been a ZZ Top or Jeremy Piven,
who provided neither.
The use of non-wrestling
celebrities in wrestling is not a
concept that originated with
Donald Trump and guest hosts on
Raw. Famous names from Andy
Kaufman to Cyndi Lauper to Jay
Leno have found themselves
stepping into the squared circle in
one capacity or another.
While many may criticize these
same celebrities for using the
captive wrestling audience to plug
their upcoming movie or latest CD
release, one must also keep in mind
those promoters behind the scenes,
who are using the celebrities for
their fame and notoriety. When
Vince McMahon gets someone like
Shaquille O’Neal to appear on Raw,
his plan is two-fold.
First, he banks (quite literally) on
Shaq’s non-wrestling fan followers
to tune into Raw to see their
basketball hero. Secondly, he
served a purpose that had a tangible benefit to the
mCmaHON’S IdEa IS THaT
WWE. Batista, out with an injury, was brought back
into the public eye, and set up a possible Batista -
aNy PuBLICITy IS GOOd
Orton feud upon the Animals’ eventual return. During
PuBLICITy....
Dibiase’s night as guest host, dissention among the
Legacy stable was hinted at when a Randy Orton- hopes sports outlets like ESPN, Canada’s TSN, and
Ted Dibiase, Jr. bout was booked by the latter’s publications like Sports Illustrated will pick up on the
famous father. news that Shaq made an appearance. And
But while most of the wrestler’s acting as Guest
sometimes they do, albeit in a brief clip, with the
Hosts have come off strong, (Sgt. Slaughter’s
announcers usually making some sarcastic remark
appearance on the August 10th edition seemed to
about the industry. That doesn’t matter to McMahon
serve only to bait the Canadians in attendance. His
any more than it did to Eric Bischoff when he brought
”decisions” that affected the show were made off-
in similar celebrities such as Dennis Rodman, Karl
screen), the same can’t be said for the non-wrestling
Malone and, in one disastrous idea, David Arquette.
celebrities put into that role. In fact, those McMahon’s idea, (as was Bischoff’s) is that any
appearances have been as a mixed bag at best. Make publicity is good publicity. Once word of Shaq’s
no mistake; Piven was not alone in showing up to appearance (or Piven’s or ZZ Top’s, etc) becomes
use Raw as a forum to publicize upcoming projects, known outside the increasingly small realm that is
rather than to fulfil a desire to be involved in the wrestling world, the hope is that more fans will
wrestling. For every Shaq or Seth Green (who tune in, like what they see, and continue to watch
provided entertainment and/or ratings value) there’s even after the Shaqs and Jeremy Pivens have gone.
14 The online magazine for pro wrestling fans worldwide
thewrestlingpress.com
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