TORINO – Last night (Saturday 17th) in New York the wrestler Óscar Gutiérrez Rubio, known as “Rey Mysterio” has received a personalized t-shirt from Juventus. In Italy, the images of the delivery are going viral on social media, but let’s see if Rey Mysterio has really been a lifelong Juve fan or if it’s a commercial tactic of the Turin team. Spoiler: both, because the world of WWE has several contacts with Italian football in general, but it’s undeniable that social sharing is part of brand communication.
The meeting in New York
Both protagonists of this story were in New York for the Fanatics Fest 2024an event that brings together the major American and international sports leagues; for example, there were interactive booths from the NBA (National Basketball Association), the NFL (National Football League), the MLB (Major League Baseball) and the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).
The master of the “619” move on the ropes, namely Mysterio, was present to do “autographs and photos” like WWE stars, while Juve had organized one of the many immersive exhibitions of the event. In the stand of the Turin team you could admire “the 7 most iconic trophies of the club, explore its fashion collaborations and preview the shirts of the last season”.
Backstage at an event, some Juventus stand staff gave the wrestler a free T-shirt, personalized with the number 11. Why 11? It’s unclear, but maybe because Oscar Rubio was born on December 11, 1974.
Italian Football, Juventus and the World of WWE Wrestling
Mysterio is not a novice in the world of football. Back in 2014 he visited Pinetina in Appiano Gentile and had assisted to a training sessionInter, team of which he seemed to be a supporter. On this occasion too he had been given a T-shirt and in turn the wrestler had donated one of his own mask to Javier Zanetti.
In 2019, he had posted a video in which he congratulated Sergej Milinković-Savić and the Lazio team. The Serbian midfielder had been intercepted by Juventus, who he wanted bring it to Turin in 2018.
In another interview released at TuttoJuve in 2020, Cesaro (pseudonym of Claudio Castagnoli, another WWE wrestler), had said that Rey Mysterio could have been the Dybala of WWE, due to the fact that they both have a mask as their distinctive sign (in reference to the exultation “Dybala Mask”).
In an interview with Collectme.it, the son of Rey Mysterio (Dominik Oscar Gutierrez)I had said “I am passionate about football. I have many Italian relatives and they are big Juventus fans”.
There is another wrestling athlete who is passionate about Juventus: his name is Jinder Mahal and in 2019 he congratulated Juventus for winning the Scudetto in This video. The year before, in 2018, some WWE athletes had met the Bianconeri at the Juventus Center, since they were busy with a show at the PalaAlpitour in Turin on the same days.
Juventus also has contacts with another character halfway between sport and entertainment: the youtuber and boxer Logan Paulwho created an energy drink, called “Prime” which is become recently “Official Hydration Partner” of Juve. Logan Paul played one of the first and most famous matches against the two Mysterio (Rey and Dominik).
SmackDown presenter Austin Romero is also a Juventus fan: last year public a photo with the wrestler Alexa Bliss and Ryan Cabrera while they were at the stadium, ready to watch Juve-Real Madrid.
In short: in an environment, that of wrestling, in which the support for Juve (and for football in general) seems not to be lacking, Juventus wanted to pay homage to one of the most famous masked wrestlers by trying to “convert” him to the black and white faith and hoping for a peak in popularity triggered by the repost on social media. Objective achieved.
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