20 Best Wrestling-Themed Commercials Ever

Wrestlers sell more than clotheslines and leg drops, they sell beer, cereal, cars, candy and fish hooks.

As much as people look down on pro wrestling, it's embedded into many cultures around the world. Companies like Anheuser-Busch and Burger King use both our love and our embarrassment of the sport to hawk their products.

The following is not a list of great commercials for pro wrestling events or ads that feature famous wrestlers who do no wrestling in them, like Macho Man Randy Savage's Slim Jim spots.

Instead it features the funniest, most bizarre and most entertaining commercials that take to wrestling as a springboard for sales. 

20. Aflac

The eventually overused Aflac duck commercials were chuckle-worthy spots where the product's name was repeated several times.

King Kong Bundy stars in this version which focuses on two hard-to-please wrestling fans.

In the middle of a seemingly exciting match, these guys are discussing insurance for some reason. One of the wrestlers even gets thrown into the crowd, but these fans are still apathetic about the action.

It's funny that the director of his ad didn't think Bundy looked intimidating and so gave him some fake tattoos.

19. Heinz

Heinz brilliantly had its customers creating ads for its product. Consumers could send in their own Heinz commercials and potentially win thousands of dollars and get their creation on TV.

This user-created spot pits fictional wrestler Joe Crusher against a sassy little girl.

It's cheesy and flawed, but fun. It's got a simplistic humor, hot dogs and an upset.

Throw in the cuteness factor and you have a commercial that's better than many big-budget spots.

18. Cocoa Pebbles

Originality is not this commercial's strong point, but it gets the job done with loud visuals, quick cuts and the Flintstones' star power.

Naming your cartoon wrestler Hulk Boulder and make him look suspiciously like Terry Bollea aka Hulk Hogan isn't a wise move.

In fact, Hogan filed a lawsuit against Post Foods and as wrestlinginc.com reported, the two sides eventually settled.

The ad would have worked without borrowing so heavily from Hogan's appearance.

Chocolate explodes all over the screen. The cereal is a tasty-looking part of a fun ad.

It also brings up the question of what kind of wrestler Fred Flintstone would make if he were a real guy.

17. Rick Santorum

Does Republican Senator Rick Santorum look like more of a cheeseball because of his ad? Absolutely, but props to him for being creative in his political ad and not resorting to the type of overly dramatic negative campaign ads we see so often.

His point is well taken, even with the distracting wrestling action behind him.

Mark Leibovich of The New York Times says Santorum is a big fan of pro wrestling and that the senator was thrilled to meet legends like Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan.

In spite of this commercial's excellence, Santorum lost his 2006 re-election bid.

16. Burger King

The folks behind this ad took the tagline "the taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican" in a very literal direction.

The bizarre spot features a tiny Luchador and a wiry cowboy in a harmonious relationship. 

Is the wrestler a small cruiserweight or a mini-Rey Mysterio? Regardless, he appears to be extremely dedicated to his sport as he always keeps his mask and title on, even in the swimming pool.

15. Toyota

You may need to watch this ad a handful of times before your eyes can catch all the flashing images. This Japanese ad seems to be filmed on fast-forward.

Former nWo girl April Hunter stars in the ad.

Along with being a champion in various promotions, she's also made a living posing for provocative pictures including a spread in Playboy.

The rapid-fire commercial shows us how much fun it can be to wrestle, do your makeup in the car, play a cello and scoot around Japan in a tiny car. 

"Fun! Car! Go!" may eventually become the new "carpe diem."

14. Formula Toothpaste

This is a surreal, mind-blowing ride of a commercial. It's not just the fact that this ad is in Malay that has it bringing up more questions than it answers.

For one, just where are these giant teeth getting all these weapons?

It appears at first that the two teeth are kickboxing, not wrestling, until things get hardcore. Then it looks like a trippy CZW show.

You half expect them to pull out some light tubes and whip each other with barbed wire.

13. Pine View Homes

Before many people buy or rent a home, they usually throw themselves against the wall and fall on the floor to test the structure's sturdiness. Pine View Homes has cut out that step for them.

They have already used some wrestlers to run those tests so their customers don't have to.

Not sure if was intended as a reference to sumo wrestling instead, but the action seems more fitting in the pro wrestling world. Had Vince McMahon seen this ad, he may have been inspired to book a model-home gimmick match.

The larger guy may be Professor Tanaka who acted in several commercials and movies. The other guy looks like an Asian George Steele.

12. Honda Civic

This is a fun ad that shows us how exciting it is to be a Luchador and to drive a Civic. It features a fictional Mexican wrestler named Cesar.

He must be quite the popular Lucha Libre star if all those non-Mexicans know who he is.

I will forgive the ad company for having Cesar hold both a World Heavyweight Championship lookalike belt and an old-school WWE Championship-style title as well. The choice of actor is a bit more striking.

Couldn't they have a cast a bigger dude for this role?

He doesn't have to speak or show his face, he just has to look like a wrestler. Mexico is not as dependent on muscle-bound wrestlers as WWE, but this guy has a referee build.

11. Trigger X

If you're going to fish, you might as well have a hook that is strong enough to reel in a 300-pound man. 

That's what Trigger X fish hooks claim to be able to do here, not that many fishermen will every find out if it actually accomplish that.

This ad uses the unexpected and an annoyingly catchy tag line to full effect.

On the wrestling side of things, it seems that Goldberg has not aged well.

Maybe he can sell that World Heavyweight Championship he's still wearing and stop living in a pond.

10. Axe

Axe is famous for using sex to sell its toiletries. They go to that well again with a guy's shower gel enticing his hot girlfriend into an impromptu wrestling match.

For some reason, they have a mat ready at the feet of the bed. They must do this all the time.

Amidst all the snuggling and skin-rubbing, there are a few actual wrestling moves in there.

The girlfriend has her man in a leg scissors at one point. She also seems to be doing some cloverleaf/sharpshooter variation here.

Points for realism.

9. MasterCard

Evocative music and stunning cinematography make for a MasterCard commercial that feels a lot like a mini-movie.

Sticking with Mexican wrestling tradition, this Luchador refuses to show his face. It's a one-joke ad, but it's a singular joke that is done well.

Yes, the generic masked Mexican wrestler is overused (refer to Koodo's El Tabador) especially when trying to reach the Latino demographic, but it's done superbly here, not as a randomly tossed-in idea.

8. Maha

A little boy watches a wrestling match in India. He says to himself, "You know what would make this match even better, if I threw candies down the wrestlers' throats."

The coffee and chocolate candies Maha apparently have a dance-inducing effect.

When the two men in the ring begin to do the waltz, the ref is understandably confused. The crowd seems to love it though which is all that matters.

Not sure if WWE is aware of this ad using The Rock and Bobby Lashley's images.

7. Coca-Cola

A hipster dog and a beefy pro wrestler team up to sell some Coca-Cola.

Apparently this massive Superstar Billy Graham look-alike is still working the independent circuit as he's riding the subway to and from his matches. Along the way he meets a musical dog and they share a Coke and a harmonious moment.

The stylized ad is fun to look at and addictive to listen to.

The two beats mesh together the way the cartoon and realistic visuals do.

6. Right Guard

Before Dave Chappelle purposely stepped out of the limelight, he apparently hawked deodorant.

Leave it to him to make a silly ad like this much funnier. Few guys could have delivered the line "You gotta get their number, dog!" as well as him.

Right Guard is apparently the perfect deodorant to wear when getting whopped on. 

The two female wrestlers look legit here, bulging biceps and all.

Their moves on this jabroni include a beautiful double-team facebuster.

5. SportsCenter

In one of ESPN SportsCenter's funniest commercials, WWE legend Stone Cold Steve Austin makes an appearance.

Austin apparently has a problem many of us have, struggling to stay focused while studying. He gets an assist from anchor Dan Patrick. 

What could Stone Cold possibly be studying for? We'll never know.

It was a brilliant choice to select the Texas Rattlesnake for this commercial at the height of wrestling's popularity. And I give props to whoever taught Patrick to swing a chair.  He looked pretty good delivering that chair shot.

There may be a WrestleMania role in his future.

4. Lotto 649

Canada's Lotto 649 uses wrestling to create an image of ridiculous ecstasy.

Several spandex-clad wrestlers celebrate in the locker room after an apparent lottery win. Did they go all splitsies?

Slow-motion captures jiggling flesh, flapping tassels and an uncomfortable image of a woman hosing down an overweight dude with a water bottle.

The large fellow in the green cape looks like a mix of Hurricane Helms and The Blue Meanie.

WWE might want to give the actress in this spot a call. Her water squirting routine is distracting, but take a look at those guns.

She may be the most legit-looking wrestler in the bunch.

3. Miller Lite

The "wrestling is fake" joke isn't usually funny. This Miller Lite spot though goes in an unexpected direction.

In the end, it's all about perception vs. reality.

Are they faking pouring their beers? Are they faking drinking them? Hard to tell.

Usually wrestling parodies feature fake wrestlers with gimmicks that are horrendously off.

If Vince McMahon had created either Montezuma or The Chiropractor in the ‘80s, they would have fit right in. The little people with voodoo dolls are a nice touch.

2. Diet Mountain Dew

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter may have had it wrong. It appears that Honest Abe's secret life may have been that of a pro wrestler.

Lincoln turns a debate into a chance for butt whoopings.

Diet Mountain Dew is apparently as intense as regular Mountain Dew and as an enraged, shirtless man. Not sure what the appeal of a drink's intensity is, but it's not as if Mountain Dew can sell us on its health benefits. 

Props to the actor who played Abe Lincoln here. He does some respectable posedowns and a mighty nice chair shot.

1. Real Men of Genius

Budweiser's Real Men of Genius campaign in the late '90s was a series of brilliant beer ads that celebrated everyone from Mr. Frozen Turkey Helpline Guy to Mr. Centerfold Picture Retoucher.

This wrestling-centered version both pokes fun at pro wrestling, but in an irreverent way that pays it respect as well.

The 60-second spot is filled with hilarious lines and unforgettably funny images like a man stretching measuring tape against a muscular pink-clad pair of buttocks.

And no, that is not Goldberg at the end of the clip, it's Ric Drasin.