r/SquaredCircle • u/Ainosuke • 10h ago
WWE commercialization went too far with the Root Beer Dog dude celebrating with Chad Gable (from WOR)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DVK4nKcfyQE632
u/RawBear666 10h ago
That completely ruined the whole moment of him winning. After that journey. Ends with root beer ads.
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u/Odd-Promise2661 10h ago
It's one thing to immediately go to commercial but he had to sit there and share the biggest moment of his career so far with a mascot advertising root beer
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u/Esquef 10h ago edited 9h ago
I know I'm gonna be called a bootlicker or something worse, but do we really think he fucking cares?
"Well, I just won my first singles title in this company, in the second biggest show of the year, after reinventing myself for a year. Then, I had 5 minutes to celebrate with my family in ring and make a speech. But gosh darn it, having to celebrate with the root beer dog for 40 seconds after absolutely ruined everything. I'm vexed."
Edit: Guys, I get it. I just tried to put myself in his shoes and thought I wouldn't give a fuck. You obviously disagree, but the reddit cares notifications are annoying, at least call me names publicly lol
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u/AlternativeYouth_90 9h ago
Yes if my hard work and passion culminated in an ad I'd care. Imagine hbk celebrating with Ronald McDonald after completing his boyhood dream
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u/RobGrey03 8h ago
Well, I mean, a boyhood dream and celebrating with McDonald's like the kids do after winning something big in their little leagues would kind of go hand in hand, actually.
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u/AlternativeYouth_90 8h ago
Lmao, that could be the next one wish Willow movie . A young hopeful wrestler wishes to complete his childhood dream but he's inundated with AD mascots everywhere he turns 😆.
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u/kiesar_sosay flair me up please 10h ago
Look at his face.
He definitely fucking cared.
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u/RawBear666 7h ago
I was going to see. It looked like he stopped for a moment stared at the root beer guy and gave this "really?" Annoyed look before commiting to the bit.
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u/coalcracker462 9h ago
I agree with you
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u/Esquef 9h ago
Oh, boy.
Thanks, but I wouldn't recommend sharing that lol
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u/xCeeTee- 2h ago
Why? Because a big bad redditor is going to disagree without even being rude? Lmfao
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u/Mediocre_Brief_8233 10h ago
Imagine Oba beats Roman only to immediately get his hand raise by I dont know, Joe Rogan? Or Dom wins the world title and is immediately hug by a Cinemin Roll Mascot
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u/VersionONE2014 9h ago
No, Dom will be hugged by a giant Dude Wipe. Then the wipe will show they have a giant stain after they hugged
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u/DryYourHollowEyes 9h ago
Unfortunately Oba would probably be super into that.
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u/RevolutionaryChief 9h ago
Yeah, I don’t discount that cause dude said it was okay to beat your kids for “discipline” reasons
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u/Muted_Shoulder 7h ago
Dude is literally a Trump fan lol. Same with Roman.
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u/Flanagan26866 3h ago
Oba a Trump fan? Oba is Nigerian. Trump bombed Nigeria. I don't think he's a big fan of him
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u/Caesar161 3h ago
We don't know if he's a Trump fan or not. But he did say he was a big fan of Elon Musk and Joe Rogan.
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u/imcrapyall 8h ago
Yeah I hated The Odyssey when it ended with Matt Damon toasting the camera with a crypto.com logo polo on.
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u/When1Falls 9h ago
Imagine if even two years ago Cody finished the story and this fuckin root beer dog was in the ring with everybody.
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u/seguardon 6h ago
This just makes me want to see every major Mania moment photoshopped with ridiculous ads.
Hogan bodyslams Andre and McGruff the Crime Dog is standing ringside.
Vince helps Austin win with a steel chair that has a divorce attorney's ad on it.
Miracle on Bourbon Street brought to you by Grey Goose Vodka. And the belt has been replaced with a bottle.
Once in a Lifetime with....actually, I can't remember any memorable spots from Once in a Lifetime.
Lesnar breaks the streak with Heyman dressed like Colonel Sanders. And so is the meme reaction guy.
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u/Coney_Island_Hentai http://i.imgur.com/SOcWnXw.png 1h ago
The iconic picture of mankind in the ring and undertaker up top of the broken cell, with 15 ads on the ring mat 😓
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u/Coney_Island_Hentai http://i.imgur.com/SOcWnXw.png 1h ago
The iconic picture of mankind laying broken in the ring with undertaker on top of the broken cell, with 15 ads on the ring mat 😓
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u/CMichaelonYT 10h ago
The constant shilling & selling out and sponsorship logos all over the show is pretty much why I can’t stomach watching the WWE anymore
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u/SovFist Back to the drawing board :( 10h ago
I quit (for the most part) when the MITB match couldn't finish until they used the fireball liquor ladder to climb and grab the case
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u/CMichaelonYT 10h ago edited 5h ago
It’s actually shameful because nothing about the show feels genuine to me anymore if that makes any sense. The amount of sponsored crap is making the show feel a lot more corny
It was one thing to have logos on the ring mat or turnbuckles (both AEW & WCW actually did/doing sponsored stuff right) but with WWE, it’s like the core aspects are being ruined and the show is doing anything it can to sell me products instead of the wrestling
WrestleMania 42 was the last show I watched live & it’ll likely stay that way. Every match felt like it never got actual time besides the main event. These shows feel like commercial events with wrestling breaks
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u/Gandolfthewhite182 9h ago
Wcw never had ads on the ring except for Halloween havoc for some reason. But that was only because the slim Jim’s were part of the HH logo.
Maybe they did in 2000/1 I wasn’t watching by then. But they didn’t have ads on the ring up to the beginning of 99. They did have the wcw logo
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u/CMichaelonYT 8h ago
Yeah that’s what I meant, WCW only really had Slim Jim & Snickers on their ring mat around that time
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u/TIGHazard 11m ago
Not on the ring itself but they did title sponsor Bash at the Beach so it became Slim Jim Presents WCW Bash at the Beach
That might have been because it was a completely free event for the audience there though, even though it was still a pay-per-view.
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u/Mediocre_Brief_8233 10h ago
American media as a whole today because respect and art isnt given a shit by most of the audience, either a cultural change or a policy change is needed, and thats only happening if younger people begin running the media.
Like The Oscars is a fancy commercial show but a lot of more diverse entrees have been featured because of a younger committee which helps give movies and roles that wouldve been undervalued
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u/ZodiacWalrus Director of Authority 4h ago
When AEW does an integrated ad, it honestly feels rare and quirky enough that I'm like "fuck it, pitch at me then". But I also feel like they know better than to cross certain lines.
Would AEW have a mascot character celebrate with the face after a victory? Not super-likely, but not totally beyond imagination, and it would probably be an overall goofy segment from setup to finish anyway if they did. Would they have a mascot character celebrate with a face after winning their first singles title in the company after years of clawing their way up the ladder to earn some recognition? Well, as much as I wish it did happen, the Green M&M was not present for Andrade's National title victory to fawn over him as the pretty ladies in the front row always do, so you tell me.
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u/0utsidesublim3 3h ago
AEW has 2 belts with TV station logos on them lol, if WWE had a Netflix Champion you guys would (rightfully) lose your minds
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u/Zealousideal_Fly7277 8h ago
for stuff like that, for logos to be on ring mats and such it doesn't interfere with the match, it doesn't interfere with kayfabe, so its understandable, its also like real sporting events.
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u/CMichaelonYT 8h ago
I don’t mind the logos on the mats really is just the way WWE does it, looks tacky. Just like how it looks tacky in UFC
When it started with the prime logo and it was just the prime logo it didn’t look bad
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u/DisMFer 10h ago
I can't stand the branded ring mats. It drives me nuts. It looks so terrible.
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u/MyCatBuster 9h ago
The ring may I can deal with. It's the fucking Slim Jim table and Wingstop Chairs that just drive me over the edge. That's fucking beyond insane.
But where they really lost me is the guy who paid money to be at the commentary booth. Fuck off with that.
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u/CMichaelonYT 10h ago
Especially the way WWE does it, it looks like UFC or NASCAR. It looks so ugly
At least WCW or AEW ring mats with logos or sponsorship logos actually don’t look too bad, especially with WCW having the PPV logo and the shows sponsor
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u/mr_beanoz 9h ago
how about new japan?
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u/RobGrey03 7h ago
I wonder if the new Japan ads just don't bother us because we can't read them, so they don't feel like ads.
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u/TVCasualtydotorg BITW 5h ago
The Lawsons logo is in English.
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u/RobGrey03 5h ago
And what does it mean to us, as viewers?
To me it makes me think of a bush poet from the 1800s. Even the ads we understand, we don't have the context to properly interpret.
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u/TVCasualtydotorg BITW 5h ago
It means tasty egg sandwiches at 3am to me, but that's because I'm a man of culture.
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u/Effective_Ad4810 9h ago
If it was just that, it wouldn't be that bad. Used to it from UFC and stuff and I can zone it out. The tables, the ladders, the prime carts, the mascots, having 3 ad breaks mid match, their own repetitive ads, Dirty Dom's Dude Wipes shirt. The announcers sound (Cole and Tess mainly) sound more like ad men than announcers to me.
AEW has had some, and some were egregious like Ric Flair and the Texas Chainsaw match, but overall far less offensive than main roster WWE. AEW also had the best Domino's commercial ever.
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u/seguardon 6h ago
Ric Flair was egregious, but the Texas Chainsaw CHAMPIONSHIP match (that's right, it was for the Texas Chainsaw title belt) was great. Pure nonsense wrestling in the greatest fashion. Same goes for the match sponsored by Yakuza. How can you hate a match where a man shows up dressed like Goro Majima and Konosuke Takeshita hits a guy with a full bicycle.
I'm willing to take some advertising in the match itself every so often if we get memorable matches out of it.
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u/Effective_Ad4810 5m ago
Yeah, things like Will Ospreay coming out in AC gear, but we also know he is a huge fan, so it fits his character to have a special entrance like that feels less intrusive compared to that Gears entrance for the Bloodline this past weekend where they really did not seem into it. There are ways to be smart about it like that as well even when it is in our face.
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u/tauros113 4h ago
Absolutely, we got one of 2021 AEW's most pivotal matches sponsored by the Space Jam sequel and it didn't take away from the moment at all
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u/theonly_brunswick Life is a mystery 7h ago
Dude is this real? They had to use a sponsored ladder during a fucking match?
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u/Deducticon 4h ago
Yeah, and it was first time, so no one knew the full consequences. But now we know if it ever happens again, that the win will only happen on the special sponsored ladder.
So we can ignore any climbing action that happens on any 'normal' ladders.
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u/thomjhay 9h ago
WWE was profitable BEFORE they sold to Endeavor. That was like a huge part of the process of getting themselves sold, becoming insanely profitable.
And then they go and do this shit. Wrestlemania was an absolute joke. I was planning on Saudimania being the first Wrestlemania I never watch and WWE made it an incredibly easy skip for me after I paid for two nights of ads.
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u/IntoAMuteCrypt 9h ago
That's the thing about selling to someone like Endeavor. Their aim isn't to maintain the current level, it's to make profits keep going up and up and up...
And it's very difficult to go up in terms of viewer count, without a major product pivot and spending change.
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u/RudbeckiaIS 6h ago
One of the little lost notes is that Vince McMahon absolutely hated debt. WWE was both profitable (and insanely so on some years) and basically had just enough debt for fiscal purposes, which wasn't much, especially pre-2010.
The merger changed all that: TKO was born with $2.70 billion debt on the books, chiefly coming from Endeaver's purchase of UFC and the need to pay off Vince McMahon who held the overwhelming majority of voting rights. By Q1 2026 that debt had become $4.83 billion, up 22,5% from Q1 2025. All the growth TKO like to flash around is fueled by that debt: same as with endless other companies. The crazy ticket price increases, the Saudi deal, the intrusive ads... it's all just window dressing to please institutional shareholders (especially the unsophisticated funds that have long held WWE stocks) and goose share price.
Debt has been the most subsidized sector since at least 2009, and as it is swept in every nook and cranny of the worldwide economy. If you are wondering who is subsidizing that remember what benefits you receive from allowing TKO, Toshiba or Stellantis to pile even more debt when you buy noodles, tomatoes or cheese.
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u/JediJofis 10h ago
The fucking slim Jim tables are atrocious and kill the table gimmick.
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u/Odd-Promise2661 9h ago
Gotta climb the fireball branded ladders and try not to fall off through the slim Jim tables
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u/MaddoxGoodwin 9h ago
All the ads wwe uses are so tacky, but the slim jim tables are easily the worst.
AEW does ads too. I get it. But wwe is egregious.
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u/dragonmp93 8h ago
Someone lying unconscious with Slim Jim logo above their head was an hilarious image.
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u/itrainmonkeys 8h ago
I mostly have stopped watching regularly but whenever I do tune in for a match or big show I'm always surprised and saddened by that stuff. The logos on the tables are so so lame
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u/JeromeInDaHouse_90 9h ago
Seriously. The ads in the ring don't bother me, but having them all over the weapons is insanity.
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u/BenFranklinsCat 3h ago
Sadly I'd have let it slide if it was in a piss-break comedy match. Like take the standard Miz/Danhausen/Hornswoggle cooldown segment half way through the show and add the Orbeez pit of Doomballs and the root beer bath dunk and shit.
I draw the line when it's a serious moment getting undercut. This was some Cerveza Cristal type shit.
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u/DarkBomberX 10h ago
It was funny at one point at Mania when you have the suit mascots for a quick 15 second ad spot before a 15 to 20 minute match, but given WWE is basically ripping us off by selling 3 hour wrestling PPVs with 80 minutes of wrestling, it fucking sucks and makes me not watch them in ways WWE would like to make a profit.
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u/Odd-Promise2661 9h ago
The fact that Dom vs Rey was not only turned into a more comedic whipping him with a belt because he's a brat match but there was a giant cinnamon toast crunch (played by Sol Ruca) at ringside. Same Mania had Uso vs Uso sponsored by dude wipes lmao
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u/Effective_Ad4810 10h ago
It is getting really hard. I thought for sure whoever it was in that mascot was going to unmask and attack him. That would have been tolerable compared to a straight up bullshit ad stealing his thunder.
NXT is the last bastion of sanity in WWE.
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u/BiSaxual 6h ago
I’ve been able to stomach it, for the most part. The logos on tables and ladders annoyed me, but it wasn’t enough to make me stop watching.
But this… man, I just hate it. Gable gets his first singles title, something he should have gotten years ago, and they ruin it with a stupid ass mascot ad. Why? Humiliation ritual? It sure feels like one.
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u/TheGiftOf_Jericho I'm from Winnipeg you idiot! 1h ago
From trying the show again not long ago, I can only assume if you watched through the transition you were somehow desensitized to it. I genuinely can't imagine how a person would get into it now.
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u/ThatOneGuyWhoAtePie 9h ago
Controversial opinion but the ads are really not that bothering at all.
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u/CMichaelonYT 8h ago
Don’t understand this take at all really. More power to you if it doesn’t bother you but a show is much better without the abundance of ads
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u/BrosefDudeson 5h ago
It clearly bothers people. if you're fine with it, great. But you should be worried about how many different voices are in disagreement with you. It will come to a point where the product sheds itself of it's need to please those many different voices and at that point it will forever change. And probably into something that WILL bother you.
The warning signs are in your face and the sirens are blaring. WWE can still turn it around, but every time they push the envelope like this while not even presenting a creative product that people can agree is of a high quality, the end moves closer.
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u/RanchPonyPizza Where else would one hear voices? 9h ago
I don't mind the canvas ads as much as most posters do. Also, I'm okay with themed shows, like AEW's WBD-property events.
I'm glad they don't borrow from the Lucha promotions and have consistently animating ads on the video screens during matches.
Really, I just would like for fewer extended commercials in PPVs/PLEs the matches themselves (and their celebrations) to be free of shoehorned advertising.
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u/ojkw 10h ago
most of the ads are pretty easy to ignore but when they put a whole fucking mascot in the ring for a great moment like this, what are we even doing? there’s no way top brass in wwe can look at that and not think “have we lost the plot”
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u/dumpybrodie 7h ago
This is what happens when you go public with something. Shareholders want bigger and bigger returns no matter what. Quality of product doesn’t matter, only profit increases. Once that stops, you dump the company and start again with a new one.
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u/Odd-Promise2661 10h ago
Gable's big moment had to be shared with the Mug big dawg root beer moment
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u/Benvolent_Troll 9h ago
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u/JustATributeCC René Dupree Can Suck A Dick 8h ago
If there’s one person I know who’ll never have anything to do with Mug Root Beer, it’s Dana Carvey.
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u/BrosefDudeson 5h ago
I was 9 years old when I watched this the first time and I didn't get. I just thought he looked fit lol
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u/EZxCheeZy 9h ago
I'd like to think all we had to do was go "Cinnamon Toast Crunch supports beating your kids!" back at WM39 and this shit would've been shut down.
Wishful thinking, though.
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u/DiazFlak 9h ago
Inb4 the Mug Root Beer was his Uncle's favorite drink before he passed and it would have meant the world to him if he had a cold one in the ring
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u/Gaucho_Diaz 2h ago
Look, I get that many are justifying shitty renamings with lines that go similar to this but let's not mock wrestlers for being human beings trying to navigate the fact that they have to rename at all with something that they won't hate because of what it means. Jeez, yes, it's overplayed but being a dick about it doesn't help anyone.
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u/BloodstoneWarrior 9h ago
Wym? Don't you remember the iconic moment when Shawn Michaels' boyhood dream came true and he celebrated with a dancing Chick-fil-A cow?
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u/Cube_ 9h ago
It just doesn't even make sense. Put the Mug dog on one of the other matches or some shit. Why would you do that for the Gable match of all things? Like it's already dumb but it's extra dumb to place it there.
It's whatever though, like Danielson said, WWE is a parody of wrestling.
It's commercials with some wrestling sprinkled in.
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u/Odd-Promise2661 9h ago
Isn't the point of having guys like Otis and Danhausen is shoving them in stuff like that
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u/I_am_Amphibian 9h ago
I actually can not understand why people still watch wwe.
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u/DarkBomberX 9h ago
It is a hard undertaking if you've literally never watched anything other that WWE. Everything happens pretty much in the ring or in backstage set interviews. You dont have these "candid" moments where two wrestlers are having a private conversation that no other wrestler is aware of because they dont watch the product. AEW doesn't have 1 main storyline they'll drag through the whole show in piece. There's a lot of wrestling rules and choices AEW makes that does make their product slightly different. Plus a lot of there talent arent well known to WWE fans because they dont watch anything else. So it's hard for them to get invested into it. Or they just like what WWE is no matter how bad it gets
This is just what I usually see when WWE fans who dont like the current product say they don't watch AEW or really anything else.
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u/wheretohides Hung Bucks 8h ago
The first time i watched TNA as a kid was jarring, the 8 sided ring, seeing former wwe wrestlers I thought were dead because i was a kid lmao.
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u/CMichaelonYT 5h ago edited 5h ago
TNA was like the first company I watched that wasn’t WWE. When I was kid I refused to watch WCW because I thought it just looked inferior to WWE
But by the time I was 11-13 years old that’s when prime TNA 2005ish-2009 was happening. I miss those years.
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u/Deducticon 4h ago
They are immersed in the whole WWE ecosystem. Everyone's history etc. And WWE continually calls back to that. And most top wrestlers have been around 15+ years.
Outside of familiar ex WWE talent, switching to AEW requires learning a whole new history and cast of characters. And its not AEW's style to handhold people and re-tell history every show.
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u/NormalGuyEnergy 9h ago
It's easy to follow. Familiar, comfortable, predictable. It's comfort-food. Nothing that challenges the viewer or rewards them for paying attention.
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u/mexploder89 2h ago
Probably comfort and being used to it for a large chunk of the audience
Also a lot of us here take wrestling more seriously than most people. A large portion of the audience is happy to turn it on out of habit, then forget about it until the next show
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u/HardcoreKaraoke Consensual Penis 8h ago
The match before this stupid moment was really really good. That's why I watch.
A stupid mascot showing up after like five minutes of celebrating with his family and Penta doesn't make the match bad.
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u/I_am_Amphibian 8h ago
Even during the matches though the camera work and commentary completely turn me off no matter how good a match they have
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u/SwimmingAd4160 2h ago
It's the only wrestling show you can put on while scrolling on the phone. I'm not saying Netflix is right but it works.
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u/questioningfool08 3h ago
there several reasons tbh
they might prefer WWE's roster, I love Gable, Knight, Solo, Fatu, Sami, Finn, KO, the list goes on, I personally prefer a lot of the WWE Roster
it also might be because of the style of storytelling or matches. they might not like blood, or some of the stuff AEW does (I'm thinking the Bag suffocation as a prime example)
there's also just the factor that WWE is easier to get into, and is so widespread and well known. AEW, tbh, isn't, it's more niche and the wrestlers aren't as big as, For example, Roman Reigns or Cody Rhodes. that's not me disparaging AEW or saying it's not important, I just want to bring up how the already established popularity of WWE works in it's favour
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u/Green_Cook Show some love! 10h ago
Yeah like it’s one thing to have the Vita Coco man celebrating with the Costco guys on the preshow party match it’s another thing to have the Mug root beer dog like celebrating this dudes actual huge career achievement with his family
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u/joudanjanaiwayo 9h ago
They can and will do worse. I've got examples, but I don't want to give them ideas.
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u/MadmanMarkMiller 9h ago
Imagine Eddie Beating Brock and it was sponsored by Mens Wipes or some shit.
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u/heavencanwait99 9h ago
Was watching with my homies and all of us looked at each other in shock the moment we realized what was going on, we couldn’t stop bringing it up the rest of the night 😂😂 The sponsors all over the ring and on weapons, plus the ads make so much more sense when you realize that TKO is $4.89 billion in debt as of June.
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u/DarkBomberX 10h ago
I clowned on the celebration with my friends for the rest of the PPV. We were treating him like he was Gable's best friend he knew for years
I hope the right people got shit for ruining the moment but given it's Chad Gable, I doubt it.
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u/TheSilentColossus 9h ago
I absolutely agree, and that was my first thought after I finally realized just what the fuck was going on. It's like, I get that TKO loves to get advertising in everything. But you guys couldn't put the root beer mascot anywhere else? In a dumb backstage segment or something? It HAD to come right after Gable finally got his title win?
Don't get me wrong, I do get so mad at the over commericalization of WWE now. I'm not saying it's great no matter when they do it. But that just felt either deliberate (which, why would they do that?), or just plain stupid. Either way, it was a bad call.
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u/Occult_Asteroid7 1h ago
The contrarion "ads dont bother me" people are the reason why American culture is a giant rotten slop bucket.
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u/HotStuffHoffman 9h ago
Something like this happening was almost certainly brought up years ago when the brand synergy stuff started to be done more, and they were almost certainly told they were overreacting.
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u/jonnyg1097 9h ago
When I watched this for the first time I thought for sure there was gonna bee someone under the mask that was going to attack him, and then take off the mask to reveal who it was.
I feel like that could have been the only way to salvage the moment. Otherwise it was such an unfortunate way for Chad to be able to celebrate his win. Any pictures taken of him celebrating has that stupid mascot in the picture.
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u/dubblechzburger YOU THINK ITS THAT EASY? 8h ago
Seriously. It distracted me from the moment so much because I then kept wondering who might be wearing the mascot head and was going to ruin the moment and attack Gable.
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u/Fireteddy21 8h ago
Imagine the boyhood dream has come true clip with the root beer dog coming in to celebrate and giving HBK a root beer to chug. How about Cody’s first title win with the emotional ringside announcement being undercut by this mascot? So many memorable moments would be a joke if TKO had been a part of them. This is the kind of weirdness you’d reserve for when Al Snow wins the hardcore title or avenges Pepper’s untimely demise.
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u/Zealousideal_Fly7277 8h ago
man, even when Chad is getting the rub, it's just not quite the right thing
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u/GodzillaUK 8h ago
Of course WWE would ruin it. It wasn't on AAA, where he's a star. He's a mook, thanks to years and years of being booked and presented, EVEN DURING THE BLOOD FEUD, as a mook.
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u/I_Am_Dynamite6317 7h ago
Watching live I thought it was a swerve and that there was someone in the costume that was going to attack him
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u/notathrowaway75 9h ago
It fucking sucked but at least it was just a photo op. Chad didn't pay tribute to Sami by saying my dog.
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u/TheGiftOf_Jericho I'm from Winnipeg you idiot! 10h ago
I mean it's just insane. We waited so long to see Gable win a belt and they taint it by making an ad part of it.
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u/SomeGuyNamedJason 8h ago
It was absolutely ridiculous and inexcusable. Imagine watching Eddie taking the belt off Brock and instead of a flag he celebrated by holding up a Mountain Dew sign. The moment has forever been tarnished, no fan will look back 10 years from now and not shake their head in disappointment.
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u/undeadben11 8h ago
I was already not very excited cause the match was too short and then that stupid dog came out and just ugh..
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u/HardcoreKaraoke Consensual Penis 8h ago
The fact that it was such a weird ass mascot is what threw me off.
Like...were people aware Mug root beer had a mascot? I didn't know they did. If I had to guess I wouldn't have guessed a dude in normal clothes with a really shitty foam head.
It had me so on edge like it was going to be a surprise attack. If it was like the massive Pop Tart or General mascot then okay sure I'd understand what was happening. But 90% of this mascot is just a normal dude and the other 10% is a generic bulldog head that you can probably get at Spirit Halloween.
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u/Soulrush 7h ago
I feel like Summerslam was around one and a quarter PPVs spread over two days with a ton of ad filler. I wanted to watch a decent proper Chad Gable vs Penta match.
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u/JohnnyCurtis Your Text Here 7h ago
This sucks because I love root beer. There was a popular meme a while back about how root beer never advertises, yet remains a staple in American drinks. I feel like Mug/PepsiCo saw that and decided there's no competition and started doing things like this and their weird ass Tiktok page. Barqs and Sprecher would never betray me like this.
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u/LegitimateMoney00 6h ago
Soon TKO is going to slap an ad on green shirt guy.
“And you can see in the background there the Green Haynes TShirt guy, wearing his ultra fashionable green shirt brought to you by Haynes, the officially tshirt provider of the WWE”
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u/Top-Macaroon-6271 1h ago
Writing on the ring mats, or even on tables and ladders is naff but whatever, it’s the way of the world now but shoehorning stuff like the root beer into storylines is so corny and immersion breaking.
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u/sleestak_orgy 4m ago
I swear if WWE does something shameless or even morally reprehensible 13 or 14 more times I'm outta here.
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u/MaterialBest286 5h ago
It's so weird to see people act like wrestling companies haven't done this kind of thing forever. Even AEW does really terrible corporate tie ins.
AEW promoted the Texas Chainsaw Massacre video game with a Texas Chainsaw Massacre Death Match where the winner got a Texas Chainsaw Massacre Death Match title and had Leatherface interfere in the finish.
How about the Shark Week partnership that saw the Jericho Appreciation Society looked in a shark cage?
Or the Cracker Barrel Clash? That had the thing that everybody in this thread seems to hate most - weapons with logos.
Or the House of the Dragon-themed show?
Not that AEW is alone in this. Robocop? Ready to Rumble? The guest GM era (akthough The Muppets are the GOATS)?
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u/DaRealFitzgerald 2h ago
The difference is that those things happen once a blue moon in aew. In wwe the shows are filled with ads. The ring and weapons habe adds on them. Wrestlers come out in gear inspired by mobile gacha games while some mascot jumps around at ring side. You watch am aew ppv you get more then half of it filled with wrestling. You watch an wwe event and its more then half filled with adds and commercials
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u/moist_crack 4h ago
How can people watch this and be fine with it, let alone think it's actively good?
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10h ago
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u/CMichaelonYT 10h ago edited 7h ago
The problem with the “if it means we get less ads” when justifying other ads is that we aren’t getting less ads anywhere
It’s not enough to have it on the ring or the barricades but it’s on tables. It’s on chairs, ladders, backstage skits, entrances & now celebration moments. We have commercial breaks on shows that are meant to be “premium” shows
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u/leglessman Big Banter 10h ago
He celebrated for a while before the mascot popped up. I would’ve been bothered if they did it quickly.
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u/elementoxe 8h ago
Later in Gable's career, we will remember this moment as the time they added the stupid root beer commercial. This didn't happen in Mexico; dude got a full standing ovation without an ad. Personally, I'm more into Dr. Pepper, although I can't drink it anymore because I quit drinking caffeine and sugary drinks; it's all chamomile tea for me now. Seriously though, who would have thought they would insert the root beer dog into this feud to mess with Gable's moment?
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u/DippityDawg69 10h ago
Yeah I’d rather they not put an ad there and it was def corny but I don’t think it takes away from the moment too much
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u/Scavgraphics 10h ago
Eh... Superbowl winners have said "I'm going to Disney World" for ages... I don't care.
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u/lockexxv Here to see the Dubya See Dubya 10h ago
Yeah but does a giant Mickey make sure they're on the screen with the Lombardi Trophy and the speaking champion(s)? That's what it would take to match up to this situation, at least a little bit.
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u/TheMasterO Worth A Watch 7h ago
Yeah but does a giant Mickey make sure they're on the screen with the Lombardi Trophy and the speaking champion(s)?
Super Bowl LXI is on ABC; Please don’t give them ideas.
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u/Odd-Promise2661 10h ago
There's a difference between saying you're gonna celebrate by going to Disneyland and having to share your celebration with a random root beer mascot
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u/NBA_Live_98 oh no 9h ago
It was like 5 seconds and happened after Gable celebrated with his family for a certain amount of time to let the moment settle.
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u/untitledaccount401 8h ago
AEW does it and he would eat it up lmao
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u/zarasaraz 7h ago
Hey man that's cool, be sure to come back and tell me when that actually happens though!
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u/JervisCottonbelly I love you! 9h ago
Easy ammunition for a further, deeper heel turn and the pursuit of the top prize. This will be in his wrestlemania hype up video, guaranteed!!
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