When the internet doesn’t like something it’s becoming very apparent nowadays and it looks like they figured out a tactic how to make their opinions known and even change things. If you don’t like something a company or television show is doing just contact their sponsors and make a legitimate argument about how it offends you.
It turns out Snickers had a problem with WWE glorifying The Fabulous Moolah on the Grandest Stage Of Them All so WWE pulled the plug. But although this move might be viewed as a small victory, it could be a telling sign of a much more complicated social climate.
Snickers might have started a much bigger thing than they realized by saying, “We were recently made aware of the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc’s (WWE) decision to honor a former wrestler during the upcoming WrestleMania 34 event. As a principle-based business that has long championed creating inclusive environments that encourage and empower everyone to reach their full potential, this is unacceptable. We are engaging with the WWE to express our disappointment.”
The Fabulous Moolah’s legacy was one WWE couldn’t easily paint over. Instead, one of their biggest sponsors was made aware of this fact and WWE pulled the plug soon after.
“How long before wrestling fans contact Snickers about The Ultimate Warrior if it’s not already happened? My guess is that will be next,” Bryan Alvarez asked on Wrestling Observer Live.
After all, no matter how glamorized the Warrior’s life might be at this point he is documented saying a lot of horrible things that don’t gel very well at all with modern and civilized social thought.
Just see this video as an illustration of just one point as an example where a crowd laughed at Warrior as he yelled homophobic rhetoric. He might have been crushing it for a stand-up comedian, but the glorification of Warrior might be worth looking into because he was completely serious.
It also turns out this situation surrounding Moolah could also affect the chances of Hulk Hogan’s return. The Hulkster has been blackballed from WWE since audio leaked of him speaking about a wealthy African American who was apparently offering money for his daughter Brooke’s music career.
“I mean, I don’t have double standards,” Hogan reportedly said in the audio from the leaked audio. “I mean, I am a racist, to a point, f-cking n-ggers. But then when it comes to nice people and sh-t, and whatever.” Those words are awful and Hogan has since apologized for his words.
To be fair, Hulk Hogan was going through an extremely difficult time in his life at that point and the audio capturing him saying those horrible things was taken from video footage filmed without his consent. It still doesn’t excuse Hogan at all, but as time heals wounds WWE was hoping to bring him back to the fold sooner than later. But they were concerned about social reaction and advertisers’ opinions about Hogan’s return.
With The Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal biting the dust so quickly only time will tell if this situation could also go on to hurt the chance of Hulk Hogan’s return as collateral damage.
“Based on what happened with the Fabulous Moolah and what could happen with the Warrior the belief in WWE among some is that the chance of Hulk Hogan coming back anytime soon are back down to about 0, but you can never say never,” Bryan Alvarez continued.
It was also brought up how the framework of this very story could be the main reason why fans will never see another Attitude Era as WWE seems destined to remain in a TV-PG period as long as the sponsors have such a powerful opinion.
“Well, this story tells you everything you need to know about why they’re not ever gonna get rid of the PG Era. They have sponsors and the sponsors want it to be a PG product and so it doesn’t matter what network they’re on, it doesn’t matter who’s in charge, it doesn’t matter who is the head writer, it doesn’t matter anything,” Alvarez concluded. “They’re a PG company and until all of their sponsors dry up and they end up being sponsored by… I don’t know Hustler?”
Therefore it seems this situation between the fans vs The Fabulous Moolah’s legacy could have some lasting ramifications that stretch beyond simply naming the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.
But it shouldn’t be all that surprising because WWE is a PG company. It just makes me wonder how they thought there wouldn’t be this kind of backlash in the first place.
Only time will tell how far this story goes, but it might be a cautionary tale from this point on which causes WWE to really consider the big picture before putting someone’s name in an honored position from this point forward.
In the end, this could very well result in way more than just changing the name of one match at the Show Of Shows. Because honestly, it might be nice to have Hulk Hogan back in WWE so he can appear at WrestleMania 34 and unlike his amazing promo with The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 30, he can remember the name of the building this time around.
If you use the quotes in this article please credit Wrestling Observer Live with a H/T to Still Real To Us for the transcription
