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Two questions here:

 

1. I was watching a college football game on Saturday and one of the signs used by the coaching staff to signal in a play was a huge picture of Andre the Giant from a WWF magazine circa 1987 or 1988. What other examples can you come up with where pro wrestling is used in some fashion by athletes, teams or venues?

 

A few that come to mind for me:

 

  • Aaron Rodgers putting on the belt after rushing for key first downs and touchdowns. After winning the Super Bowl, Rodgers had a replica WWE title over his shoulder on the podium. There have been other athletes to wear a replica belt since, but Rodgers was the first that I remember.
  • Ric Flair's "Whoooo!" being played over stadium and arena PA systems during games.
  • This really doesn't count, but did anyone watch the Ryder Cup this weekend? The whole event had a very NWA Wargames 1987 vibe. The crowd was out of its mind hot. I was waiting for Dusty or Road Warrior Animal to make a run-in.

 

2. Does anybody have any idea how much Flair makes annually from his "Whoooo!" being used at sports venues?

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Well the obvious ones would be guys in real combat sports drawing heavily from pro wrestling to draw interest/heat/money. Mohammed Ali patterned a lot of his shtick from Gorgeous George and Fred Blassie and Connor is basically 80s Ric Flair with f-bombs.

 

I still remember the Olympics in 1988 doing video packages with the theme of USA vs USSR that might as well have been cribbed from Bill Watts' notebook.

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In the early 90s, after Bob Probert beat Tie Domi in a hockey fight at the Garden, Red Wings Captain Steve Yzerman did the belt gesture at his waist.

Is that really a wrestling taunt though? Most fighting sports, non-predetermined or otherwise, do use belts as trophies.

 

Questionable, especially given the context. Still, seems like more a wrestling gesture than boxing.

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I've noticed every time an Alabama football defensive player gets an interception he'll run to the sideline and throw a championship belt over his shoulder.

 

There's a lot of wrestling fans on the Baltimore Orioles. Adam Jones passes around a championship belt to his teammates and Tommy Hunter referenced Ric Flair during their Wild Card clinching locker room celebration.

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