Celebrities – The Foundation of WrestleMania

April 27 – Rob Bonnette breaks down ultra important legacy Celebrities as Legends of WrestleMania!

Celebrity involvement in WrestleMania has become a sore spot for many this year, with the inclusion of stars like Jelly Roll and Lil Yachty showing up this Spring, just a year after the disastrous Travis Scott debacle of WrestleMania 41. But as bad as that was, it ‘s not justification to dump all over the very idea of celebrity participation in the biggest show of the year.  WrestleMania wouldn’t be WrestleMania without celebrities. After all, the first one literally had one wrestling in the main event – Mr. T. It also featured Liberace, the Rockettes, Muhammad Ali, and Cyndi Lauper in various roles throughout the show. The next year’s show had a battle royal where NFL players like Refrigerator Perry and Bill Fralic competed against Andre the Giant and Big John Studd.  And in more recent years, there has been Bad Bunny and Logan Paul stepping into the squared circle and doing great jobs.

Vince McMahon had a vision of making the then-WWF as big an entertainment property as Disney. In fact, he even said quite often that his competition was Disney and not Jim Crockett or Eric Bischoff. A big part of that was getting his WWE Superstars in the same spaces as big time Hollywood actors, recording artists, etc. But early on, that meant getting them to show up at his events until such a time when they could extend the invitation in the other direction. By leveraging Hulk Hogan’s Rocky III connections with Mr. T into the latter showing up and getting in the ring, Vince would find his initial gateway into getting his company to become more than just another wrestling company. And it helped that many of them were already fans who jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the show.

41 years later, while this year’s batch is causing a lot of consternation, the reality is that some of the best moments and matches in the show’s history have involved them. Sami Zayn vs Johnny Knoxville at WrestleMania 38, Bad Bunny and Damien Priest vs Miz and John Morrison at WrestleMania 37, and other matches have served as launching pads to full fledged wrestling careers. Like Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle vs Stephanie McMahon and HHH at WrestleMania 34, and Logan Paul and The Miz vs Rey and Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 38.  And while that’s gone on, the door has started to swing both ways. Whether it’s Hogan and Mr T, to the Rock hosting SNL, all the way to Seth Rollins being a regular on Good Morning Football during the NFL season.

This year’s group is batting 50/50 it seems. Jelly Roll and Pat McAfee are causing a lot of groaning, but at the same time iShowSpeed and Lil Yachty seem to be fitting in just fine. And for all the handwringing about the first two, they have both done well in previous appearances, so don’t be surprised if they find a way to exceed our low expectations this time.