As sports, football and wrestling couldn’t be more different. The quest for the three-count and the quest for the three points are two polar opposite endeavours.

Back in February, we all had the same thought when The Undertaker emerged before Al Nassr and Al Hilal’s Riyadh Season Cup match: “Bah Gawd! That’s the Undertaker’s theme music! What is he doing here?!”

You were probably even more confused to see Brennan Johnson get a cosign from WWE legend Matt Hardy for his celebration against Brighton a few days later.

But more recently, virtually every major football club went full kayfabe and embraced wrestling in a way we’ve never seen. The likes of Manchester United, Tottenham and Atalanta all posted the same picture of Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns on their TikTok accounts with the caption “ACKNOWLEDGED”. This is a play on Reigns’ catchphrase “acknowledge me”.

Whether you chalk this up as social media admins jumping on a meme purely because they had to, or clubs strategically tapping into a re-emerging form of pop culture, a ringing endorsement of pro wrestling’s biggest star right now shows the link between these two worlds is more visible than ever.

While the link may seem random at first glance, the two worlds are a cultural tag-team like no other. As forms of entertainment, they share more common ground than arguably any other sport.

As insufferable as he can be, Neal Maupay is football’s latest heel. He is an unapologetic rattler. Someone who will break the unwritten rules of honour to gain whatever advantage he can. People love to hate him in the same way people loved to hate Kurt Angle and Randy Orton. If you close your eyes, you can picture him cashing in his Money In The Bank briefcase to a confused referee in order to secure a last minute penalty.

These overlaps make it easier for us to use wrestling references to explain crazy things in football that need another layer of colour. Throughout AFCON 2023, I found myself referring to the Ivory Coast as ‘The Undertakers’ of the tournament because they simply wouldn’t die. Sometimes it feels like the magic of a super-sub impacting a game can only be compared to a wrestler unexpectedly running down the ramp to clearing four people out of the ring. The commonalities are virtually endless.

The way new gen fans in particular consume football today suggests wrestling could become even more of a cultural touchpoint. We want football to be more like wrestling: inspirational and larger than life with a focus on gripping storytelling. Amazon’s ‘All Or Nothing’ documentaries have shown us how effective that level of drama and world-building can be. But the sport itself hasn’t quite immersed itself in the theatrics.

Most intriguingly, wrestling has managed to evade football’s snobbery against American involvement.

Wrestling as a form of sports entertainment is so successful because it invests more time into the narratives of its protagonists than the actual wrestling. From the promos and the interviews to the skits backstage, it’s all used to direct fans to what happens in the ring. The narrative is the foundation and the spectacle is the cherry on top. But in football, it’s almost the opposite.

But perhaps most intriguingly, wrestling has managed to evade football’s snobbery against American involvement. Football fans – especially in the UK – can be a gatekeeper when it comes to American influences in the sport. There’s always been a noticeable resistance to American owners, the next best American wonderkid, and even the implementation of half-time interviews. But wrestling seems to be the exception. It is a very American product that works globally but also fits hand-in-hand with football in a way other American concepts don’t.

So, the next time you’re tucking into a 90 minute classic, just close your eyes and think about how good Antonio Rudiger, Giorgio Chiellini, Jordan Pickford, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and many others would fare in a Fatal Four-Way match.

The more we see players veer into these animated and charismatic versions of themselves, the stronger the link between football and wrestling becomes.

And that’s the bottom line.

@AhmedShooble

The most obvious reason for these worlds colliding is their shared audience, which can be split up into two main factions. There are the older football fans (millennials) who used to watch wrestling in its last big boom period through the late 1990s and the early 2000s. And then there are younger fans (Gen Z and Gen Alpha) who watch wrestling now but still appreciate the nostalgia of yesteryear.

That’s why The Undertaker crossing over into football went viral across socials. It’s not really about him as a wrestler – he transcends that field and is a wider cultural icon to those who watched him and those who didn’t. It’s more so about what wrestlers represent. They are gaudy caricatures of ourselves and, sometimes, of football.

It’s no coincidence that we often refer to football as having scriptwriters while wrestling is actually scripted. In fact, wrestling is a glorified, overly-dramatic soap opera that doesn’t take itself nearly as seriously. And football loves to indulge itself in that level of drama. 

The frequency with which players score climactic goals against their former clubs, big teams get dumped out of cup competitions by underdogs, and homegrown academy graduates turn into club legends is enough to make anyone think football has a writing room akin to wrestling. The theatrics, the betrayal and the depth of storytelling all make the bridge between the two worlds so seamless. Having commentators like Peter Drury paint pictures with the words like Jim Ross also helps.

A wrestler’s entrance music is perhaps the most iconic part of their character and this too has been co-opted by football. Arsenal’s stadium DJ Peter Mujuzi went viral during Project Restart for playing Triple H, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho’s tunes during half-time. Each wrestler reached out on X to show their support and it’s a trend that’s continued to this day.

Football also shares an appreciation for the bad guy (known as the heel in wrestling). Someone who shakes up the natural order of things and gives viewers something to rally against. The many ways we’ve seen Jose Mourinho cut WWE style promos in press conferences, cup his ear, shush the crowd and slap the badge shows that football also loves when its protagonists lean into their dastardly personas. His well-timed delivery, cutting sarcasm and divine sense for an opportunity to set fire to a microphone with the smallest remark would not be out of place on Monday Night Raw (as proven one night in 2007 when he sat front row and got called out by Shane McMahon).