If there is one thing that every single wrestling promotion enjoys, it is cross-promotion. Every company to have existed has enjoyed working with different brands or celebrities in order to try and bring in a casual audience, and that has often included working with movies. Whether it be themed matches or having stars of the movie appear on a show, there have been a lot of different ideas.
Sometimes, they can work out well, such as when Hugh Jackman was promoting Real Steel and he ended up on Raw. However, other times it can be a complete disaster that ends up making the wrestling industry look rather pathetic.
10 Army Of The Dead Zombies Invade
Whenever a famous wrestler happens to be the star of a movie, the chances are that cross-promotion will end up happening. For Batista's Army Of The Dead, that was the case, although everybody involved likely wishes it was not.
During Damian Priest and The Miz's lumberjack match at WrestleMania Backlash, all of the lumberjacks ended up being zombies. This was done to promote the Netflix movie, but in the end, it just made the actual wrestling match look completely ridiculous, not really helping the movie either.
9 Mickey Rourke Doesn't Compete
The Wrestler is the greatest movie about the sport that has ever been made, and Mickey Rourke put in a genuinely emotional performance. However, the entire story was about how legends crave the spotlight and struggle in retirement, so it was odd that WWE highlighted that by having three old-timers compete one more time.
If WWE had managed to get the actor himself to compete against Chris Jericho, rather than just having him at ringside, this could have been a brilliant promotion. However, this ended up falling flat because it was half-hearted.
8 Khaluber
While MacGruber was always an over-the-top comedic movie, the cross-over that WWE put together was ridiculous. Because several wrestlers appeared in the movie, it made sense to have something happen on Monday Night Raw.
This led to MacGruber appearing and having a match with Vladimir Kozlov, until his tag team partner...Kahluber arrived. This, of course, was The Great Khali, who did actually appear in the movie, in what was a very silly segment. There was absolutely no need for this 'match' to happen.
7 May 19th
May 19th is a date that all wrestling fans will be aware of, and it isn't for a great storyline. WWE wanted to promote Kane's movie See No Evil, and in order to push the release date, the company had him become obsessed with the date.
In the storyline, it led to the imposter version of Kane appearing, starting a storyline of Kane vs. Kane, which proved to be a terrible one. Meanwhile, it didn't really link to the movie, other than being the date that it came out.
6 The A-Team Look For A Crown
The A-Team was promoted by having the stars of the movie guest host Monday Night Raw during WWE's phase of having celebrities in that role. However, this wasn't one of the best, as it led to some very poor comedy throughout the show.
They spent all of Raw searching for Jerry Lawler's crown, with WWE providing some type of story and mystery throughout the episode, which just didn't really prove to be entertaining.
5 Kevin Hart's Dancing
Kevin Hart is one of the most charismatic entertainers in Hollywood and that is really something that WWE could have tapped into. Having him on the microphone cutting promos could have led to some great content, but that isn't what happened.
Hart was appearing in order to promote Think Like A Man Too, and instead of showcasing what everyone knows he is great at, he ended up dancing around with Adam Rose, who was one of WWE's newest stars at the time.
4 Relaxing In A Hot Tub
Another movie that WWE decided to promote was Hot Tub Time Machine, and it's something that would have fit in during the Attitude Era, but felt rather uncomfortable and strange in a PG world.
The cast spent their time in a hot tub backstage to link to the movie, with the Divas joining them where whoever stayed the longest earning a title shot, which ultimately ended in a comedy spot with Mark Henry.
3 Chucky Calls Out Scott Steiner
Chucky is well-known for being a character that has no problem trash-talking, which he often does in the movies. It's something that works well in making the character appealing, and WCW decided to bring him in and work it on television.
Chucky appeared on the titantron to promote the upcoming horror, but then he ended up trashing both Mean Gene Okerlund and Scott Steiner, leaving both of them embarrassed in order to put the doll over.
2 David Arquette Becomes World Heavyweight Champion
Promoting movies makes sense for wrestling, but going as far as to give the lead actor the World Heavyweight Championship is a big step. However, that's what WCW did with David Arquette for the movie, Ready To Rumble.
Arquette was brought in to promote the movie and was pushed as an exciting babyface. He ended up winning the World Title, which seriously hurt the legacy of the gold, despite the fact that he is a major wrestling fan.
1 Robocop Arrives In WCW
Robocop is a famous movie franchise, but that doesn't mean the character belongs in the wrestling world. However, at WCW's Capital Carnage, the company looked to promote Robocop 2 and had the character actually appear.
The PPV even had the tagline of "The Return Of Robocop" with the company claiming he was a friend of Sting's. Robocop eventually appeared to help him during the event in what was a very embarrassing moment for the sport.