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WWE is no stranger to bringing in celebrities to WrestleMania, but they got a bit carried away with it this year when miscasting Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll as key players in the main event storyline of WWE Champion Cody Rhodes versus Randy Orton. The reveal of McAfee as Orton’s mystery caller was widely panned as a terrible angle that dragged down the WrestleMania main event.
The latest rumor indicates that TKO isn’t backing off from celebrity involvement in WWE even though lots of fans feel like it’s time for a break. Rhodes even shot an angle on TV recently warning “outside forces” to stay the hell out of his business. With that in mind, Unsportsmanlike asked Seth Rollins how he feels about outside stars like Bad Bunny and IShowSpeed working matches in WWE.
Rollins is a big supporter of the concept, as long as its done in small doses. In explaining his position, Seth talked about how he is essentially a star outsider doing a lot of sports talk shows of late, and he understands if that rubs some people in that industry the wrong way.
“Well, I am the Bad Bunny of sports broadcasting. So that’s how I feel. I grew up watching SportsCenter. So Stu Scott, Rich Eisen, Dan Patrick, these are my guys. To be able to be behind a desk with the NFL Network, ESPN, Good Morning Football all the time, I’m sure there are ex-players and broadcasters who are out there going, what is this dope doing? You know, the same way sometimes fans look at our guys and are like, what is Speed doing in there?
But these are just fans of what we do. They just love it…you don’t understand how big it is that Bad Bunny is wrestling in WWE. Bad Bunny is this generation’s Michael Jackson. He sells out concerts and stadiums globally. We’re talking nearly hundreds of thousands of people at these shows, and he’s coming to wrestle for WWE? And is psyched about it!
He’s willing to put in the work. He doesn’t just show up game day and [say] I can do this. He’s like, okay, give me a ring. I’ve got to train. Send somebody down here. We have producers and talent that go down and work with him to teach him how to do these things so that he can put together a performance. Same with Speed. I was on a plane the other day from LA to somewhere…Speed and his crew were on this red-eye with me. Speed was right there next to me, and we were going to wherever, because he had to get ready to do this match at WrestleMania that he was a part of.
So, I don’t mind it. I think there’s a balance in our industry. You don’t want me doing too much. You don’t want me in the booth doing too much. Like, I can’t be Kevin Harlan. I’m not like that. I’m not Tom Brady. I don’t have that expertise, but a little bit here and there [is good], and I think that’s the same for wrestling.
There was a big pushback against Pat McAfee when he came in, and it’s like, yeah he’s inserted into this WrestleMania main event storyline that already had 20 years of history with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. Our audience is like, eh, maybe not. But when Pat was on commentary for us, he did a great job. And he did a couple of matches here and there. He did one in NXT that was awesome. He worked with GUNTHER, they had a great match. It’s just, in small doses.
So Speed, Bad Bunny, small doses, great for our industry. And it allows us to kind of branch out for different people, and different audiences, to see what we do.”
Rollins’ logic makes a lot of sense to me, but it’s up to the decision-makers in TKO and WWE to demonstrate that they can keep the crucial “small doses” condition in place. Until then, I don’t blame any fan who feels turned off when the next celebrity shows up to get involved on WWE programming.
Do you agree with Seth Rollins’ view about celebrity involvement being “great for our industry” when it’s done in small doses? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
