It doesn’t happen often but the distinctly different worlds of football and professional wrestling collided this week after Manchester City striker Erling Haaland teamed up with wrestler and actor John Cena for a lighthearted skit to promote the Premier League club’s upcoming preseason tour.
Fresh from an extremely revealing comic cameo at the Oscars, Cena was again at his jovial best as he video-called Haaland from Florida, posing as the Norwegian’s secret super fan while wearing a City replica shirt and scarf, a long blonde wig and sipping from a glass of milk (which just so happens to be one of Haaland’s favourite drinks.)
The duo kicked of with an obligatory gag about not being able to see one other (a reference to Cena’s wrestling gimmick) before revealing details of City’s summer 2024-25 tour of the United States, which will stop in New York and Orlando among other destinations.
While there hasn’t been much overlap between the world of professional football and wrestling in the past, there are certainly a few notable instances with the likes of Jose Mourinho and Wayne Rooney making special guest appearances on WWE broadcasts in recent(ish) years.
Rooney made a convincing job of standing his ground and then slapping British wrestler Wade Barrett across the face during a live show in Manchester in 2015.
Mourinho was teased as he sat in the crowd for an event in 2007 when Shane McMahon spotted the then-Chelsea boss in the audience and proceeded to roast the Portuguese coach as a hail of boos rang around the arena.
Back in 2019, Mexico striker Raúl Jiménez was on hand to personally welcome fellow countryman and wrestler Sin Cara to the Wolves training ground after previously celebrating a goal by donning the lucha libre star’s signature mask.
How could we not mention former Werder Bremen and Germany goalkeeper Tim Weise, who retired from football in 2016 in order to retrain as a professional wrestler, making his WWE debut shortly thereafter.
And who could forget in 2020 when WWE legend and West Ham United supporter Triple H urged Declan Rice to stay at the club in order to “build a legacy and become a hero.” That obviously didn’t work out.
