with the gimmick, which they were doing as part of promoting Shark Week, another Turner property. The match itself was a spectacle, but things fell apart when Anna Jay and Tay Melo attacked the keeper of the key Ruby Soho, lowering the cage to the ground and attempting to bail their faction out. The problem came when Tay couldn't unlock the door, causing the JAS to have to slip through the bars, nearly missing their cue and making the whole thing look bad. Thankfully this year AEW promoted Shark Week less gimmicky, by having a dude in a shark costume. Annoyingly though former WCW and TNA wrestler Shark Boy was backstage, but didn't appear on television. he could have at least made a cameo to give us a shell yeah or something.
AEW has had some fairly effective cross promotions as well to be fair. On the October 30th 2019 Halloween episode of AEW Dynamite, an episode weirdly sponsored by of all things Rick and Morty. The Best Friends would come out for their match with QT Marshall, a pre Dark order Alex Reynolds and John Silver in Rick and Morty costumes, being announced by co-creator of the show Justin Roiland. The crowd were also included in this, all being given Rick or Morty masks to wear. Given the eccentric nature of the Best Friends' personalities, with Trent at this time having a question mark in his name, so I guess it should be Trent? As this was essentially an enhancement match it and the cross promotion were largely inoffensive and never really referenced again.
In a similar but less comical way the August 17th 2022 edition of the programme would be tied in with HBO Max's House of the Dragon. The main event on this night was tied in with the American Dragon Bryan Danielson taking on the up and coming Daniel Garcia, in a match that Garcia would eventually win, and he continues to use the 'dragon slayer' moniker to this day. This is by far the least gimmicky of all the examples I have detailed, but it goes to show that a brand can have a loose association, and doesn't have to be too involved.
Which brings me to the extreme opposite of this, the Mountain Dew pitch black match, which took place at this years Royal Rumble event. I think the reason this match is so reviled by many but admittedly not all fans, is that it represents a bit of a letdown for what a lot of fans wanted from Bray Wyatt's comeback, which very much a whole separate discussion. This was to be Brays first televised match since rejoining the company, which in itself carried a lot of expectation, but despite the best efforts of he and his opponent LA Knight, many weren't impressed by the result. Going into the show WWE didn't inform us what a Mountain Dew Pitch Black match actually was, leaving us all to speculate. What it became, was a hardcore match with some sort of UV light effect, with Wyatt wearing luminous body paint to stand out and Knight wearing neon glowing ring gear. I saw the match live but I honestly couldn't tell you if it was good or not because my only memory was being distracted by the lighting. WWE has never learned that nothing good comes with messing with the lighting during a match, from Sin Cara's mood lighting to the early Fiend matches being almost unwatchable. It didn't help that the post match angle included a botch for the ages, as Knight who was laid on essentially a large box in the crowd was supposed to be driven through it by an air bound Uncle Howdy, only for fan footage to show that Howdy completely missed Knight, who had to awkwardly roll into the hole. The only slither of silver lining from all of this seemed to be that LA Knight was applauded for his role in it, which may have played a part in building the wave of popularity he seems to be riding right now.
It seems to me looking at all of these examples that brand sponsorships can have a place, but they can also look bad when incorporated into the match too much. If a product or brand is idly present while a match is taking place it seem like a win for the promotion and the brand, and no loss for a viewer. As a gamer myself, I had no idea a Texas Chainsaw Massacre game was even in development, so for anyone like me it's fair to say this cross promotion was in some way successful, because now I am. I see the Jarrett vs Hardy match ending up just being a typical hardcore match with faction members brawling everywhere and Hardy at some point doing something crazy. Hopefully not jumping off a tall thing though as I'd rather not see him do that anymore. Although, Jarrett did in his promo tease that Leatherface might show up, so I guess we should still be a little worried that we might have another Robocop in WCW on our hands.
Given how they are clearly lucrative at not much financial cost, I don't see brand deals tie ins going away. I also don't see it as a bad thing, as long as promotions don't take it too far. Have I missed an example I should have considered? What do you think of these brand sponsored matches? Let me know in the comment section.
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