Celebrities showing up in pro-wrestling shows in a way to reach to non-wrestling fans and try to create new ones, as been a strategy done for many decades now, but does it work? It’s a hard question to answer.
To start, pro-wrestling using celebrities has been a move done a billion times and will probably be one thst will always be used until the end of time. On paper it makes sense, using the popularity of a celebrity and reach new people unfamiliar with wrestling. It has worked in the past, just look and WWE with the first ever WrestleMania.
Ratings wise, this move has been inconsistent, especially if we remember the guest host era on RAW when the needle would barely move for RAW, despite having celebrities almost every week as hosts of RAW.
This is obviously not a WWE exclusive thing, AEW and most promotions have done it a some point. Like AEW when they had Shaq wrestle on Dynamite, or when Rosario Dawson help Cody Rhodes in his match with Malakai Black. WCW had Basketball legends Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman be part of a match at Bash at the Beach 98′, and let’s bot forget the awful match Hulk Hogan had with Jay Leno.
Having celebrities too often feels like a desperation move and that’s what it is with WWE unfortunately. Look at Bad Bunny last year, he showed up and he did well but the needle didn’t move despite him showing a lot last year and it didn’t create new fans despite what WWE says.
The use of celebrities should have a purpose. Look at the case of Shaq in AEW, he was used to establish Jade Cargill and have her be the one to get the rub from him and seal of approval. Did it work? Absolutely! Jade is now TBS champion and a solid draw for AEW. The approach WWE does doesn’t work because they put the celebrities over and have their wrestlers look like geeks. In the long terms fans thst actually watch the product will perceived the talent as geeks too.
Should wrestling stop using celebrities? Other sports use celebrities from other mediums all the time, boxing is the perfect example of this. There’s also the stations, and if they ask promotions to feature them as part of a promotional campaign for a new film or TV show. It’s never going to stop,.but there should be smarter ways to use celebrities in wrestling shows.
